Saturday, February 10, 2018

In The Bathroom Last Night: Stress, Potassium Chloride, and Desserts

Image result for bathroom cramping

Well last evening (Friday night) or this morning depending on how you want to look at it was quite busy for my bowels. For dinner I had some pasta with garlic cheesy bread which was quite tasty and then around 10:30 P.M. I got a craving for some desserts since: I had been tired from the previous week at work, hadn't had dessert in a while, and had worked out earlier in the evening. Typically I have some dessert places I go to but I went to Buccee's last night for an assortment of different goodies (the best way to describe the place is if you mixed a Wal-Mart supercenter with a convenience store. I checked out some desserts and settled on a mini pecan pie, a chocolate chip cookie, and some walnut fudge. I ate the chocolate chip cookie and the walnut fudge and was in dessert heaven feeling quite a high (yes they were that good). Heading into bed I feel this extreme pressure in my stomach that I knew wasn't good (there wasn't much pain more of cramping). Then a few hours later I was in bathroom having multiple bowel movements. At first they started off solid and about an hour or so later they were pretty loose. In my mind I kept wondering when it would end. Well around 2:00 A.M. my bowels were finally empty and I felt amazing with no pain or cramping and was able to go to sleep.

Now the question is what caused this? Honestly it has been many months since I have had a single episode of diarrhea (which I view as quite a significant accomplishment). If I do ever get diarrhea it typically is the week before I take Humira (which this was). This past week at work has been quite busy and I honestly can't remember having as many meetings as I did as this past week. The last item that I believe may have caused the issue was beginning to take potassium chloride. In my last physical my internist mentioned my potassium levels were low and that I either could eat more potassium foods to increase this. However, I tried that and was more open to fill the prescription. Going to my local pharmacy I got my prescription and noticed the prescription for potassium chloride was cheap (it as a generic of course). One thing I did notice was "not to lie down for 30 minutes" on which honestly I thought was interesting since I honestly can't say I have seen that ever written on a prescription. After starting to take the prescription I noticed cramping (which is a side effect that is reported) for many days. On the flip side I was noticing much more energy and felt quite good. I asked my doctor about this (I also had my ears flushed with water to remove wax-it was an all encompassing day) and he mentioned that the generic drug doesn't have as sophisticated delivery system of a time delay release so the medicine will released over time which reduces the burden on the bowels. When I went to refill my prescription for the second time it appears I again got the generic version (this was frustrating). Next week I plan to call my doctor and ask if they can get the name brand or maybe I have to call my insurance company for this.

Today (Saturday) has been pretty relaxing. I had some minor cramping but nothing compared to last night (early this morning). It was surprising today too since I didn't have any bowel movements. The cramping today has been more in the background which isn't too bad. Also I haven't been too hungry either. At any rate it would be good to get the cramp free version of potassium chloride since it does give me more energy than I usually have which can make a big difference.