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!

Frozen veg may be the issue. There been a huge recall. Google it.

Yes have you eaten any frozen veg from aldi, sainsburys, lidl? I know morrisons and asda are not affected don't know about tesco. I haven't so know i haven't caught that x

Definitely not frozen veg - birds eye peas are my limit!

@illhavealargeglassofred thats good then. I have been to gps this morning. Still no results back so he rang them. They haven't finished putting the results together but no signs of food poisening, he's blaming gastro still. He says theres nothing they can do anyways with me being pregnant and only after 3 weeks would they investigate anyways. He said baby comes first and he just wants to know at the moment that it isn't infectious because I'll soon be on a hospital ward x

Good that your GP chased them even if you're still no further forward. Are you getting better?

I'm feeling a lot better today but still not back at work yet. I've been here before - feeling better then slipping back again so I don't want to go back to work only too soon only to go off again. I'm going to be patient and wait until I'm at least 2 days clear before going back.

Slightly better. Sorry for tmi but bm still mucusy and no shape to it as such. Hopefully will have full results by the end of the day if not i will be calling back as i think its shocking and obviously we need to know if its a bug or not. I've been twice already but i am yet to eat normally so I'm going to try today and see what affect that has x

Have you started probiotic capsules yet? Not the yoghurt drinks, as dairy best avoided, but the actual capsules? Well worth a try with lingering diarrhoea.

How are you today @illhavealargeglassofred

Not great today. 3 visits to the loo and I've only been up 10 minutes! Just as I think things are getting better. I'm signed off work for the rest of the week. I'm still as wiped out as ever and I'm finding myself needing a nap during the day - and not just a 20 minute snooze. I'm talking 2 hours here.

I asked this question earlier but I still don't know the answer. Does anyone know how long it takes for a specific food to cause a reaction if there's an intolerance there? Wheat, I'm looking at you! I had a bagel and plain philly for tea last night. Then later on a packet of super noodles = more wheat.

@illhavealargeglassofred i have no idea unfortunetly but my sister has ibs and i know that if she eats anything too fatty within about half an hour of eating it she gets very bad tummy cramps and then is confined to the bathroom for ages. So it would maybe be possible to effect you quickly. I am still the same. Thought i was better yesterday but I'm not. Clear results from gps which i am shocked at. He said it could be the baby but he isn't sure and theres nothing they can do till she is here and for the next few weeks after. Its awful today 😭 x

It is and I don't have a pregnancy to deal with. Just keep up with the fluids but I'm surprised your Gp hasn't prescribed Dioralyte or similar. There's nothing in there that's not safe. It definitely helped me. My GP was not happy with me just drinking plain water.

Not in the UK, but suffering from Dysentery again.

Have antibiotics and so on, but the pains and the shear tiredness is awful apart from the runs itself.

A little help may be (as I had to endure again) curds/ plain yogurt with a little honey, plenty of water, no surgery items or spicy food and defo no noodles. Those yakult things are all full of sugar.

Try and rest when you can, I have just woken up after a 2 hour 'nap' had a few of them yesterday and cannot be bothered to continue on with what im supposed to be doing.

Pay particular attention to hygiene on doors/handles, and dont cook for others. I am careful with towels as well, only use my own and those I have used along with bedding go on a boil wash.

I share your pain......

They are not worried about me dehydrating. I drink like a fish anyways, well now I'm pregnant i do. I hope it goes away for you soon. Must be awful to have it this long. Whats the next step for you and gps? Food diary? More tests? X

I'm going to speak to my GP about food intolerances if everything else is ruled out. First thing is a blood test for coeliac disease but I can't start cutting out any food groups yet or any blood test results might be skewed, particularly gluten for the coeliac test. I'll make an appt tomorrow and see how it goes

Apparently my last stool test came back satisfactory so no blood particles. Hurrah! I've got to say that cancer is my biggest fear.

Yes i agree. Thats what i immediately thought when i started passing bits with blood in. But being told now its just probably the baby pushing on my bowels. Didn't have any of this with first DD! Don't google though, makes everything worse xx

Yes, I can see why cancer is your fear.

But at over 3 weeks symptoms, you have to steel yourself and go back to the GP and ask if you should not be referred for colonoscopy. They should also run a full blood count at this point, because even though they have ruled out the presence of some diseases it might be worth looking at your white blood cell count to see if any infection-fighting is going on.

Diverticulosis or unusual parasite are other possibilities.

Thankfully my GP is taking this seriously - possibly because when I first went to see him about this I burst into tears as soon as I sat down! Sobbing my bloody heart out I was! When I was finally able to speak I said "I'm not even here about my mental health" and "I've had diarrhoea for over a week but that's not why I'm crying!" I think I was just utterly utterly exhausted and right in the middle of a heatwave 😂

So we've done one blood test - a TATT screen. And 2 stool tests. I'll go back to see him tomorrow and let him know that today has been particularly bad and that I've developed new symptoms since my last appt (abdominal pains, increased nausea, increased fatigue, pins and needles in my lower legs and I'm all off balance) and see what's next. He's already mentioned a colonoscopy and rectal exam. Lovely.

Not me, but my son. Had it as a todTerrible- tested for all known bugs, allergies and intolerances. Would settle down enough to get him back to school and then a few days later we'd be back to square one. Also had an effect on his health generally - think over half a term of part time school because he just couldn't manage a full day, sometimes he couldn't even manage a half day. Ended up very anaemic.

Then fine. We still have no idea what it was or why.

Had it as a toddler!!

Things are a lot better in the poo department thank god! Not totally back to normal but getting there. My Q test (I'm sure that's what he called it) came back clear so no blood in my poo - hurrah!

I've had bloods taken to test for coeliac disease and I'll get the results on Monday. The next step, if things don't continue to improve or the test comes back positive, is a rectal exam then colonoscopy. I don't want a rectal exam thank you! But apparently it's not optional.

Glad things seem to be improving for you op! Hope you get the results you want x

Yay! A normal poo! Progress

I hope you're feeling better Samantha?

I'm not feeling brilliant but i think all this is down to baby having dropped and is pushing on my bowels. So not as concerned as i was atm but it still isn't pleasent! I'm still being sick as well so that doesn't help and now i am having daily braxton hicks. The joys lol good job the end is near. Never had any off this, apart from sickness with my first x

I had similar a couple of years ago...had chronic diarrhoea for nearly three weeks. Similar to you, it was yellow and I was really worried.
Initially I had a week’s course of antibiotics but these didn’t help.
Next I had an appointment with a specialist (luckily I had private health cover so appointment was quick).
I then had an MRI scan , waiting a few days for the results was really nerve racking as I was convinced it was something serious.
Results came back all clear and the consultant said it was probably just a very bad infection.
After about 3 weeks it just cleared up on it’s own and thankfully I’ve been fine since.
Try not to worry, I’m sure you will be fine 💐

OP, this is a weird one (I had 8 weeks of chronic diarrhoea a few tears ago)

But has anyone tested your liver function and tested for traces of glandular fever?

I was pregnant at the time and all doctors I saw said it was pregnancy related as the only thing they could find was an abnormal liver function level. They induced my baby early but the symptoms didn't go.

In the end I saw a different doctor who checked for as much as he could and said he'd found traces in my tests that I had had glandular fever a few months before. He said that sometimes this virus can affect the bowel. I also had an enlarged spleen.

It took a good 12 months to be completely well, but the chronic diarrhoea did ease after a few weeks after the baby arrived.

The stool sample thing used to bug me. I used to bring in pots of yellow water. They'd look at me like "not urine, a stool sample!" And I'd have to say "IT IS!"

Hope you continue to get better.