Because I’m so sensitive to azo dyes, the yellow & red colouring added to medication etc I’m suffering every day with awful stomach cramps and diarrhoea . It’s like suffering with food poisoning everyday.
Has anybody had this problem and found a solution
?
Hello! You are not alone. You don’t say which medication you’re on, although most of them can have an impact because of the colouring. I switched to Stalevo from Sinemet over four years ago and it took me over a year to stop feeling sick and experiencing diarrhoea mostly for the first half of every day, which was a lot. My neurologist was sensitive to my complaints and sent me to a specialist - internist with specialisation in nutrition and she ordered a battery of blood tests and the gut test - which meant having to send a stool sample to the lab. The blood showed some inflammation and I also received a complete report of the bacteria situation in the gut. It turned out I had way too many harmful ones and not enough good ones. I do eat very healthy, vegetarian and minimum processed foods but medication does mess it up. The doctor prescribed three weeks of antibiotics for the gut and anti-parasitics which killed the bad ones - so to speak - and then she prescribed probiotics for six weeks. It was much better but she said I would have to check LPB regularly in blood tests (Lipo-binding protein) which is a good indicator for the gut situation. At the following test, it had gone up, and she said it was definitely medication so she prescribed L-glutamine which is an amino acid that supports the digestive system. I take it on an empty stomach (tasteless powder diluted in water) with probiotics (which I had to continue to take)- I have tested taking it before and after the first morning Stalevo and it doesn’t seem to affect it either way - at least this is my experience. I no longer have gut issues and glutamine is fine to take long term as are probiotics. However, it is really important to discuss this with the doctor because of everyone’s specific medical profile.
I think that Stalevo has a really bad coating for some people and my symptoms disappeared almost completely after I started combining Stalevo with Madopar (in some EU countries it’s called Prolopa). Not adding it but replacing some doses.
Best of luck.