I ended up in hospital in Asia for four days with food poisoning.
I had about a year of Diarrhoea . Ive had constipation, grease in my stook, white stools and pain in my stomach. I had eaten all manner of things exotic and was worried I may have damaged my stomach.
I get a lot of bloating, takes a long time for my food to digest. I am mid forties.
I get worken up at night, a feeling of soreness over parts of my body, breathing gets worse.
Often bursting for a wee at night or longer walks.
I thought may be water retention as some stretchmarks right ancle at first but nothing really visible for my doctor to look at.
A man told me possible to have toxic stomach but i have not heard of that before.
I feel very tired during the day and more so after a meal.
I am at a loss to know what is going on and one dr said possibly neurological.
I wondered if could be stomach related..
Sincerely
Jim
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Diogenes74
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Thanks your input. I think the hospital I went to gave me 10 medicines maybe a few different antibiotics and after had hives and later burning on my feet and weakness in my stomach.
My doctor, most didnt suggest anything, only one suggested neurological but she left like a lot are now.
Unfortunately the term “IBS” is often used because quite frankly doctors don’t know, and possibly don’t want to understand what the route cause is.
If you visit hospital or doctors - I’d advise against offering a self diagnosis of IBS.
In my opinion if I were you, I would start a course of probiotics - it sounds like your gut bacteria has taken a beating and needs help to recolonise and strengthen again.
Also, if you haven’t you MUST get a stool sample taken at the least - as you ‘could’ be harbouring a parasite or still have some bacterial infection within your digestive system.
I have been the parasite route as well as all the blood samples such as diabetes etc and all negative. I did try some inulin, which i think may have helped somewhat. Also bacopa i think may have helped too.
Yes, i agree, i pushed on the parasite as long term in asia and i think it went against me when negative. I did find out osteoarthritis in both hips, knees, back, osteophytes in neck, which complicates things a little as i think they want to settle with that as my cause.
just see also you mention advised could be neurological?
Have you had a procedure of sampling your spinal fluid?
If it’s suspected neurological due to infection/bacteria/virus (I’m not a medical professional so unsure how it would be classed) then I would have also most certainly have thought you will need specific specialist help:: School of tropical medicine for example?!?
20+yrs ago whilst in Asia with my wife, she became extremely ill (hospitalised for many months) and that started as food poisoning symptoms…………………..her overall symptoms are completely different to yours but after lots of effort on our part, we managed to get a diagnosis of Transverse Myelitis’s
I wish you all the very best of luck and sympathies with you
I did talk with some neurological associations like ME,MS and also asked my Dr if saw any lesions on my MRI spine scan. The associations I contacted said sounded like some of my symptoms some of, which are neurological but ive to wait to see if any lesions or if will consider testing neurologically as the dr who had suggested it left.
It seems to get worse after exertion and pretty bad at night, a numb feeling, soreness, ringing in my head and feel had no sleep.
It doesnt feel the sort of pain i had long ago with osteoarthritis and with a damaged hip i still walked up mountains. It is pretty hard to get any answers so far through the NHS. I may have to try private.
I suffered from severe bloating and a year of diarrhoea a while ago. I tested positive for SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth.) One of the triggers for SIBO is a bout of food poisoning. I agree with the advice Wallace-s has given you, re taking probiotics to populate your gut with beneficial bacteria. I find Alflorex very good. I get the chewable banana and strawberry ones. Also, I think you need a stool sample analysis, like Wallace-s suggests. I had a friend who had severe diarrhoea after travelling in India , and she was diagnosed with amoebic dysentery. I would want that ruled out before going down the neurological route!
The diarrhoea cleared up over two years ago, as this all started 2016 but stuipidly I carried on my travel and volunteering as naive to a lot of the illnesses back then.
The parasite is ruled out but I think the amoebic dysentery can continue long afterwards?
I had never heard of alflorex, is it patented? I didnt recognize the bacteria in it before but did try some probiotics on returning home.
I think the parasite checks they give as standard should pick up the amoebic dysentery?
I definately had most of its symptoms for a year, a lot of blook in stool.
My doctors didnt suggest anything for my stomach area. I told them i had food poisoning.
I also was drugged too, someone popped something in my beer and i woke up outside.
Do you take Alflorex just once or for how long would you recommend?
Oh that's horrible, having your drink spiked. I still take Alflorex even though my symptoms are much improved. It must be about 9 months now since I began. They are made by PrecisionBiotics and yes, patented I would assume.
Yes, amoebic dysentery can be long lasting but as you say, hopefully would be picked up by the parasite checks.
Food poisoning can lead IBS. Have you been checked for parasites or tropical diseases that you might have caught in India, I understand they can cause havoc for a long time. I would ask your gp for a gastro referral or to someone who can test for such things. I had salmonella years ago, took along time to recover. All the best
As it happened in 2016 and my upset stomach issues stopped around 2020, I did not ask more than a parasite test, I had it done at two hospitals for good measure but I asked the neurological route, because of the heaviness, exhaustion, that is very debilitating.
My lower right ancle looked to be trying to swell for a year.
I had a lot of rashes for two years on my legs mainly sometimes upper chest, arms.
Since coming home its stopped. One dr in asia thought maybe fungal.
The problem with many things is that you need something physically to be showing to be taken seriously.
I did gain more weight than i ever had, going from 88kg to 100 kg, then later down to 64kg and wasnt eating much at all.
I was eating a lot of foods, some looking mostly raw in villages.
Ive taken anti parasite herbs, inulin.
I really feels its effecting many parts of my body and i feel like been in a fight many nights.
There doesnt seem to be much to link the bad feelings to, except mainly happens at night and after exertion, feels sore sides of legs, back of upper arms and breathing effected.
feels like being blown up from the insides when it happens for around two hours lasts.
Once you have your diagnosis and confirmed as IBS, your nasty bug from food poisoning may still be dominating in your gut causing your symptoms. You may be able to shift the balance more towards good bugs by taking a good probiotic. My IBS started with food poisoning from a trip to Mexico. Alflorex is the probiotic that worked best for me. It has been scientifically studied for IBS and contains Bifdobacterium which is particularly good at fighting infections.
The stool sample they take for IBS, would it not show also on the parasite stool sample tests?
Do you need to always take Alflorex now?
I do get bad constipation, before would get mucous in stool, bad bloating,lethergy,drowsiness. and one of the worst feelings is bursting for a wee especially after walking quite far and at night.
Can they cure IBS?
I may try the Alflorex I think but as I asked if possible to be referred to the neurologist, I think would need to wait some time to ask possibly IBS.
In the UK I don't think the initial stool test tests for parasites. It looks for a marker called calprotectin, which indicates whether there is inflammation. If inflammation is found, they may re-run the test. If it is still high this leads to a referral for colonoscopy. Even if there is inflammation you can still have IBS rather than anything else diagnosed during the colonoscopy.
I used to take Alflorex every day for some time. I then dropped to every 3 days and my symptoms didn't worsen. This is possibly because it allowed me to have a more diverse diet including fibre, fruits, vegetables, pulses, oily fish, olive oil, nuts, and seeds which improves gut bacteria, possibly allowing my own gut bacteria to keep the bad bug in check. I've started taking it daily again, only because I now have IBS-C rather than IBS-D (I used to be IBS-D) and Alflorex seems to help with my BMs.
The constipation may contribute to bladder issues. However, this needs checking out by a doctor.
In my experience, there isn't a 'cure' for IBS. However, it is possible to manage it and lead a fairly normal life. For example, in my case, the pain is much more controlled, so I can get a good night's sleep, my IBS-C is better managed with diet, so that I can more or less have daily BMs, I am not so gassy and bloated all the time. I do still have some food intolerances, but no where near as many as I used to - my diet became very limited. I electively don't eat out since it became too much hassle discussing my food intolerances with waiting staff.
Any testing for IBS can be carried out by the GP surgery with no need to wait.
It sounds like the IBS test may not be as hard as I thought. I was worried as they tested a lot my blood, parasites, circulation and that they would give up on me.
I had no idea different types of IBS. Is this in different parts of the intestine?
How would it effect your sleep? Would you feel sore over other parts of your body, or like a pressure feeling?
The different types of IBS are IBS-C (constipation dominant), IBS-D (diarrhoea dominant) or IBS-M (mixture of constipation and diarrhoea). This is more about the symptoms that you have.
I used to experience pain in my mid to lower back any time from 2am-5am onwards. This affected my sleep. It took me some time to realise that this was related to food intolerances connected to my IBS. The intestine 'wakes up' around this time and becomes more active then preparing for a BM the next morning. In some people with IBS when the bowel is active, the brain picks up signals from the gut as pain rather than normal action of the bowel. This can be due to a dominant bad bug in the gut which over sensitises the intestinal nerves (which is why Alflorex helped me) and/or the pain control centres in the brain not working properly due to stress, neglect or abuse in childhood or other environmental factors. This wears down the pain control neurons in the brain, so they don't ignore bowel activity and treat it as pain instead. Things like meditation or Nerva gut directed hypnotherapy may help with this. There is also low dose amitriptyline, which is meant to help rebuild lost pain control neurons. However, not everyone can tolerate this (including me) and it can cause or worsen constipation.
Thank you for explaining more. Would the amitriptyline be only needed temporarily?
I think they may have given to me once as I was having numbness, loss of sensation in my leg. Nerva gut directed hypnotherapy would be hypnosis I guess to help stop pain issues..
2-5 am is when im woken up most nights and the pressure, soreness builds generally and numb feeling down spine, soreness. I had a very stressful time volunteer teaching for five years abroad more so as i wasnt resting properly and drinking 9 cups of coffee a day. I had some over protective parents too when young and maybe as you say could have played apart. I damaged my hip at sixteen over training in long jump and that my friend told me could also be an emotional state or my weakness centered around my hip and stomach. Maybe getting a little spiritual and some things I am not fully aware of.
I wonder if you walk around 4km, do you feel a pressure, soreness over your body, legs, back shoulders and feel more a bowel, urine movement?
I think ive ruled out parasites, i did take some anti parasite drugs. A lot of this started after food poisoning and taking quite a few types of antibiotics it seems.
Would the amitriptyline be only needed temporarily?
From studies it is believed that it takes 6-12 months for pain control neurons to regenerate with amitriptyline, so yes, this would be temporary.
I wonder if you walk around 4km, do you feel a pressure, soreness over your body, legs, back shoulders and feel more a bowel, urine movement?
Exercise doesn't affect me in this way.
All I can suggest if you have had food poisoning, to take a good, well studied probiotic to help keep any bad bug in your gut under control. Good luck.
I have gained a lot listening and I have messaged to my Dr to see if a test for IBS may not be possible.
It maybe the walking is bladder related or perhaps ive some water retention unaware of as the first year i came back I had some stretch marks my right ankle as if trying to swell and redish marks.
I would say apart from my sleeping there have been improvements as I think just the food alone and more sanitized surfaces perhaps have helped.
Thank you your advice. To be honest, the neurological idea was also something my mother had suggested also as the weakness, heaviness, soreness over parts of body not where my osteoarthritis is, made me question and think could not be a stomach issue causing such lethergy. I did have pains in my stomach while in Asia. Looking back trying many exotic dishes was a big mistake and some I could not get out of as it was when volunteering like duck blood soup and bloody buffalo tongue.
I am not very good at wording my questions to doctors and now ive mentioned could it not be neurological and with what you have said, wonder if worth mentioning...
I am terrible at wording things to my dr however this is now because I have had that many symptoms over so long that I have analyzed everything to the endth degree that when the dr asks .. do you have this ... is it worse when .. all I can do is shrig and say I do not know anymore.
With the 'neurological aspect' I would certainly mention it if you feel it is valid but emphasize that you want all the relevant tests/endoscopy etc etc to rule all other things out first
I did decide to ask the Dr and told them I had had bloody stool on and off for two years before coming back to the UK and ive been back some time so not sure they will follow up on tests. However before most often would have that and some times a lot of blood and mucous. A lot of bloating, constipation and only in Asia pains in the abdomen. On returning noticed weak bladder and some time over their started feeling soreness over my body at night and pains, numbness and often need the toilet at the same time.
I started taking cayenne,tumeric, concentrated cherry, devils claw supplements before sleep and help some what but often feel dazed when awoken like was still fighting something.
Do you still have these symptoms now? If you do please go back to the GP and you tell them what you want .. I am sure they are not able to refuse! Make an appt every week and go through the same symptoms every week I am sure they will want to placate you with the hospital referral then!
I have not the blood or the mucous any more, which made me wonder if I should have still mentioned it. I have bloating regularly, constipation fairly regularly, not direct pain on the stomach but more overall on the body. I have very slow digestion, weak bladder it seems at the moment.
I don't know if ignored blood in stool for two years and it goes later if any damage occurred, is done now and if they will want to still look into making a scan.
So far, each scan I had of joints, spine had shown injury and was away eight years not seeing any doctors when felt injured.
I also wondered what you thought of pro biotics and if they can really preserve cultures as they say they are or if its just another fad?
My sister dated someone in one of the small yogurt factories I wont say which, but he was in the science area and said they dont work.
I wonder if its more that land is bereft of minerals from modern farming in the west and we are having to eat say lots of apples compared to say one to get the same amount of minerals. Fulvic acid popular now and I think for this reason.
Ive heard of Alflorex but then read on here many getting worse after taking it.
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