[Strineski]

Hello! I am trying to ease my mind as I wait to see a gastroenterologist; they can't get me in until early May. I have been having almost constant diarrhea for six weeks now. I lost 11 pounds, so I finally went in to an internal medicine doctor a few weeks ago. He ordered blood tests, a stool culture, and parasite stool sample. All of these came back in the normal range. He wanted to put me on Flagyl just to see if it works, but because I'm breastfeeding my infant I am hesitant to take it since my tests were negative. What I really suspect is IBS, but am trying to rule out Crohn's disease and cancer and I'm hoping some of you might see something in my symptoms that would give me hope that it isn't one of those more serious diseases! Over the past 4 or 5 days, I've been taking probiotic supplements, eating yogurt with live cultures, and I've completely cutting out gluten and lactose. Since then, my weight has stabilized, my tummy feels much better--basically normal--and yesterday I had very normal bowel movements, the first in weeks. I did have a night sweat two nights ago, and I have had maybe 8 nights sweats during the past six weeks; not every night. I've run a low-grade fever just a few times. However, today I have had several bouts of very water diarrhea again! If this were cancer or Crohn's, shouldn't I just keep getting worse? Would it make any sense to have a great day with normal functions and then the next day it returns again? Isn't that more consistent with IBS? I have very little pain; just a bit right before and during an episode, and there is an almost constant liquid gurgling that I can hear in my abdomen, but otherwise no pain. I did have corn and balsamic vinaigrette dressing yesterday, which has a little bit of onion and garlic; do you think it's possible that those triggered the D if what I have is IBS? Or possibly the vinegar? My appetite has been much better since cutting out gluten and lactose, so is it possible that my episodes this morning are still just trying to get the "bad" stuff out of my system? Thanks for any insights you might be able to offer!

 

[Bonzi]

Quick question that will come up, how old are you?

 

[Strineski]

Oops, sorry--I forgot to mention that. I'm 40 years old, female, and there is no family history of colon cancer (my parents both have a few polyps, and they're in their 70s). There is a long family history of autoimmune disease on one side but no Crohn's that I'm aware of.

 

[Jillywindy]

I don't think that anyone would like to say that it definitely isn't cancer or Crohns, but it does sound like mild IBS and there's a very much higher probability that it's IBS or an infection. I find that onions and garlic are really bad for me. Your diarrhea could be a reaction to them or a flare up. Intermittent watery diarrhea is a common symptom of infections which is why your dr wants you to try Flagyl anyway. I wouldn't without a positive test as it could excacerbate your condition. Having said that, I did, but I suffered for it. I had just come back from Fiji and had inadvertently drunk untreated well water, so there was reason to suspect an infection but my condition worsened a lot after taking Flagyl. I also had that night sweat, feeling like I've got a fever type thing early on.