hiya Nancy,

I posted some info about Questran in your journal, but I'll put it here as well in case there are other readers interested. I've never taken it myself, so can't offer any experience or anecdotes about it ... hopefully someone else may be able to help in that regard.

Questran

It was one of the first-line of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels, but has fallen out of favour since the development of newer drugs. How it works .. it binds to bile salts in the intestines which prevents them from being re-absorbed further along in the digestive tract Re-absorption of bile salts is the normal process, but if you're diagnosed with a problem that causes too much bile salts in the blood, then you'd need to take measures to reduce that. The big problem with Questran is that, because the bile salts are inactivated, your body can't properly digest fats. Meaning, you might not be able to break down and absorb essential fatty acids, nor absorb fat-soluble vitamins. Many of the listed side effects are a result of deficiencies of fat-soluble vitamins ... A, D, E and K. And, although it reduces levels of cholesterol and bile salts in the blood, there's a rebound effect of stimulating the liver to produce MORE cholesterol (since you're not absorbing any that you eat) and also increases triglyceride production

Questran is usually prescribed for cholesterol-lowering purposes, but is sometimes used for other liver and bile problems, such as diarrhea due to excess bile production, (which can happen after having the gallbladder removed). Here's an article from iVillage.com about using Questran for Diarrhea after Gallbladder surgery.

Doreen