Help me play health detective with my husband's digestion - he thinks he's digesting things too fast and poos five or six times a day

[loveyouradvice]

Yup... bit shocked to discover this! And needing to poo wakes him up in the night. Not great

He is ridiculously healthy - slim, keen cyclist, very fit, early 60s but everyone takes him for early 50s - but has had an intolerance to wheat which he discovered in his 20s. If he eats even a tiny amount of wheat he gets a migraine. Oh, and the same with red wine

Our diet is very healthy - lots of veggies, some meat protein but mainly vegetarian, lots of oats, not much sugar, not much alcohol.

So ... what do you think? Doesn't have diarrhoea or constipation - just poos a lot!

He says he feels as if everything moves through him too fast. Eating yogurt has helped a little but not much.

And he does avoid other grains like rye and barley, focussing on oats, rice, quinoa, etc...

Anyone ever heard of anything like this?

I’m not too sure but I went through a stage of this happening to me
Lasted about a year and because I was a bit overweight to start with and was then steadily losing weight I didn’t seek help (thanks vanity)
It then stopped all by itself

A few years later I had similar but different issue and it was hyperthyroidism

I presume when the he was diagnosed with intolerance to wheat, he would have had tests for coeliac, inflammatory bowel disease? If there is a change in his baseline then would be worth seeing gp about it. It could be something on top of intolerance.

Namenic I agree and have wondered... so long since diagnosed with intolerance - over thirty years - so things could easily have changed.

He did ask GP who told him he thought it was psychological!!!!!

I think he should ask to talk to someone else about it

I would say it sounds like you are eating a lot of fibre. I know eating more fibre is meant to be healthy but IMO this advice is aimed at the average person, who eats very little fibre, not at people like your husband. He could try reducing fibre slightly and see if that has an impact. Or you could look at the low FODMAP diet which helps a lot of people with diarrhea because of IBS. It's quite restrictive if you cut out the high FODMAP foods completely (no wheat, no milk or yoghurt apart from lactose-free, plus most pulses and lots of fruits and vegetables are out). But you don't necessarily have to cut them out completely, it can be helpful just to reduce the quantity a bit.

Neither of those things should replace trying to get the GP to take it more seriously though. Diet changes like that might help the symptoms but if there is an underlying cause they won't do anything to help that obviously. I would think they should at least run some blood tests to check iron levels.

I'd definitely try cutting back on the fibre.

I'd try cutting out the oats. Gluten is found in wheat, rye and barley, and they used to say it was in oats, but the protein ? gliadin I think - in oats is a little different to the gluten in the others. In recent years "gluten free oats" have become widely available as efforts have been made to grow oats in a manner that avoids small amounts of contamination with other grains.

However, it doesn't seem to be true that all coeliacs can tolerate oats. We have it through our family and both my sister and my mother get pronounced gut symptoms if they try a biscuit containing "gluten-free oats". I get more of the brain fog / emotional overload symptoms and I don't dare try oats again.

Is it a recent change that he poos so often or is this how he has always been?

Does he drink a lot of coffee?

Husband hit 40 and had no end of trouble with loose stools was then diagnosed with coeliac so definitely might be worth exploring further

Oats make me poo! If I had oats every day I'd never be off the loo, I have porridge once or twice a week but can't tolerate more than that.

Not enough fiber?

Some people have tannin allergic and it's probably why he gets headaches or flush from alcohol

I think he should get checked out but he is doing a few things that do increase bowel movements above the 2-3day normal limit:
-eats tons of fibre.
-drinks lots of water
-high metabolism from lots of exercise

I'm another one who can't eat oats as I immediately poo.

I also can't eat apples as they are another thing that immediately makes me poo other fruit take longer.

I'm lactose intolerant as well. I know other people who are lactose intolerant and we all noticed that lactose free dairy, can make you ill so you are best of using the alternatives that are non-dairy.

Really interesting guys - thank you!

Just three days in, his symptoms seem to be calming down...

What he's done is:

1. Eat in only a 12 and a half hour window ... I discovered he wakes ravenous and can be eating from 5 am to 9.30 pm
2. Oats only once a day, and only gluten-free
3. Eating three meals a day without snacks... he thinks this is the biggest influence...

Early days. But already his digestion is calming down. We will get coeliac tested by Doc, as well as eliminating anything else obvious but it might just be as so many of you have commented:

• eating too many oats (porridge, oatcakes throughout the day)
• not giving his digestion a "rest" before more food arrives
• on top of having a generally high fibre diet in a fit and energetic man

Coffee - its only one a day in the morning, and he definitely notices it has an impact.

So now its wait and watch, and see what happens!

Alll other thoughts welcome.... I've become very keen on building a healthy gut biome since reading Michael Mosley so will be working with him once things have slowed down to check he's getting everything to grow one from sauerkraut and blue cheese to potato starch... with things moving so fast, I don't think it's had a chance!

Just be aware that any blood tests for coeliac disease will be negative unless he's consuming at least two meals a day that are heavily gluten based.

Definitely ditch the oats to start with, I have coeliac disease and cannot tolerate oats, even gluten free ones. Also try and avoid any cross contamination with wheat in the kitchen, like separate toasters etc.. it's sound like he's still being affected by his intolerance

THanks... that's really interesting ....Just wondering if the other glutens count for a coeliac test - like rye and barley. Eating wheat would be a disaster for him as he gets horrendous migraines.

Wheat isn't a big deal in our house as I don't really eat any - only when DC home and then toaster etc but hasn't been a problem for him in spite of being so sensitive

Feeling gently optimistic as things are so much better... and this is a comparatively recent problem, starting 8-9 weeks ago. not sure what happened then! .

This sounds exactly like my DP although he’s about 30 years younger.
I’m always telling him I think he should get checked by a doctor but he says he’s always pooed a lot and it’s normal for him 🤷🏼‍♀️

I have lymphocytic colitis, and when that flares up, I get diarrhoea, and there are certain foods that either make things worse, or that just go straight through me.

Raw veg and salad are bad for making the symptoms flare up, and I don’t digest pine nuts or sweet corn (I know that not digesting sweet corn is normal, but pine nuts?).

I would have thought with it only being for the last 8-9 weeks that the gp should have taken more interest in it. As whilst it may be nothing a change in bowel motions should be checked out I thought.

Yup, I think he needs to make more of a fuss with the GP. OH presented in a similar way and was subsequently diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (after initially being fobbed off)

If this is a new change to more frequent poos then your gp should absolutely take it seriously.
He needs bloods, especially checking his Hb levels, he should have a poo test for blood.. This depends on your area.. Some are done some not.
This can be a sign of something more serious and is also possibly a criteria on the two week wait referral rule.
He should have a colonoscopy.
Some areas gps can send patients directly for colonoscopy.
Whatever your areas pathways are, you dh needs this investigated.

I agree these are not normal bowel habits by a long shot and his diet is good. Something is really not right. I'd be pushing for a colonoscopy.

If he's had a change in bowel habit lasting longer than a few weeks, he needs to have this investigated. Bloods and a referral to colorectal surgery for a colonsocopy.