Yellow diarrhea

[Jajana]

I have recently returned to the UK after a holiday in Mexico. A few days before I was due to return home, I started to suffer with explosive (foul smelling) yellow diarrhea not long after eating, abdominal pain, burping & really gassy.
This has persisted until now and I’ve tried calling 111 - all they say is to drink water, take Imodium & it’s normal to have stomach bugs after travelling 🤔.

Has anyone experienced this? I am going to try and contact my GP tomorrow about it to get a stool test.

I would want to know if it's giardiasis. Sounds like it could be. I don't know if they always treat it, if mild it can clear up on it's own.

I wouldnt take immodium without a doctor advice, if you have an infection it needs to be out.

It could also be noro but if its been going on a while you could be getting dehydrated. Did you fly with an upset tummy.

I had this after returning from Asia, it lasted for around 4 months. I called the doctor after a few weeks and similar to you, I was told it was 'normal' to have an 'upset stomach' and it would pass and there was no need to do any tests nor prescribe any medication. They didn't entertain me when I said I thought I had a parasite/infection and needed help. It was a grim few months. I wish I'd asked for a second opinion, please don't suffer, persist with your gp if you can.

@BeachTree what did it end up being for you? What treatment did you receive?

@BlanketsBanned Yes I did. My wee is light coloured so I don't think I'm getting dehydrated.

@AllBellyandBoobs I am concerned it's this after my symptoms match it!

I had this when on holiday in Kenya. They call it the Kenyan express.

Giardiasis is extremely painful, my friend had it and dropped a couple of stone in as many weeks.

@userxx how long did it last? Did you receive any treatment?

About 3 weeks, no treatment I just let it run its course. Keep hydrated, I used rehydration salts.

I had this after travelling 8n Central America. Turned out after stool sampling that I had amoebic dysentery and a course of flagyl (metronizadole) cleared it up well. The eggy burps were the worst!

It's really important not to drink alcohol when you're taking it, makes you sicker than the illness!

I also wouldn’t take Immodium and would ask for a stool test, years ago we got food poisoning from, we think, a sandwich on a ferry and it took 3 weeks for us to feel better, it was miserable.
Slightly different, but I know that if animals test positive for Giardia it’s a course of antibiotics and a further test to see if it clears (but guess that is “private” medicine!!)
Hope you feel better soon.

I don't know, the Dr wouldn't test me for anything and told me it would pass. I was told after travelling to the places I did, that an 'upset' stomach was normal, however the symptoms I had far exceeded an upset stomach.

It did go away after about 3/4 months. I didn't receive any treatment. it was grim. Looking back I wish I'd pushed the Dr harder for testing and treatment as I definitely had something very wrong at the time.

An update if anyone reads this:

My symptoms lasted a month which was an awful month. I was starting to wonder if it would ever stop!

The GP didn’t really help and told me to ride it out which did work but it was miserable! So in the end, never knew what it was.