New doctor today

[Crux]

Lately,I haven't worried about the good guys-- there're too many of 'em. Lactobacillus spp. and bifidobacteria spp. are big d-lactate producers.

Methanogens aren't all bad, but when there's constipation, they seem evil. ( I took a very low amount of neomycin-it helped...you know.)

I don't know if you have gastroparesis, that could be slowing motility, but in addition to erythromycin; LDN, cannabis, and the herb Iberis have been used as prokinetics to stimulate peristalsis. ( I still am regular after a short course of erythro.)

I don't remember if you are hypothyroid, but I'm sure you know that hypo can bung one up.

 

[South]

Actually I have had slight pain there.

@SwanRonson A cheap, interesting thing to try is a castor oil pack (don't laugh, I used to because they don't make sense why they would help, but they did)

There's a thread here if you're interested:
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...lower-right-abdominal-pain.29641/#post-591158

 

[Eeyore]

If you have a lot of constipation, ask for a serum serotonin test. Doc will probably be sort of confused - but Quest will do the test. Studies of POTS patients with hypomotility have often shown reduced serum serotonin. High levels of serum serotonin are present in disorders like carcinoid syndrome, and result in diarrhea and flushing (I do not think you have this - just pointing out the role of serotonin in gastric motility).

Some POTS patients improve on serotonergic drugs.

There's more to the theory than this, but I don't know if you even have altered serum serotonin, so no point really in going into it.

 

[Sushi]

If you have a lot of constipation, ask for a serum serotonin test. Doc will probably be sort of confused - but Quest will do the test. Studies of POTS patients with hypomotility have often shown reduced serum serotonin.

My doc said the same thing and suggested taking 5 HTP.

Sushi

 

[Eeyore]

Just be careful taking 5-HTP. Doing so under a doctor's supervision, as mentioned above, may be reasonable. It can have substantial side effects and interactions with particular drugs that could be life threatening (albeit probably rare).

Some foods have higher levels of serotonin - enough so that they can throw off a serotonin blood test, so make sure you don't eat them for the several days before the test. Also, those foods might help with constipation - it's worth a shot, and probably very safe. I think the Mayo Clinic uses prozac for POTS patients a lot.