Maybe I have a parasite?
#91213 - 07/17/04 08:11 PM
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HOWARD
Reged: 07/17/04
Posts: 2
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Hi, Heather, I'm repeating this message per your instructions because I incorrectly posted it as regular email to you. I hate to keep asking dumb questions, but I was curious to read an article in the paper involving the NY Yankees. Three of their players were diagnosed with having parasites. Their symptoms, weight loss, fatigue, bloating, etc, which was exactly what happened to me in the first two months of symptoms. The article went on to say that parasites will cause IBS. Now, since I myself have now been battling IBS somewhat successfully, thanks to you for the last year and a half, I must say that if I have a cup of coffee or soda, I'm back to where I was a year and a half ago. Remember that my symptoms occurred one day after having a meal with friends in a restaurant in Pennsylvania. Now, I was tested a few weeks after that meal endoscopically and our other favorite way, with both negative findings. Is it possible I have a parasite? One of the players said that it also manifested itself with reflux, although you said they're not related, but curiously enough I developed the reflux as well a few months into my IBS. I did have one test for a parasite which was a stool sample, but somebody told me one sample isn't enough, that at least three samples are necessary. Is there also another test for a parasite without handing some stranger my "end products?" Can there be anything more degrading? Jeez. Well, anyway, I'm pretty much under control with minimum symptoms thanks to your miracle fiber powder and one Prevacid a day. Although my symptoms from day one have only been slight to medium discomfort in my gut, no "D," no sprinting to a bathroom, do you think I should get tested? One RX did put me on antibiotics for a few weeks just to knock it out if that was the case. It obviously didn't work. Should I get tested appropriately this time?
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I really couldn't say but I just wanted to mention sudden huge bouts of D can result from various things. My husband got one severe bout after our trip to Alaska when we drank bad water (I didn't get it oddly enough) another time he got D again for about 2 weeks and every hour or so really awful. That time birds had gotten into the water tower in our home town. So you never know. A friend of mine that got sudden d and really badly ill thought he had IBS but it is a horrible systemic staff (sp?) infection from his appendectomy. He is dangerously ill from that, but he want to homeopaths when he should have seen regular doctors to discover that infection. Well I don't want to scare you but sometimes things aren't IBS. Just a thought- again I don't know.
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IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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Howard, I'll be watching for the answer to your question. Like you, I believe that my IBS really started with one bad case of food poisoning. Some of the articles in the research section of this site talk about how an "assault" on the gut can change the way it functions. But - the only time I've had an extended "remission" was after a couple of courses of antibiotics for a sinus infection. Coincidence?
At the same time, as I read everyone's posts, I see a lot of my own personality traits - a worrier and perfectionist. So, I sometimes wonder if it was just a matter of time until something set off the IBS.
Regardless, a less humiliating test for parasites really would help to totally rule it out as a possibility. I'd definitely sign up for it, as I've always wondered too, even though I've had one negative test.
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Any serious "insult to the gut" can damage - permanently - the way the enteric nervous system of the gut functions. Basically, a malfunctioning enteric nervous system is IBS. So, if you get food poisoning, or have abdominal surgery, or get intestinal parasites, you may well recover from the initial "insult", and have no visible physical damage to your gut...but you're left with IBS. At that point, treating the original cause of the insult won't make a difference, because that original problem (infection, parasite, tissue trauma) has healed, and it's just your gut's nervous system that remains damaged.
There's more about this in the First Year IBS, and there's full diagnostic info in the IBS Glossary (check the footer link at the bottom of this page to reach the glossary).
You should have the necessary stool tests to rule out parasites before you're given a diagnosis of IBS. A good GI doc would know exactly what's required for this.
- H
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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Definitely try to get past the humiliation of stool testing! It's worth it to rule out the possibility of a parasite, and it's treatable. I had a parasitic infection last summer, which may be what has led to increased IBS problems for me ever since -- although my most recent tests have been negative. The best and most comprehensive tests for this are done by Great Smokies Laboratory. Doing the tests can be rather ghastly, but it's worth it to find out.
Good luck!
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Thanks so much for your opinions. I just felt it was parasitic in nature because the IBS wasn't a slow progressing kind of "I don't feel that great lately and it is getting worse." I just woke up on a Sunday morning, and boom, there it was, a strange alien feeling in my gut that has never gone away. I've improved, though, through the use of Heather's fiber and a Prevacid once a day, and that's another thing, soon after the IBS, may two months later, came the heartburn, so what's up with that??? I'm pretty much symptom free now during the day, feel tightness and uncomfortability in certain sleeping positions, especially on my back with my arms over my head. It seems now I can only sleep comfortably when I lay on my left side as opposed to my right, but the whole point of this long diatribe was that I woke up on a Sunday and there it was, my IBS. That's why I thought maybe a parasite. Take care all, and thanks again for your kind thoughts.
Edited by HOWARD (07/25/04 05:45 AM)
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