Post infectious ibs

[Megb610]

Hi all, I’m 20 years old and back in late August I got food poisoning while on a trip in Georgia. I returned home and my stomach never returned back to normal. (I have never had GI issues before) I had all the test you can think of.. stool cultures, tests for parasites, blood tests for chrons and celiac, colonoscopy upper and lower, abdominal ultra sounds, more blood work, even a trip to the ER with a CT scan. All test have come back normal. I have quit my job, withdrew from all of my college classes, and never leave my house unless for an appointment. My gastro seems to think I have Post Infectious IBS. (PI-IBS). With urgency and soft stools every morning, bloating, nausea, acid reflux and no appitite and I’ve lost nearly 30lbs in the last few months. If I do indeed have PI- IBS I’ve been experiencing it for almost 4months. I still eat gluten and dairy as they don’t seem to change my outcome. My gastro has me taking probiotics and I have started taking L glutamine on my own. Has anyone else been through this? Will it ever get better? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Sabab172]

Sounds very similar to me. I am convinced a curry I had out three months ago is the root of my stomach troubles giving me IBS. I now have daily bloating, stinging gripes that move around my colon, and toilet trips. I have found eating out an anxious affair but in the last few weeks I have taken the opinion to eat what I fancy but a smaller portion. I had a Christmas dinner out last night with cheesecake and cheese and biscuits and I was dreading today. BUT I have been ok until a small bowl of casserole with veg tonight and back in gripey pain again... So who knows. I have started drinking goats milk kefir which I think it helping and taking a magnesium supplement. I also take Buscopan nearly every day which keeps it under control. Some days it disappears and then it comes back and I cannot pinpoint despite keeping food diaries and eliminating gluten or lactose, which like you makes little difference. My doctor has diagnosed IBS and said it seems to be a condition that has no rules sadly...

[weegmack]

What an absolute misery for you. I’m so sorry you’re going through this. My sister had a very similar experience in 2015. Food poisoning and then she had all the same things as you do. After a barrage of tests, she was told she has PI-IBS. The good thing is that it got better after a few months after keeping a very strict diary of what she ate. In her case, she loosely follows a vegan diet and that made the change for her.

You need to be careful you don’t become malnourished. Why not give a vegan diet a try and see if that helps? Xxx

[spzgirl51]

Hello Megb610 ,

Porridge oats made with large organic rolled oats really help me with similar bowel symptoms to you. I used the type with no added sugar and virtually zero salt. Made by volume. I used one measure of porridge to two of water and one measure of milk ( or favourite milk substitute) ? So it's one part porridge to three parts liquid. Depending on which size of oats used.

I hope it works for you too?

Best wishes x