I am a 19 year old female. Never ate poorly. Exercised daily. My stomach started hurting about two years ago. There was nothing drastic around this time. I had abdominal cramping/bloating and constipation. Diarrhea is never the problem, unless I take a laxative. About two months ago I got a colonoscopy, upper endoscopy and it showed up normal. I had a CT scan done a couple of years ago as well, that showed up normal. After the colonoscopy/endoscopy, I got my tonsils removed. Once I was able to eat solid foods normally again, my stomach was better than it's ever been. It stayed this way for probably 5 days, and ever since then, my stomach has gotten much worse. ANYTHING I eat makes me bloated/cramp. I can't use the restroom without a laxative. The doctor told me that it's IBS-C, but that's not a real diagnosis. I want to know why my stomach was fine for 5 days (I could eat anything) and now it's awful. I barely leave the house. Also, my sinus headaches have gotten worse (and daily) and the medicine (a tricyclic antidepressent) is no longer helping. I am always tired and always have sore muscles. Any ideas would be much appreciated!
Anyone have any suggestions? IBS help - IBS Network
Anyone have any suggestions? IBS help
Don't know how much help I will be but headaches are sometimes a sign of allergy. Do you drink enough water? Your stomach was probably fine as you had cleared it for surgery and then it took that long for what ever your body is reacting to, to build up again.
You may need to totally clear your system again and add one food at a time for at least a week, but I am no health professional so suggest you get someone qualified to supervise you through it.
I drink a good amount of water, and sometimes it feels like water makes it worse. I was tested for allergies a couple of months ago and nothing came up. Thank you for your reply (:
sometimes allergy tests don't show anything but that doesn't mean you are not intolerant of it. my son was told he was intolerant of pork but removing that from his diet didn't do a great deal, it helped a little. I think you need to ignore the tests and find what makes you worse. Only you can tell that.
I know you have said that fodmap diet didn't work for you, so why not go more drastic and cut out all but one food that you know you are ok with. (obviously something that will sustain you) then reintroduce one food at a time.
It can be very very hard to find your trigger foods, but it must be food related.
Just a thought , you said water makes it worse, are you drinking tap water? or bottled? could it be something in the water? ie. lime, flouride etc.
I wake up on an empty stomach still feeling bloated, even from not eating for 12 hours. Certain foods may make it worse, but I think there is an underlying cause that's contributing to the 24/7 symptoms.
Sometimes I drink tap water, and other times I drink water from the fridge that is filtered. Thank you again for your reply!
Hi ABcd12345,
I am also a IBS-C patient. Presently I have almost under control. Hence You need to maintain a food diary and observe which food make your symptoms more worsen & avoid them. You also need to eliminate Tea, Coffee & soft drinks from your daily menu. Keep mind fresh & free from tense, then I hope you will feel better. I am taking following drugs under the advise from my GP:
1. Maverine 135mg
2. Famotack 40mg.
Thanks-
It sounds like you're having a really rough time. I don't have any advice re the headaches but I have IBS C which led to diverticulitis so I need to be really careful about daily BM and can take laxido up to 3 x day when necessary.
It may be that you have sensitivity to certain foods as you were ok immediately after having your tonsils out, but it's not obvious what they are and that's how it is for me.
Recently my GP referred me to a dietitian again, this time to go on the FODMAP diet (first time was to check I eat enough fibre - I do and always have). I've just done 7 weeks elimination of medium and high FODMAP foods. It didn't do anything for the first 3 weeks but then the bloating went and my BMs became daily. Had 2 blips with packaged food where I hadn't understood all the ingredients but other than that I feel much better. I'm now on the reintroduction phase starting today, where I continue with low FODMAP food and today I can have one slice of bread to check my reaction. If I'm ok, tomorrow I can have 2 slices, then the next day 3 slices. If everything is still ok, I can go on to the next food, which in my case in onion. This phase will take about a month as I reintroduce foods.
The point of the FODMAP diet is to restrict foods for 6-8 weeks to calm the whole system down and then reintroduce foods slowly to see what the reaction is. In this way, triggers are identified - it's not a diet for life.
The research into this is quite new, starting at Monash University in Australia and in their research they've found that 85% of IBS sufferers are helped.
In UK research is led by King's College Hospital London but so far not a lot of GPs are well-informed and not all dietitians are trained yet but if you think it might be helpful, please do ask your GP to refer you.
If you'd like any more info, please let me know as I'd be happy to send it to you but don't want to overwhelm in this reply.
Hope you're feeling better.
I did not have any success with the FODMAP diet that my GI doctor gave me, but I'm glad to hear that it worked for you! It seems like they think fiber is the answer to everything but it never helped me much. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply and I hope your journey through this is going well (: What is laxido?
Sorry to hear you didn't have any success with FODMAP diet - how long did you do it for? I've been constipated since I was a child but successive doctors have merely told me to eat more fibre which in my case is not true but it's only now that they're beginning to understand. Laxido is a laxative. I was also prescribed lactulose but it had no effect whatsoever. If you take any medication, check the ingredients as a number of people I know have been shocked at the amount of lactose and fructose they've been taking unknowingly.
Probably 4 weeks with no change whatsoever. Only more consistent headaches from a lack of carbohydrates. I never had a problem with constipation until two years ago. Yes I think that the gastroenterologists are just as clueless as we are sometimes. Would you recommend Laxido? I will have to check in to my medication for that!
I would probably say that the reason you felt good for those 5 days is that for the few days before you could eat solid food your body had had a chance to recover and kind of cleanse itself. I may be completely wrong however.
In regards to your other symptoms I have been like this for months. Recently told that I had IBS and so started an elimination diet. It seems to be making a big difference. I'm still trying to work out what my trigger foods are but I have cut out wheat and that's helped with the bloating and also cut out caffeine which has helped. Its a slow process though and there doesn't seem to be a quick fix.
Hope you start improving soon!
You have had all the tests and it does sound like Classic IBS .Your 5 day remission might have had something to do with the meds you had for your tonsil extract ? anyhow next stop would seem to be elimination diets to see if this is food related ? Have you been checked for slow gut transit ? Diverticulitis ? SIBO ? general sense of feeling unwell might indicate a low level gut infection/ inflammation .Poor gut bacteria population ? sorry cannot be any more specific or helpful but that's the world of IBS I am afraid .
I have done the FODMAP diet and it seemed like a lot of the foods on their actually triggered more of the symptoms I'm feeling. I don't think it's food related, because even after using a laxative that totally clears me out, I will still feel bloated. The colonoscopy showed no diverticulitis or inflammation. I think SIBO is more related to diarrhea, but I could be totally wrong. I really appreciate you taking the time to help make suggestions! Anything helps
Yes I think you can rule out SiBO for IBSC .so stress ,over active nervous system ? I get stomach cramps and pain every morning as soon as I wake up which I believe is my digestive system waking up and going into spasm because all that cramping does not produce a bowel movement without an osmotic laxative.Too much fibre makes things worse and it does not seem to matter how much fluid I drink I just pee more !.I take blood pressure Meds of which 2 are designed to reduce fluid in the body and I think these are a contributory factor .
.basically I am told I have a very slow transit time and lazy gut ! . Getting up moving about calms it down and by mid morning it has gone ,but it starts regular as clock work anytime between 6,30 and 7 .if I wake in the night it can kick off then ! So that must be the sympathetic nervous system misfiring for some reason or other that no medic has yet been able to explain to me . Yes food combinations can cause all kinds of mysteries ! I discovered ,when doing Fodmaps that my triggers are onions ,all the family ,and mushrooms and tomatoes .Eat any of those now and I really suffer . Hope you have some success with a new doc cheers .
Hi, I think you MUST go back to your doctors and insist they help you your stomach is ill! Ask them to sort it out, put your foot down it's your health!
The last doctor I had said that there "probably was no solution" but to come in for another checkup because it seems to be getting worse. So I switched doctors and I have an appointment on the 16th and hopefully this one will listen to me
Good luck with your appointment. Do you keep a food diary? I've used myfitnesspal which is very easy and you can get a printout as well. It might be helpful for you to show your new doctor along with the symptoms you suffer each day. Hope this is helpful and the new doctor is much more useful.
I do keep a food diary along with symptoms I feel throughout the day. I am not very good about doing it every day, because it seems that I can eat a certain food one day and it doesn't bother me too much, and then the next day I'll eat the same thing and have a different reaction to it. Thank you, I really appreciate your input!
Thank you for you reply!
the diagnosis from doctors is wrong . its this : fwr.org/giardia.pdf . read my posts and what ive posted .! its a waterbourne parasite in the drinking water .! thousands of people got it .! must be 100k now at least .! ? this parasite has a wall of defence . so when the water companies put chlorine into the water supply it kills all bacteria .! but not this one .! its a stronger parasite from the rest .! The water companies know about it .! but under tests in the doctors from various samples we do .it wont show up and doesnt detect the microscopic parasite that lives in our stomachs #goodluck
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