Diarrhea Since Jan 8 2007 HELP

On Jan 7th I must have ate something screwy. Whatever it was, it gave me severe bloating, gas, and discomfort.

I've been to two doctors. The first put me on a treatment of metronidazole. After about a 1/2 way through my week treatment with this antibiotic, my stool became normal again. When I stopped the treatment, my diarrhea returned.

I went back to the same doctor and told him that I probably should take the antibiotic again- and he didn't agree. They did blood tests and stool samples, and everything came back normal.

So.. I went to a specialist. He took the side of the doctor who thought that I should wait it out. It has almost been two weeks since that visit now and things are still the same... even after eating differently and trying different herbal treatments.

Am I crazy in thinking that these doctors are missing something major? If the antibiotics stopped my diarrhea in the first place.. and then when I stopped them it came back... maybe the antibiotics didn't quite clear up my problem???

I've become very frustrated with this. I've read the message boards about all types of scenarios.. but I can't get out of my head the fact that the antibiotics did bring me back to normal ... and then slowly as I stopped them it came back.

Suggestions / help is appreciated. Thank you. I would like to know what my options should be before going through a colonoscopy.

cosmopolite

 

I had diarrhea for 44 consecutive days after my liver transplant--I feel your pain.


In my case, it was a CMV infection, though I doubt that's what you have as its viral, not bacterial (so the antibios wouldn't have affected it) and it only causes problems if you're immunosuppressed.

I would DEFINATELY say your doctors are missing something major. A stool sample is NOT sufficient in eliminating a virus/bacterial infection. I had a stool sample with my CMV and it came back NORMAL. The virus was in my BLOOD, not colon, but it still had the same effect.

My guess, however, would be that it's not an infection. I say this because after 2 months your body should have fought off any bugs you may have gotten. It could mean somethings wrong with your immune system, or, more likely, something is going on with another organ/system in your body.

I know the antibiotics helped, but you can't take them indefinately--you need to get to what precisely is causing this. Also, antibiotics can have a number of effects on the digestive tract, whether or not there's an infection they're alleviating. So the fact that they worked might not mean much.

I say, go to another doctor, or, if you have to, the ER and DEMAND....not ask, DEMAND for a blood test--esp test your liver function. There is a time for manners, but when you're sick and no one is listening, you have every right to RAISE HELL.

-Kate

 

I have had diarrhea for about 7 years now! I got a really bad bug whilst travelling once and nothing seems to help.

I have had every test known to man including a colonoscopy - but apparently everything is normal!

I gave up on doctors a long time ago.

I hope you find out what is going on with your body....but just so you know....you do eventually get used to it!

 

Thanks for your responses. I have had a blood test done. It came back normal with the stool test. I'm kind of at a point where I want to demand to be treated for parasites/worms regardless of what the doctor says just to make sure it isn't that. What harm could that do to me other than rule something out?

 

If your worried about worms, I think Pumpkin seeds expel them and so does wormwood, though it tastes terrible. Hope you find a cure!

 

There are a few possibilities that come to my mind. First, some infections actually damage the intestines themselves, leading to the diarrhea (depends on what kind of diarrhea, that'd help diagnose it, but do you really want to give more details here? probably not. ), in which case it'd take some time to return to normal.

Could also be that you set off some sort of immune-mediated response. Keeping tabs on what you eat might help if you could identify some sort of trend.

And in the meantime: Immodium. Good anti-diarrhea drug.

 

Okay I thought about this for a while and this is what I came up with that you might want to think about. Have you thought that maybe your not getting enough fiber in your diet? Im serious though I lived on a pretty much liquid diet for a few weeks and I found that I got diarhea A LOT. Do you suffer from anxiety? I mean when I started getting anxiety attacks for some reason it must have disturbed my body really bad because I constantly got diarhea. Do you eat fast food a lot? I know that fast food or fatty, oily foods make me pretty "$shitty" so to speak LOL. If you think that you have worms though you might just want to have your stomach checked too. I mean do they always show up if there not looking for them, in your stool samples? Have you been to a foreign country or anything lately? Might have caught something there???? Eh hope this helps ya. Good luck with ur predicament DOH!

 

The reason your doctors don't want you on antibiotics so much is that it will make you more resitant to antibiotic treatment later in life if you ever need it for a bacterial infection. I would not demand to be treated (doctors hate this, because then it seems like you are trying to just get medications), but definitely try different doctors and try to get as many tests as possible for parasites. It definitely sounds like that. It could also be something as simple as IBS (I have this, and even with the fiber and medications rarely have normal stools...diarrhea is just sort of a way of life for me now). I wish you the best!

 

Once you catch a good bout of diarrhea, it can be difficult to get rid of it. Problem is, you flush all the "good bacteria" out of your body, and before your body has a chance to grow more, you've passed them again.

This is an old old remedy. I've never heard of someone having problems for quite that long, but... it can't hurt to try, huh?

It's called the B.R.A.T.T. diet. For 2 whole days, eat NOTHING but Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Tea & Toast. A good strong black tea, too. This helps your body... stabilize itself? After that add some yogurt (soy or dairy) with active cultures into your diet. That will help give the good bacteria in your stomach a bit of a jump-start in growing again. Hold spicy & rich foods out of your diet for a full week while sticking to mild foods, and hopefully it will help.

I know this looks like some sort of weird gimmick, but it's worked literally all my life.
love,
mom

 

get some peppermint oil and add one drop in a glass of water chug it down every couple of times a day.

during the day take acidophilus pills throughout the day

eat only fresh produce no processed food, try having an egg during the day, no bread of any kind, no milk.

if this doesn't work then try a naturopath

 

www.scdiet.com for a gluten-free diet.