I'm not going to the GP or calling NHS Direct...

[becstarlitsea]

... but if you've got any bright ideas as to what's wrong with me, I'd be very grateful to hear them.

I had a tummy bug last week, and for the past five days when I eat anything solid I feel faint and proper tired (as in 'can't stand up' about to black out kind of tired) about half an hour later. Then my stomach feels sore until I poo. If I don't eat and my system is completely empty, I feel fine, apart from being a bit hungry. So I'm living on fizzy drinks and am starting to get a bit behaviour-disordered!

It could be that it's an after effect of the tummy bug (which DS also had). The tummy bug might have come from DSs nursery, or might have come from DS and I accidentally drinking from the 'waste water only' tap at a campsite two weeks ago (but we'd been fine for a week after, until the tummy bug).

And I have coeliac, which has got worse recently (used to be able to tolerate oats, now I can't), so I'm wondering if it's a brand new food intolerance. Might be, because fainting is one of the symptoms I get when I've eaten gluten.

The reason I'm not going to the GP or calling NHS direct is because I have never, ever, ever been correctly diagnosed by any of the GPs in the local practice. I'll either get an earful for having bothered him and told to go away, or he'll refer me for tests that won't be for whatever is actually wrong with me but will involve me spending days queuing in hospitals wasting NHS money. NHS direct just tell you to go to the GP. My dad is a retired GP and is shithot on diagnosis, but he worries too much when I get ill, so I'd rather not tell him.

Any thoughts? (Besides the thought 'oh go to the GP you silly woman' But honestly you lot are far more likely to give me helpful advice than he is )

Get a new GP?

I do keep meaning to, but I won't get around to it until summer holidays. Hopefully by then this tummy ache will have got better. Or I'll be very thin!

I've never seen the same GP twice at our practice so whoever I saw would be brand new to me anyway. My friend had a GP who sounded good, but they don't take patients from our street any more - we're out of catchment even though it's only 2 mins walk away (central London, I guess all the lists are crammed...). DH doesn't have a GP and I keep asking him to sign up with a different practice and scope it out for me!

I agree with the thinking that probably a hangover from tummy bug .
Have you any walk in clinics near you ?
you'd get to see a different doc .

Because you have coeliac, and you yourselfhave made the connection between the symptoms, I think it highly likely that your gut is still traumatised by the bug. Even 'normal' guts can sometimes take a few weeks to recover from a bug.

Was your condition under control when you got sick? your gut must be more vulnerable to illness if it is in the gluten-injured state. And therefore to developing new intolerances.

I would avoid yogurt. Avoid all dairy for the next few weeks or until you feel 100% better. Take a probiotic supplement if you like, but in a dairyfree formulation.

It would make sense to eat a super-cautious coeliac version of the BRAT diet fior a while, and see how you feel.

Also cut out all the fizzydrinks. They will not help your gut recover, and you've already discovered what they will do to your behaviour! Plus the massive sugar overload on an already traumatised gut could lead to candidiasis.

Tea without milk, herb tea, dilute juice and water of course, will all be far better foryou.

Hope you feel better soon!

I'm starting to feel better - hurrah! Stuck to home made chicken soup (from a chicken carcass with a few potatoes parsley and garlic) and stopped the fizzy drinks and drunk lots of water. You guys are definitely right - the tummy bug must have left my already-a-bit vulnerable gut in a more sensitive state. I haven't had breakfast yet - will tread very carefully! I'm going to try keeping a food diary for a while - perhaps I'm just temporarily intolerant to something after the tummy bug.

I've got some dairy-free probiotic tablets so will take those too - good idea prettycandles thank you!

Oh dagnammit, am not better after all. As soon as I tried eating a small meal I felt awful again - dizzy and headachey. Then waited until I was starving hungry and tried eating a banana and fainted ten minutes later. Splitting headache - I never want to eat again! I'm okay as long as I don't eat. Just hungry...

Given in and booked a gp appointment for Monday, which was the first available appointment. If I am better by then I can always cancel it. I have everything crossed that I will be better sooooooooon (said in plaintive self-pitying voice).

Talk to your Dad. Mine is a Dr and also shithot at diagnosis, he is always my first port of call unless it's something completely mundane.

I agree, call your dad.

Can you fast for 24-48h? Drink plenty, but eat nothing? It could help, even if you can only manage 24h.

For heavens sake ,you can't go on like this until Monday !
Can your GP practice really not fit you in until then ?
A & E ?
And call your DAD .