Something people with D problems may consider if there is a pattern-
#188260 - 06/22/05 09:39 AM
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I've been reading a lot of posts here that express that some people are doing so much and still having serious D problems. It made me remember something that happened to me a few years back that I thought I'd share. While I do have IBS, there was a period of time where I was stable for a long time. At one point I was getting horribly intense and painful cramps and exploding D all day long every 6 or 7 days. This went on for a couple of months. I kept thinking it must be something in my eating or drinking patterns, but I finally went to my Dr. (who had already diagnosed me with IBS years before) because it just seemed so strange. He sent me to a lab and had me tested for parasites even though I hadn't been out of the country. Turns out I had ameobic parasites, which are commonly spread through fecal matter that is contaminating food (in other words I bought food someplace where the worker didn't wash their hands). Three other people in my office had the same thing. I took some intense antibiotics and it went away. I'm just sharing this because the every 6 or 7 day pattern of the intense D is apparently the main sympton of these common parasites, so if anyone out there is having this type of problem, you may want to ask your Dr. for a stool test (always good fun by the way).
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That's really good advice. This has happened to me too, just last summer. My symptoms were different from my usual IBS-D and I was feeling fatigued.
Additional signs that it could be parasites are bloating soon after eating, "stickier" or greasy-looking stools and foul odor, and pain above your belly button. I believe this is because parasites tend to reside in the small intestine, disrupting the absorption of nutrients and digestion of fats, which causes gas, bloating, diarrhea, cramping. So, Violette has a good point: anytime your IBS symptoms change severely, talk with your doctor and ask about getting a stool test.
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for me it started with mucous and d 2 years ago. i had taken antibiotics for an ear infection and the antibioctics that were prescribed were so strong that they gave me clostridium difficile which is a bacterial infection that happens when the good bacteria in your body is killed off. ironicaly i had to take more antibiotics for months to treat this infection, lost 20 pounds (from 120 to 100!) and was scared to death of eating anything. i would have never guessed that antibiotics could screw up your system so badly. now here i am 2 yrs later and i am still trying to get back on track and deal with the IBS and food allergies that resulted from this fiasco!
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...if you do think you might have parasites and the 1st stool test comes back negative, insist on having at least 1 more as the miss rate for the buggers is pretty high.
And DEFINTELY, if your symptoms change, go back to your doc and get more tests WHATEVER.
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