Support for the HUSBAD

[Bassem1979]

HI All

I have not wrote on here for a bit as been trying to deal with my symptoms however my husband has started with bowel issue and I was looking for some advice.

It’s early days as it been just over a week, so his normal was twice a day normal bowel movement usually morning and evening. However last week he started with watery diarrhoea, he was going about 4 times a day then daily becoming worse where he literally is constantly on the toilet up to 8-10 times a day. He also has stomach cramps, he has taken Imodium and buscopan and no change.

We are waiting stool sample results as was only done on Tuesday. He is trying to not think worst case but I know he is as it’s it’s just come out the blue. He is not in work and just wants to constantly be near the toilet. The positive is no blood but he has a lot of other symptoms and am not sure if it’s over flow and he has a blockage.

He is 54 and his dad had bowel cancer so I know he is worrying. I ve told him to demand a colonoscopy but will just have to see.

Any advice to help him or if anyone has similar problems would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

[Luisa22]

Good, he's done all the right things so far. At this early stage before results of tests, and after only a short time, it could be anything -a bug, mild food poisoning, just ate something a bit old? Does he test positive for Covid? Covid can cause some gut problems. But if vaccinated, it might only show as a mild illness, not like the old Covid that was unmistakable.

See what the stool tests show. The doctor will probably want to see if those show up any 'red flags'. If not, they often don't refer for more invasive tests. They might if he insisted, but negative stool anaylsis rules out lots of things immediately.

My IBS did give me a couple of signs (unusually upset gut two mornings separated by weeks) a few months before it started for real. But when it did that, it literally started overnight out of the blue.

I actually hope that the stool tests show something slight that can have an easy solution, such as a bug that an antibiotic will cure. When tests come back negative it inclines the diagnosis towards IBS, but at the same time it's frustrating.

[Bassem1979 in reply to Luisa22]

Hi

Thank you I will get him to do a Covid test just to rule it out didn’t think of that to be honest.

[Tokai335]

Hiya, I had a stomach bug/food poisoning that lasted a little bit over a week before. Similar to your husband, started off very watery 3/4 times a day first, but during the worst of it, for two days, I was going 15-20 times per day - during the night as well. No idea where I caught it or what I ate, but it was pretty nasty.

I did visitor the doctor as I have health anxiety and started spiralling, but they said most likely a bug/food poisoning due to the quick onset and give it at least 2 weeks. They also said my IBS was probably making symptoms worse.

[Silence]

Hi, I had identical symptoms. Turns out, it was my Gallbladder that had to be removed. I also have a history of colon cancer and I am 59years old. Only a scan will show if you have gallstones . My stool test came back normal but I was still going 9 times a day.

[Flowerpottime]

Hi immodium never worked for me . Codeine phosphate from the Doctor slows my symptoms down and eases the pains.