[Mr.Wolf]

Hello everybody,

I made an interesting discovery this morning, every once in a while, I have red in my stool. My CT Scan, occult stool test, and sigmoidoscopy revealed everything to be tip-top. Today I noticed small 1/4" and smaller red "Sticks" in my stool... upon further investigation they look like, rolled-up tomato skins... one of which actually looked like a square cut piece of tomato with the tomato flesh on one side. Even more bizarre is sometimes, I hate what appears to be... this is going to sound odd... plastic? rough pieces of hard paper thin plastic-like substance... Now... I haven't eaten tomatoes for a while... upon investigating I found these "Red tomato sticks" popping up all over google and the website being associated with 'Flukes" my question is to you, does a fluke infection cause IBS symptoms?

My symptoms are:

• BM's twice a day
• Mucus is present in small amounts sometimes coating the stool
• alternate between light constipation and mild D.
• Constipation BM is brown
• D BM's are light almost yellow sometimes
• Light pain in the lower right.
• Pain (Sometimes ) under the sternum
• Lower back pain
• Bubbles or foam in urine sometimes

None of my symptoms are intense or super painful - just annoying. Has anyone ever had these "Tomato sticks?" before?

 

[Kathleen M.]

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/fasciola/gen_info/faqs.html sounds like you have had more symptoms than "just" IBS.

It is not uncommon to see bits of undigested matter in the stool. What hard insoluble bits you don't grind up enough in the mouth will come out the other end mostly how it went down. Not nutrients or colors or water-soluble stuff may be leached out, so it may not look 100% the same going in and coming out.

Usually, the eggs are what come out. Things from "liver flushes" seem to be more a consequence of the combination of things put together to flush the liver than stuff that comes out of the liver.

 

[Mr.Wolf]

I agree,

The red doesnt look like blood however... its not liquid, does that make sense? its "Fluffy" and to be honest sometimes yes its clearly a red pepper or tomato bit to be honest i dont really know what to look for. When people say i had blood, do they mean red water? The red I have was mixed in the stool, in jelly like chunks and wasnt unifomaly red, some parts where brown or orange. and ive never had the black tar stools. Just to clarify, which of my symptoms is not typical IBS?

I have a check up on Wednesday and a follow up with my GI.

Im wondering if i should call my GI and just talk about it...

Thanks Kathleen, i was hoping youd be the one to answer.

 

[Kathleen M.]

I wasn't saying YOUR symptoms. Liver flukes can cause, "clinical features can include fever, malaise, abdominal pain, eosinophilia, hepatomegaly (an enlarged liver), and abnormal liver tests."

Pain under the sternum usually is more "heartburn" or other esophogeal pain (asuming you are not having heart attack after heart attack after heart attack without dying) rather than IBS.

Blood turns brown (then black) fairly soon after you bleed it into the GI tract. It mixes into the stool. How much is in the water vs how much is in the stool varies. Usually upper GI bleeds (like from your liver, where the flukes would be) has turned black and tarry.

Most red solids in teh stool are from red solids you eat. Probably spending a lot less time trying to dissect your stool would be helpful. Usually nothing in there that tells you anything, but plenty to scare yourself with if you tend to do that.

 

[Mr.Wolf]

lol. You coudn't be more right.

I spend most times freaking my self out... i didnt think it was blood, it would have to be low in the digestive track to be red and i had a sigmoid done this year which came back clear as day.

Ill keep an eye on it and inform my Doc and GI.

Still... those red "tomato" skins....

Thanks again.

 

[Freud]

I'd say, go get it checked. When these things (parasites, bacteria, flukes, whatever) comes up, people and doctors are alway really sceptical. As if it would be a totally unthinkable scenario that people could be infected with parasites. Parasites are real. Anyone can get them. So, if you truly suspect flukes, ask a doctor to check for them. You can google pictures of the liver fluke and compare. As for IBS though, I think other parsites and bacteria are more commonly found in studies of IBS patients, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of flukes.

 

[DeannaT]

Hi Mr. Wolf;

I have almost the exact same thing you described, with almost all of the same symptoms. All of my blood work and tests have come back "normal," including stool testing. However, I had and abdominal ultrasound that showed I have cysts all over my liver, pancreas, spleen, and a large one on my right kidney. I let my primary care doctor tell me that the cysts are no problem, and there was no need to follow up with a GI specialist. However, I continue to not feel well (seems to cycle), and we are having lots of very scary problems in my immediate family - all three kids having health issues from moderate to severe.

Did you ever find out what those little red "tomato skins" were? How are you doing? I am just relieved that someone else has the same crap I do (haha! Pun intended)!!

 

[ugh_why]

Wow, I'm sorry for replying to such an old thread, but Mr. Wolf, you just described exactly what I've been going through for the last 10 months. Any chance you or DeannaT got to the bottom of it?

 

[bharri24]

Check his out.

Red Flukes... Probably Liver Flukes.

Cause: Eating too much fatty foods/sugars.

My recommendation is not to worry what comes out but what comes in.

What foods your intaking, are you worrying a lot to make it a good environment for them to live in.

Are you receiving other affects, such as yeast smelling stools/ also you can tell when a stool is yeasty by how it looks, very torn up, and almost powder. This is from too much sugar. and too much bad fat.

Things to do:

Limit your fat intake, this is there shelter, and what they live in, good fats such as coconut oil, avocado, good to have, just limit it until you get back on track.

Secondly, limit your sugar intake. Fruits are fine, just don't over due it. This feeds most bad things in your body.

Thirdly, find a worry free enviorment, go out for a walk and enjoy yourself. Try and limit on the deserve but indulge in good quality foods.

Things that trigger this: High fructose corn syrup, fried foods/stir-fry foods. Watch out for additives like dressings

As far as the tomatoe skins go. These are pretty normal and will go away with better habits, enema's will help that.

And as far as lower back pain. I get that too, it's seems like a way your body stores too much water in your kidneys and starting giving lower back pain. Also a result of liver dmg, clean your liver up a bit, less alchahol. and don't binge drink water, try and drink small amount often. Could be from too much salt, but most of the time just bad diet.

Cheers,

Brendan

 

[ugh_why]

Thanks Brendan!

Yes, the stools look like you describe when it's not just diarrhea, and they have a certain smell to them, almost like rubber, though I wouldn't say that describes it exactly.

For the most part I've pretty much followed the eating habits you described, recently I have been eating more avocado and coconut oil though.

I have an appointment with a gastroenterologist in two weeks, until then I'll try following your diet guidelines more strictly.

Thank you!

 

[Cesarcruz460]

Anyone figure it out? I’ve had this for years and recently was throwing up and had a 3 inch, looks like tomato skin stuck in my throat.

 

[Hopeless patient]

I would also love to know if anyone figured this out

 

[Roe]

Anyone figure it out? I’ve had this for years and recently was throwing up and had a 3 inch, looks like tomato skin stuck in my throat.

This is what is happening to my daughter. The vomiting up the tomato skins. I personally have seen them in my stool. I do think liver flukes and we are all doing a parasite cleanse the next full moon. Good luck!