Why have I had diarrhoea for over a month??

[MagicVanillaBeans]

I’m trying to get to the bottom (ha) of why I’m so unwell and would really appreciate some ideas or pointers. I’ve basically had diarrhoea for several weeks. Sometimes it seems to improve, but always comes back with a vengeance. It seems to get worse when I eat and when I wake up, so I’m often ill in the mornings and evenings and, while still annoying, it’s not so acute during the day.

Docs have done stool tests for bacteria and parasites (clear), inflammation (possible, slight, but borderline) and blood (the FIT test - clear, phew). They also did a blood test and all that came up was slight low iron, which I’ve had since at least late last year. No inflammation markers up on blood.

They wanted to wait 6 weeks and repeat the inflammation test, but I went back in tears saying I can’t go on like this (can’t do the school run, can’t work etc etc - also I’m really scared and the waiting is hard) and all that came of that is that they’re repeating the FIT test and bug test. Actually, no - GP also spoke to the gastro team who said they’ll do an x ray of my tummy but only if/when certain results come back.

I feel like no one knows what’s wrong with me or how to fix it. Do any of you have any suggestions of what to ask for? I would have thought a colonoscopy would be right in this instance but they said not 🤷🏻‍♀️

Are you in any ?

i get this a few times a year, ended up in hospital a few years ago, turns out of was the omprazole I was ironically taking for reflux. All the -prazoles do it to me, as do all the -triptylines and weirdly milk of magnesia. And these are things I’ve been prescribed in the past to try and help my gastric symptoms.

Taking NSAIDs also triggers me too

Among the bloods, was there a full blood count? It's possible that you have an infection that's proving hard to shift, so worth having your white blood cells levels checked.

Also, GI symptoms of this sort is one manifestation of long covid, which might mean that after checking for other causes, you just have to wait it out, treating symptoms and seeing if dietary changes help.

Just an update, as I know I appreciated these when searching back through forums for people who shared my symptoms. Thank you so much to the people who recommended Alflorex - that cured the diarrhoea 🙌 Sadly the pain still affects me and no one knows what that is yet, but my colonoscopy was clear (never have I been so relieved!!) and I had a CT scan which also showed no anomalies. So it’s probably IBS (and the original problem was possibly a bacterial imbalance post Covid) or my endometriosis playing up. I have an appointment with a gastroenterologist still to come, but not urgent. Thanks again for all your help.

That's great news

Whilst I have no idea of the cause could you eat scrambled eggs to bind you up a bit and take Imodium.