19 year old son with chronic diahorrea

[clairebear281]

Afternoon all

Bit of a long one so bear with me....

I have an incredibly healthy 19 year old son who rarely had a day off school. Around 3 months ago he had a bit of a tummy bug (cramps diarrhoea.) He felt better but the diarrhoea continued (with blood in) He did go to GP for blood test, stool sample etc but nothing abnormal came back.

He does love milk and has drunk full fat milk all his life so we wondered if he had become lactose intolerant. For 2 weeks he has been lactose free but still nothing has changed. I have advised he calls GP again today.

Just wondered if anyone her had any advice. He is 6ft, slender build, does not drink at all or smoke, usually in tip top health although does not do enough exercise. His diet isn't the best but certainly better than a lot of his peers.

Thank you in advance for any advice :-)

Did the doctor test for coeliac?

Did he have a calprotectin test?

Maybe Crohn's Disease? Hopefully not.

He needs to request a faecal calprotectin test. Could be Crohns or Ulcerative Colitis

Could he have something life Cdiff? I'd be going back to the dr and asking for dither investigations until it's sorted.

Thanks all. I'm guessing the blood test would have checked for Crohns/colitis etc. Unfortunately as he's now an adult I can't check anything for him....

I'm hoping he's been in touch with GP again today. He is absolutely fine, not in any pain or discomfort, just every time he has a poo it's runny with blood. There is clearly something wrong - just need to find out.

The blood test would not necessarily show crohns/colitis. Our (now 18yr old) was dx with colitis in January. If there is blood he needs any regent referral to a gastroenterologist who will do the necessary tests - stool sample and probably colonoscopy. Our ds's crp ( measure of inflammation in a blood sample) never gets very high despite extreme inflammation in his entire bowel (he has colitis of his entire bowel unfortunately). Please persist with the GP particularly if the blood is increasing and frequency of bowel movements is increasing. Our GP did not act quickly enough and it was on the advice of a liver specialist friend we took him to A&E when he was admitted immediately and had a 5 day stay in hospital. He was near collapse due to anaemia caused by the colitis.

And also to add our DS doesn't really get pain (even though in theory he should!)

Could be diverticular disease

Was going to suggest diverticulitis as well. Stool sample would normally show up inflammation markers indicative of crohn's/colitis but it really would be best to push GP for more exploratory tests and get it diagnosed and treated sooner rather than later.

I echo what onlyreadingneverposting8 had to say.

I had similar symptoms to your son for years and was told I was fine. Two years ago they got dramatically worse and I was taken into hospital as an emergency admission on the verge of needing a blood transfusion. I was so ill they were considering surgery.

Look up the NICE guidelines for referral to a gastroenterologist, if i'd known to do that and push my GP for a referral I would not have ended up being taken into A and E by ambulance after collapsing at home.

Sorry if that sounds a bit scary, I just wouldn't want him to be fobbed off and end up really unwell.

Giardiasis?