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!

Sorry @Trampire I shouldn't laugh but your poor poo sample!

Sent too soon.

I was in hospital with ITP 3 months ago and was tested for all sorts of viruses. Turns out I had glandular fever "at some point" as they found antibodies in my (daily) blood tests.

My recent blood tests have shown my white blood cell count to be normal which suggests I'm not fighting an infection.

All very confusing. GP keeps referring back to my ITP and subsequent high dose steroids but like I said that was 2-3 months ago that all happened.

I think I picked something up at an event I ran in mid June as it was a few days after that I became really unwell.

Off to Google glandular fever.

Thanks @Ilovemypantry - 3 weeks ago I thought I was dying but I do feel much better.

This year has been a tough one health-wise - I've just felt completely wiped out and just not myself since the start of the year. So maybe i had glandular fever at the start of the year and it's just led to a series of illnesses - the common symptom being fatigue.

I thought i was just getting auld! 😀

Ecoli? I got ecoli when I was travelling and was ill for months

Tested clear for E-coli.

I got giardia in the uk last year and had to be tested twice before it showed up. If you haven’t been specifically tested I would push for it

Hope you get some answes soon.

I think coeliac is a real possibility. Especially given your sis has IBS (has she had a screen?) and you have at some point has Glandular Fever. I think that there is a potential link betweek GF and triggering autoimmune diseases which coeliac is.

Giardia is not usually included in a regular poo screen (!).It's a parasite rather than a bacterial/ viral thing. You can definitely get it in the UK and even without doing anything unusual.

@ohnothanks - it's @SamanthaH92 with the IBS sister but I've got IBS myself. Had it for about 15 years but I only get mild symptoms and only when I'm really really stressed. When I went to the GP when this started 4 weeks ago I assumed it was IBS but it seems to be more serious.

I've recommended drinking kefir for IBS on here before, but think it might also help you, OP.

Oh apologies. Confuddled ...

I've thought about kefir, kombucha etc but fizzy milk sounds revolting!

I had this and it went on for six months! Every time I ate anything remotely fatty I had to run to the loo, I lived on Imodium for ages. Stopped eating when I was at work. Gave up drinking for months and no improvement.

Had investigations and colonoscopy and nothing was found. It gradually improved and now completely back to normal.

I had been on naproxen for an ear infection a few months before and wondered if that irritated my stomach in some way and set it off. Was also worried about chronic pancreatitis after getting lost in google land. But turned out to be unexplained. So weird things can happen and resolve themselves sometimes!

How are you feeling today OP? I woke up yesterday morning really constipated (one extreme to the other!) Same again today so rang midwifes asked what i could take they said nothing and to see gp! Seems to be their answer for everything. She did say to try orange juice or prunes. So me desperate to go mixed prune juice with orange just drank that then thought I'll try just prune juice "incase" well i am now stuck back in the bathroom with agonising diarrhea cramps but no diarrhea. Managed to go but my gosh. I think this is going to be another day on the loo and i will never drink prune juice again xx

Could be bile acid malabsorption diarrhoea. Have a google. More common if you have had your gall bladder out but I have mine and still have it

Ugh @SamanthaH92 - not having a good day. I've started a list if trigger foods and I've had to add three things today:

Quavers
Fresh cock-a-leekie soup
Fruit cider

I had these this afternoon one after the other and had to rush to the bathroom with diarrhoea as bad as it was 2 weeks ago.

And based on your post I think I might add prunes to the list! 😀

Yes, please don't have prune or prune juice lol. I have spent most the afternoon in the bathroom. Very annoyed at my self as things were getting better but not 100%. I now have diarrhea again. Are you having to write lists now of what you are eating and working it out based on that? Just a quick thought...have you recently stopped smoking? Or are you a non smoker x

Non smoker. Do you think a fag would help?

Pulses, curry, bread all on the list. I had butternut squash and chickpea curry with naan bread Thursday night. That was not a good night.

Lol no that will make you want to go first thing in the morning a lot for sure!! The reason i ask is because I'm an ex smoker. I smoked a lot but when i finally quit i started not been able to eat things i used too (which i loved!!) For example i can no longer eat fajitas or anything with spice because its sets me of with very bad diarrhea almost immedietly.

I had giardia for I think about 2 years. Poo ranged from hideous a million times a day to normal on a very regular basis.

I'm the most boring person who hardly ever eats out and definitely in no dodgy places. Nobody had any idea how I got it. It took 2 courses of antibiotics to get rid of it and I'm sure that 15 years on my stomach is still affected to some degree.

Don't get lulled into thinking it's something you're eating. I have things I won't eat as they're a problem but sometimes I can eat them with no issues at all. Sometimes if I eat something with onion in I can't get out of the loo but sometimes I live life on the edge and eat onion rings and am sometimes fine - I think it's often a cumulative effect.

You do need to ask to be tested for Giardia. A relative of mine had unexplained diarrhoea for weeks and it turned out to be Giardia, but the GP exhausted all the usual culprits first. No foreign travel either, so must have been from some imported food I think. A

s PP have mentioned, the GPs test for the usual things but this means they say a sample is normal when it isn't. So at the moment they can tell you what it isn't but they still don't know what it is

Giardia is on my "not ruling it out" list but my GP was so dismissive of it, primarily because we're in Scotland and I've not travelled anywhere. Other than Lanzarote which doesn't appear to be a hotspot. I've not even been down to England this year!

If it goes on however, I'll ask him again about testing.

I've just eaten spaghetti bolognese with normal spaghetti. Currently monitoring the situation.....

I was going to have my mince with edemame bean spaghetti but I didn't have enough clean pots to make 2 lots!

I'd not been away for about 4 years before I caught mine. No local outbreaks or anything. I must have caught it off someone directly.