So after three months of pain, had and discomfort...i am no closer to what is happening with me. My test results came back negative. No bacteria, no parasite no infection..
This was not all in my head. The gas and cramp were so bad I couldn't stand, the runny tummy almost embarrassed me on a work outing.
IBS....what is going on?
Which test did you undertake to determine this?
Stool sample, bacteria my b12 was fine, iron levels good
Sound just look stool samples? It could be a number of things and I went through a lot of tests as I’ve suffered for years and was told IBS; what I ate, dairy, gluten, etc. Anyway. I finally got sent to a gastric consultant and explained my loose bowels and I was being sick too. I had a sehcat scan and colonoscopy. Turned out to be bile salt malabsorption. It’s quite misdiagnosed. Now on meds for it and better. I suggest you ask for a referral as it could be what I have or colitis or sibo or a number of things. Keep pushing.
What were your symptoms?
Stomach cramps, very loose bowel movements about half hour or so after eating with a sudden urgency to go. And continued cramps and more bowel movements. Had to live on anti diarrhoea tablets. Didn’t matter what I ate. Tried cutting out wheat and dairy and anything fatty. Didn’t make much difference. Got to the stage I was spending a couple of hours on the toilet in the middle of the night and being sick at the same time.
If you are having diarrhoea in the night it does sound like you might have bile acid malabsorption - for which there is medication. If your doctor hasn`t considered this it would be worth asking him/her
Thank you so much for sharing.
What causes bile salt malabsorption?
There’s no reason as in nothing anyone is doing wrong. When you eat you release bile to digest the food. What is not used should be re-absorbed into your body and reused. Mine doesn’t get absorbed. It’s not quite what you eat but there are certain things to try and avoid. Caffeine, so coffee and cola drinks etc, anything fatty/oily, wheat, dairy. It didn’t seem to matter what I did or didn’t eat it just happened.
Btw when u were having diarrhea, was there a burning feeling in your abdomen?
I would have a lot of pain and yes burning because bile is acid and it does feel like burning
I am wondering whether I may have this problem. Did they sort it for you and how?
See other comments on thread. Had tests and now take a binder medication called questran. It comes with side effects though so you have to consider the worse of two evils. But you need a sehcat scan to diagnose
Are u able to get better and come off the medicine?
What are the side effects?
No I don’t think so, I think it’s life long and finding the right amount of the binder to take is trial and error. I took too much to begin with and ended up constipated which is not nice either. Side effects and cramps, bloating and wind especially if you take more than you need. But no different to when you’re having a flare up or bad attack anyway.
When you were dashing to the toilet with diarrhea, were you vomiting bile as well? Or no nausea/vomiting at all?
I'm so sorry. I have IBS too, it doesn't make sense, when it flares, It's hell. 😢
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