Chronic diarrhoea Day 18!

[IllHaveALargeGlassOfRed]

And apparently my stool sample has been marked by GP as "satisfactory"

Just how?!

I have had the most horrendous diarrhoea for 18 days and the only thing that makes any difference at all is Dioralyte sachets. It's now beginning to firm up but my god I thought I was dying at one point. It's watery, yellow and stinks to high heaven.

I've been to the GP about this who prescribed Loperamide to begin with which made zero difference. I went back after a week and he then prescribed the rehydration sachets which have had an effect. I handed in a stool sample (photo available if anyone's interested!) and phoned for the results today. According to the receptionist it's been marked as satisfactory which I'm amazed about.

The last time I saw the GP he mentioned campylobacter and dysentery. And now it appears to be nothing.

Does anyone have a similar unexplained period of chronic diarrhoea? Any other suggestions on what might have caused it? No vomiting, no cramps, just shitting my brains out 12 times a day!

They'll only find what they test for,. This sounds like campylobacter from your description and the length of time it's been going on, but if your sample is clear it may be that it's on the way out.

From my experience, I would look out for the further joys of post-infectious IBS.

Thanks timeistight. I spoke to the Gp today and he confirmed that they tested for the biggies like campylobacter and it's definitely not that. But he does think it's been caused by a virus, just nothing serious.

What joys can I look forward too?! When this started I thought it was IBS ( had it in the past).

Did they test for Giardia?

I don't know Tayto - just the "biggies" he said.

I've got to say that things is that department are looking better so yeah whatever it is/was could be on its way out.

I'm surprised anything survived the tsunami that has been the last 2 weeks

I'm going back to my GP today as the diarrhoea hasn't stopped. It's changed completely but I'm worried it's gone back to the way it was when this bout first started.

I'm going to ask about what other tests can be done to get to the, ahem, bottom of it. I need to get back to work!

So it's not:

C-diff
Cryptosporidiosis
Campylobacter
Salmonella
And they ruled out Giardia as I'd not been anywhere where it's prevalent

So that's good! As to what it is, we don't know yet. More tests to come I suspect.

I HATE taking poo samples.

Could it be something you are eating? I pretty much had it for 2 years and was getting fobbed off. Turned out to be the sulphites in the squash I was drinking. Left me going bald and exhausted I feel for you OP

I'm going to start keeping a food diary including times of eating and times of going and see if there's any obvious link.

To be honest I'm not eating much. So a typical day just now will be:

Boiled egg mashed up with Benecol spread and a sprinkle of cayenne
Soup - either the packet chicken noodle or a tin of Baxter's garden veg, carrot/butter bean, lentil. Or maybe one of those Birds Eye frozen rice microwave bags.
Some tinned fruit in juice throughout the day - peaches or mandarins. It's fun to watch them make a reappearance 🙁
For tea, if I'm hungry, it's either a plain roast chicken breast with salad inc potato salad and coleslaw or maybe chille con carne (really really mild) with plain boiled rice or baked potato
Or, and this is what I'm craving, curry super noodles. I seem to be craving curry which is weird considering that's what "it" looks like
I'm unable to stomach bready or biscuity stuff. Or porridge. Or coffee. Or anything sweet.

That sounds like a lot of food but I'm not snacking which is very unlike me! In the good old days, Once an hour every hour I'd have a latte/cappuccino and a snack bar/biscuit!

Drinks:

Bottled still water
Dioralyte made with bottled water
Lipton's peach iced tea which I have to say has had an adverse effect - probably because it's loaded with sugar. So I'll stop that
Fruit tea to replace my beloved coffee

I just looked at an elimination diet list. Goodness - that's a lot of food to cut out and it's mainly all the things I eat and am currently eating. And they're all the things we've learned to have in your cupboards as basics! Tomatoes, pulses, spices, beef. Well there goes my chilli!

What else? Chicken, potatoes, butter/marg, eggs, sugar, caffeine, lentils nuts and seeds. And there goes the rest of it!

Does anyone know how quickly a food can cause diarrhoea? I've literally just had one bite of rice cake and almond butter when I had to run to the loo.

Could it happen that quickly? I would have assumed a couple of hours at least sitting in my system before my bowels decided "nope, we're not liking this"

Think I am a bit old fashioned but to be honest if it’s come back I would drink only clear liquid for 24 hours no food then start on the BRAT died, banana, plain boiled rice, apples and dry toast for 36 hours and then start to introduce plain chicken and fish with rice, marmite on cream crackers etc and build up to more normal meals. Hope you feel better soon though.

I am on day 8 of diarrhea. Waiting for stool sample results that seem to be taking forever to be able to get the results for. Starting to worry now its something more than just a bug or food poisening. I've also had mucus and red blood in it occasionaly. Not much blood but enough for me to notice. Driving my self insane wondering what the results will be. I'm almost 38 weeks pregnant. Thought yesterday it was getting better but obviously not, today i have been to the loo 9 times and its very runny. I know how your feeling. Abserloutly fed up now!

I agree you may have post infection IBS. This happened to me a few years ago. I was given antibiotics to stop it but I think it actually made it worse. My tummy has never been the same again, but I found out that wholewheat didn't agree with me. Definitely play around with different foods (not too much variety in a day) and keep a food diary.

You can get giardia in England. We did and it was exactly as you describe.

Giardia - or giardiasis also known as beaver fever - hah, that made me chuckle! I did read that there are a few thousand cases in England and Wales but can't find stats for Scotland which is where I am.

IBS - I just don't know. I thought it was IBS-D to begin with as I had that about 15 years ago but back then it was normal diarrhoea IYKWIM. This time a lot of things happened all at the same time in the run up to this which is why I'm finding it hard to pinpoint the cause. Such as:

Joining SW a few weeks ago - as soon as I started I became ill (bloating, stomach cramps, mild diarrhoea) and I put that down to the stupid low fat this and sugar free that products. Never again.
Working on a livestock farm at an event less than a week before the diarrhoea started
Post-viral fatigue and general unwellness. I was in hospital for a virus related illness back in April and I'm still recovering from that
Work related stress - this is my extremely busy period when I'm working 60+ hours a week. Not this time - I've been off since this started. I was hoping to go back tomorrow but I've not been well at all this weekend so I think I'll need to be signed off again.

So a lot going on all at the same time. I said to my GP that I feel such a wally coming to him with diarrhoea of all things but he's taking it seriously. Any major change in bowel habit should be investigated. You just never know.

BRAT diet or just cut out food altogether for 24 hours - I know I should try this but I'm starving! So banana, white rice, applesauce and dry toast. God. How depressing!

Samantha - I hope you feel better soon. Especially at this stage in your pregnancy - not what you need right now!

@illhavealargeglassofred its bloody awful. Yesterday i felt good so we went out for lunch which baby decided it didn't want and i was sick. I completely regretted that. Ended up having banana and toast for tea and still this morning i have diarrhea. So this is day 9 and i am still no further forward finding out what is wrong/if its bug or food poisening. But there is litrally only me ill. My two year old DD and OH have not got it. Ment to be at gps in the morning but there is no way i will make it there at this rate never mind my midwife appointment today! This baby is due to come on the 19th by c section and i need to be well for that. Can i ask how long you waiting for stool sample results? Its been 5 days for me now x

My first stool sample went in on Friday afternoon and the results were read and marked by my GP by Tuesday morning but I may have been Monday - Tuesday was when I phoned in. I handed the other one in on Thursday morning and I'm expecting the results to be in by Monday.

But I'm in Scotland. On a semi related topic, there's a thread on here about a 4 month waiting list for getting a coil fitted! 4 months! I could phone my surgery on Monday and get a coil fitted that week. That's horrendous.

Have you phoned your surgery yet for the results or are you waiting for them to phone you? My GP said he'd only phone me if there was something to report on. Your results might already be in?

4 months? That's crazy.
Yes i rang thursday and was told to ring back friday as they should be back then. Rang back friday to be told they no longer could give results out over the phone and the gp would ring me. Even though less than 24 hours earlier they could. So i rang and asked to speak to the on call doctor who said no results where back and not to eat if i couldn't stomach it which is rediculous at 38 weeks pregnant. I rang midwife yesterday and asked her to check and results still were not back. She said to ring back today and she will check again. I am so fed up and the wait is making me more paraniod something is really wrong xx

Results still are not back for me. I'm unsure if a midwife can ring the path lab to hurry results along. Just making me more and more anxious x

No news is good news I always say! Try not to worry too much about it. I was really anxious the first week when the diarrhoea was at its worst and thought I must be dying. But now at day 23 I'm a bit "ach well, let's wait and see".

What are you taking in the meantime Samantha? Are you allowed to take loperamide? My GP says rehydration is the most important thing so I'm prescribed Dioralyte. Not just plain water.

@illhavealargeglass not allowed to take anything. Had i off not been pregnant i would of taken imodium or something to stop it. I'm just told as long as i am drinking enough its ok. Which i drink a lot anyways. Oh no i worry my self silly when results take a long time to get back. I don't understand whats taking so long, are they growing something? Has something serious been found and the results are back but they are refusing to tell me until i can actually get in to the gps face to face? I'm abserloutly starving today though and cannot stop thinking about chinese 😖 suppose a dry bit of toast will have to do x

Bummer. No pun intended!

I can't eat toast just now, dry or otherwise. So the BRA diet is going to have to do!

@illhavealargeglassofred oh i feel for you. I'm almost crying I'm that hungry. Dry toast makes me gag and so do bananas but i did manage a banana this morning. My stomach is making growling noises. Midwife came out and said over the weekend labs are really slow so results should be back tomorrow, not holding my breath as they've said that every day i have rang. I told her it was making me anxious she just said that they must be growing something and it may be something i will need antibiotics for.