PART 1

Julie, Age 57, Diagnosed with Chronic Idiopathic Constipation (CIC) in 2012

Julie: My name is Julie and I live outside of Chicago.

Julie: I work as a grief counselor and I specialize in helping children move through the changes and transformations that are part of children’s lives. 

Julie: My daughter’s name’s Megan. She just had her birthday, she’s 17, and uh… you know, because she’s a teenager and 17 uhm... she kind of likes to have her own world, I have mine, but we love bein’ in our home. 

Julie: Well, I like to do anything that’s outside so whether it’s in my garden or I’m kayaking on a lake or streams or taking my bicycle out.

Julie: I run with my dog, I uhm.. uh.. run alone with groups of people in the morning, even goin’ out and shovelin’ the walk in the winter’s a good thing.

Julie: I was diagnosed with uh… chronic idiopathic constipation uhm... in 2012, but looking back from that point there were years of complications and the problem had existed for a long time so maybe I could go back 20 years and say there were problems but then you think well, everybody has constipation problems sometimes.

Julie: I would talk to people, listen to people about what they did and I would try what they did, and part of that was taking things out of your diet so I would take out dairy for two months at a time and then watch to see what the effects would be and not so much of a solution. 

Julie: I then tried introducing things into my diet like prunes, so I would get crazy about eating prunes. I’d try five prunes in the morning, ten prunes at night and—and keep charts on how this was working, and it got so crazy one time I was talking to my sister and I said, “I can’t talk any longer. I am racing to the pharmacy. They have a sale on prunes and I have a coupon that expires so I have got to get there tonight” and we both burst out laughing.

Julie: After I tried maneuvering my diet for months, maybe almost a year, I thought okay, now it’s time to try these over-the-counter remedies and those options. So I went through shelf by shelf trying them all and they were helping aid how I moved through each day but I decided that they were not a good option for me. 

Julie: And so then I went to my doctor. That’s when I was diagnosed, and that’s when we really got serious.

Julie: It’s difficult out there to talk with people about your bowel movements and your bowel habits and how your stool looks and you might not have a lot of people in your life who want to talk about that, but your physician wants to talk about that with you and has a way of listening and moving you through understanding these symptoms, what they might mean for you and what options there are for you as you... experience this. Keep a diary—keep a diary of what you eat. Really be able to present to someone else what your bowel habits are. It’s something we don’t talk about, it’s something we have to write down because we don’t know how to converse about that, and bring that data to your doctor so you’ve got something hard and fast that will really help you create change for yourself in the most efficient way possible. 

PART 2

Hear about Julie’s experience with LINZESS^® after this important information.

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Narrator: LINZESS^® (linaclotide) is a prescription medication used to treat irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) and chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) in adults and functional constipation (FC) in children and adolescents 6 to 17 years of age. “Idiopathic” means the cause of the constipation is unknown. It is not known if LINZESS is safe and effective in children with functional constipation less than 6 years of age or in children with IBS-C less than 18 years of age.

IMPORTANT RISK INFORMATION

• Do not give LINZESS to children who are less than 2 years of age. It may harm them. LINZESS can cause severe diarrhea and your child could get severe dehydration (loss of a large amount of body water and salt).
• Do not take LINZESS if a doctor has told you that you have a bowel blockage (intestinal obstruction).

Please see Important Risk Information at the end of this video.

Julie, Age 57, Diagnosed with Chronic Idiopathic Constipation (CIC) in 2012

Julie: I heard about LINZESS from my physician who became aware of it and he said he immediately thought of me first of all because we had worked so hard together and he called and said, “Julie, why don’t you come in and we’ll talk about it and then see if this is the way for us to go.” 

Julie: We sat down the next day, we spoke at length about what the mechanisms of this might be, we spoke about what the side effects might be, and it seemed still a wonderful option for me; I was very happy to have something to try.

Julie:  After the first week on LINZESS, the changes were palpable…

Julie: … so the hard, rock-like rubble that was so difficult to pass uhm.. was soft, it was whole, it was uhm.. easy- it was easy, uhm.. and it was becoming more regular.

Julie: This has been my experience. I encourage anyone to go and speak with their own physician about what options might be the best for them.

On screen Individual results and experiences may vary.

Julie: It’s recommended that you wait a half an hour in between taking the pill and eating breakfast. I follow the directions and wait that half hour in taking LINZESS.

Julie: Although this has been my experience, my doctor told me there could be other common side effects with LINZESS including diarrhea, gas, stomach-area pain, swelling or feeling of fullness and pressure in my abdomen.

Julie: CIC is not just a constipation day.  I really hope that people have a chance to explore this with their physicians and consider LINZESS as an option to manage their symptoms. 

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Take LINZESS on an empty stomach, at least 30 minutes prior to a meal, at approximately the same time each day.