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So back in March of this year, I took a trip to very underdeveloped part of Belize. While there I contracted what i assumed to be travelers diarrhea, however in retrospect I'm not so sure. One day I began to have very bad cramps and bloating, and the next night the symptoms worsened, I began to have shivers and chills and had really bad diarrhea, maybe 6 times that night. The next day the diarrhea was gone, but the other stuff stayed. Upon my return back home, I had diarrhea for another night after several days of no diarrhea. I went to my doctor and we treated for what seemed like really aggressive travelers diarrhea. The diarrhea stopped, but the other symptoms,the bloating, abdominal pain and nausea continued.

 

After getting a stool sample done, I tested positive for Dientomoeba Fragilis, a usually harmless parasite but that can sometimes cause the symptoms I was having. After 3 courses of antibiotics, the parasite was eradicated, but the symptoms continued. I got tested very many inflammatory bowel diseases, all of which came back very negative.

 

After getting tested for things, I came out negative for every inflammatory bowel disease. In fact so negative their was no sign of any kind of inflammation anywhere, not even from the parasite. So that brings me to now. Currently, I am experiencing nausea, shivers, lower and upper abdominal pain, bad bloating, excessive gas and burping, and a much reduced appetite, also occasionally a feeling of incomplete defecation. Here is where things get a bit strange however, food does not worsen my symptoms, with the exception of very, very spicy foods (I mean borderline inedible) which result in near instant diarrhea and terrible abdominal pain. Previous to my trip, I was actually very constipated often, however now I am very regular, but my stool is often soft and broken, I also have a lot of intestinal rumbling and growling, and I have very little appetite. here is the stranger part, eating results in the upper abdominal pain going away, the bloating gets worse for a time but the pain in my upper abdomen subsides, all of my symptoms get worse at night, virtually none are present when I lie down, and I also have pain in my back.

 

I have a lot of nausea, however I am still able to eat a lot the times I am hungry, also despite sometimes feeling a very urgent need to go to bathroom, when I sit down their is nothing more than some flatulence. Also, the symptoms (apart form the bloating) are somewhat helped by antacids.

 

So, sorry for the long read, in short should I pursue IBS treatment, or are there other things that could be causing my symptoms? Also, as a side note, prior to this trip I had zero history of bowel problems.