chronic diarrhoea

[lennysmummy]

I reduced to 5mg from 5.5 on 25/06. After about a week had intense nausea, headache for 2 days. From last week I’ve had chronic diarrhoea and stomach cramps. Literally as soon as I eat they come on and I go again. Gp has said it would be nothing to do with tapering. Also said I didn’t need to add more steroids as my body would have absorbed them anyway. Taken a stool sample to check for any infection. What should I do? Light headed, weak and feel awful. He also said steroids could have caused diverticulitis.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

And lack of steroid could be causing adrenal insufficiency - and diarrhoea is a common symptom of that.

However - if you had a gut bug, they can result in a longer term form of IBS. My husband was diagnosed with it and he had similar symptoms but I can't remember further details.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to PMRpro]

This is a general info article

seattletimes.com/life/welln...

but there are loads of medical articles about it if you google "viral infection causing IBS"

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Not a lot you can do until you know what is causing it, part from keep hydrated [plain wter, sports drinks, some herbal teas] - so long as you are managing to keep your tablets in system long enough they will help.

Not sure he’s completely correct in saying it has nothing to do with tapering. Not directly related to your PMR probably , but you have tapered enough to make the adrenals struggle.. and all of those symptoms are related to adrenal insufficiency.

[lennysmummy in reply to DorsetLady]

Not sure how long it takes for stool testing to come back. 2 lots of antibiotics just in case but he also said “ they will probably give you diarrhoea “ head is so muzzy, no fever. It’s so hard to know the cause. Thank you 🙏