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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be in tears thinking I will never get over this bug?

436 replies

Sienna333 · 05/10/2017 14:40

Have a bad stomach bug which originally caused severe stomach cramps and loss of appetite/nausea but then turned into diarrhea which I have now had for 9 days. Doctor just said to wait it out but although I feel a bit better and the time between each diorohea attack is lengthening, it is still there and worse in the early hours. I have it three or four times in the day which aren't that bad but in the night it is a different story and I have it 1-2 times really bad.
I have already taken a week off work and dread the thought of calling in for yet another week. Most people who get diorohea are over it in 5 days, I don't get why it is not the same for me. I really cannot live like this anymore wondering when it will decide to stop, it is pure hell :(

OP posts:
Talith · 09/10/2017 09:51

I had giardiasis and I hadn't left my hometown! It is rare but what you said rang a bell as it went on for weeks - even campylerbacter seems to shove off within a week or two. Top tip from my experience giardiasis makes your poo yellow and camplyerbacter is more green... but I'm no doctor!!! Still no idea where I picked it up from... I think if you've had diarrhoea for that long you may well be getting blood from your poor inflamed gut. Hope whatever it is goes away soon - you must be exhausted. x

notgivingin789 · 09/10/2017 09:54

Snap ! I have a bug too 'I have been feeling nauseous, re-accruing soar throats , I vomited last week. I don't know what's going on with my body Sad.

Original poster
Sienna333 · 09/10/2017 10:02

My D was bloody and mucousy but now just brown and loose. Not yellow or green so would be surprised if it was giardias.

OP posts:
Haveyoutriedturningitoffandon · 09/10/2017 10:11

I posted a couple of days ago with the same symptoms - today things seem to be slowing down, but that's me at day 11 now and it's not properly stopped. The fact it's slowing down is a good thing, and my GP did say there's a real nasty bug doing the rounds. Keep doing what you're doing, 3L of fluid in every 24h, and even if you don't/can't eat keep up with the Dioralyte sachets - second the rec for the Tesco own brand ones, they're a bit less vile tasting!
It's a horrid bug and you have my sympathies, as I know how awful it is, but it will pass, it just takes time Flowers

Haveyoutriedturningitoffandon · 09/10/2017 10:18

I've been taking Yakult light drinks too (they're dairy and I know dairy can exacerbate diarrhoea but I'm having diarrhoea anyway, so may as well get the benefit) and I think it's helping. Even if it's a placebo, it won't do any harm, and it may actually do some good!
I've found even potatoes/rice/banana (variation of the BRAT diet) to be too much so have been living on soups which help with the 3L intake. Rest up, baby your tum a bit and drink drink drink Wink

Original poster
Sienna333 · 09/10/2017 10:19

Please keep me updated Haveyoutriedturningitonandoff It is really helpful to hear the updates x

OP posts:
DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 09/10/2017 10:20

Probiotic capsules will be better and cheaper than sugary yoghurt drinks especially if you have diahrreah.

Teddy7878 · 09/10/2017 10:25

What are you eating? Are you literally just having banana, rice and mash? Or are you having the odd other thing now and again?

Original poster
Sienna333 · 09/10/2017 10:33

Rice went straight through me so at the moment, just mashed potato.

OP posts:
Keel · 09/10/2017 10:36

I'd push for the doctors to test a sample. I can remember when my daughter was little it went on weeks I was really worried. They said she'd caught Rotavirus and had become temporarily lactose intolerant so anything with dairy in was prolonging it. I'd phone drs and say about the backache as don't mean to alarm you but Ecoli can affect kidneys. Hope you feel better soon. Sounds like it's been awful. X

Teddy7878 · 09/10/2017 10:38

Are you taking a multi vitamin as you might be malnourished.
You can get vegetable juices from the supermarket. gross but might give you some much needed vitamins without the hard to digest fibre. Fruit juices might be too sugary for you for now.
Lactose free yogurt might be good too

fitbitbore · 09/10/2017 13:36

I was ill like this for months and I had helicobacter pylori. It was horrific I lost so much weigh before the gp did the test for it and I had to google to find out what I had.

Original poster
Sienna333 · 09/10/2017 14:14

It isn't that I wouldn't say PP. That is like a gnawing pain like indigestion which I don't have and doesn't include constant d. The D is all I have left now, no other symptoms.

OP posts:
DianaPrincessOfThemyscira · 09/10/2017 17:43

@Sienna333 I didn't bigger seeing a doctor as I assumed it was viral.

When I looked up the BRAT diet it said updated advice was to eat what I wanted, so I did. Anything and everything was going straight through so I had what I fancied (albeit in smaller quantities) rather than limiting myself. All I really wanted was fresh orange juice though!

I'm better now, still a lingering cough from the cold though!

Original poster
Sienna333 · 09/10/2017 19:53

Been worse than ever today, crapping up practically everything I eat, not massive amounts of D but still too much. Terrified.
Doctors either tomorrow or Wednesday. Need to prepare myself for the fact that whatever this is, it could be very serious.

OP posts:
Original poster
Sienna333 · 09/10/2017 19:54

And my period arrives in 2 days. Great.

OP posts:
GladysKnight · 09/10/2017 20:55

Don't panic Sienna, it's not necessarily serious, it will most likely be entirely treatable once it has been established for certain what you have. That's the tricky bit as the gut being what it is, it reacts pretty much the same way to anything disagreeable - virus, bacteria, amoeba, the worn protein - whatever, it just decides "out" - and you know the rest Sad.

So until you've had a sample taken (and possibly other kinds of test too if you're unlucky) there is no reason to worry. Moan and complain - most certainly: who wouldn't? But don't worry!

Horrible does not mean the same as untreatable. It can be very horrible (obviously in your case it is) but still very treatable. /get to the doctors tomorrow. Apart from owing it to yourself, your employers will want you to get a diagnosis too.

Can you call them first thing and explain that you are going to need a stool sample (because you are and check what time they send them off to the lab - ie make sure you catch tomorrow's "round" if you can. It may take a few days if they have to grow the little beasts in a dish to get a better look at them (imagine that for a job!) (pun not intended Blush )

GladysKnight · 09/10/2017 20:57

Unlucky because tests like testing for the wrong (worn?) protein eg dairy intolerance are slower to sort out sometimes. So that would be a pain - but its most probably a bug I think. After all, that's what most of the pps who have had similar, have had.

Original poster
Sienna333 · 09/10/2017 21:14

I am convinced it is something very nasty. Just gearing myself up to hear it now. Don't know how I am going to find the strength from though.

OP posts:
PricklyBall · 09/10/2017 21:14

Sienna - insist on stool samples (possible even repeated on consecutive days). I had giardia a few years back and it took the doctor 2 months to diagnose it. It turns out that because the parasite has a life cycle and you have to catch it at the right point in order to pick anything up in the stool samples, it's not unusual to miss it in a one-off test. The thing is, many doctors don't think to test for it, as it's primarily a tropical infection, but there are several thousand home-grown cases a year.

TheCowWentMoo · 09/10/2017 21:43

I had D for just over 2 weeks last may and it was horrible! I know exactly how you are feeling OP. Sorry for TMI butwas going up to 30x a day, loads of cramps and was green (think this was bile cos I wasn't eating?). But the important thing is it did go! So don't panic, even if it is something more serious like crohns it will be fine! I didn't go to the Dr so not sure what I had or if it was the same as you but just giving you some hope.
I basically drank loads of sugary squash and avoided eating apart from some toast. In the end I took some immodium, this worked for about a day then went again but I took it again and the D went. Had horrible cramps for about 2 days after Imodium and then kept feeling like I needed to go for 2 weeks but after that I was completely better.
I imagine it is just a big, some bugs for some reason just completely floor us. I feel like my body just kind of got stuck, if that makes sense? Like my bowels were really sensitive so everything irritates them and I just had to reset by not eating and drinking loads. Hopefully you get it sorted OP!

Original poster
Sienna333 · 09/10/2017 22:01

How did you cope with life/work? I have had this nearly 2 weeks now.....

OP posts:
PricklyBall · 09/10/2017 22:05

I basically ate nothing much but plain boiled rice for the best part of two months, and spent a hell of a lot of time running to the loo (fortunately I have a programming/analysis job, so not the sort of job where I'm in meetings or customer facing all day). Lost about 2 stone, got mouth ulcers from not enough fruit and veg. It was horrible.

A course of metronidazole cleared it up in about 2 days flat.

Original poster
Sienna333 · 09/10/2017 22:19

How did you get hold of the antibiotics? I just worry this will go round in circles as in Blood test/stool samples will come back ok and yet I will still have diarrhoea

OP posts:
Original poster
Sienna333 · 09/10/2017 22:20

Apologies Prickly, I knew you went to the doctors to get the antibiotics. I wondered how the other poster managed it when they said they hadn't been to the doctors

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