hi everyone. I’ve had IBS mixed for years as well as diverticula disease. I’ve just finished a course of fluckoxacillin for a skin infection and it’s seems to have given me another problem! I’m now passing lots of pellet/cocktail sausage sized! stools up to 5 times a day with incomplete feeling each time. This feels like constipation but how can it be if I’m going so many times a day? I’d also recently changed my diet to dairy and gluten free so don’t really know what’s happening! I had a colonoscopy 2 years ago which was normal - just some diverticula so I guess I shouldn’t worry too much? but I do get anxious about health matters as I have so many of them! Does anyone else see doom round every corner with every change of bowel habit? Or any experience of flucloxacillin please? I know it can cause diarrhoea but that’s not what I have - just a lot more of what’s normal for me. Also I’m now on nitrofurantoin for a UTI (first Hiprex failure in a long while) so feeling generally unwell and fed up - the anxiety isn’t helping - any comments welcome! Thank you all.
IBS and anti-biotic related issues: hi everyone... - IBS Network
IBS and anti-biotic related issues
I was once prescribed Flucloxacillin for an infected lymph node at the back of my neck which originated from a rose thorn scratch on my scalp. I was beginning to feel dodgy from that.
By 2 doses of the Flucloxacillin, I realised I could take no more. On doctor's advice I had to stop taking it right then and there. I am not joking. I felt like I was dying. This was ages ago, in the late 1980s. I cannot remember how my gut behaved. All I knew was I had heart symptoms and awful feelings.
Instead, what I did was weird. I did an old Russian remedy of eating nothing but grated apple and garlic cloves. And drinking nothing but water. In 2 days I started to feel a lot better.
So that is my experience of Flucloxacillin. Death warmed up !
It sounds like you did better than me on it! I can just about handle Amoxycillin, though it makes me exhausted and nauseous at times. But it's do-able.
But we all react differently to medicines, I know.
I have heard that a probiotic called "Saccharomyces boulardii" (which is actually a yeast rather than a bacteria) is good for off-setting the gut effects of antibiotics.
Oh Luisa that sounds horrendous! Your post is very interesting so thank you for taking the time to reply. Some of these antibiotics seem very harsh on our whole bodies - I had a bad reaction to trimethoprim years ago. I’m glad you were able to sort your problem out another way. I’m on Hiprex which has worked very well for me and stopped the recurrent UTIs but I stupidly allowed myself to become very dehydrated a couple of times recently and I’m now paying the price! I guess anyone with IBS isn’t going to be fan of antibiotics but sometimes they’re a necessary evil. I’m going to take the probiotics I bought a while ago and see how I go.
My friend takes all sorts of antibiotics with no problems! She had flucox. a little while ago and just "got better" from what was wrong with her. Not like me! It's weird how we are all so different about what we're sensitive to. I think I'm highly sensitive to some drugs, and usually try to do anything to avoid them. But I can handle amoxycillin (or could, as the last time I took it was 2006) All I get from that is feeling like I'm wearing lead boots, walking through treacle, and intermittent nausea.
It’s strange isn’t it - how what helps some seems like poison to others - I’m usually ok with antibiotics although the penicillin family tend to give me diarrhoea. I usually get constipated which I’ve never read is a side effect. I think my gut biome is definitely screaming for help though as I’ve been on and off antibiotics for years. I hope you dont need antibiotics very often - I’d hate to feel like that - not much worse than feeling sick or nauseous when taking tablets - it’s bad enough having the thing you’re taking them for, never mind the side effects!
Yes, the constipation is probably just another manifestation of dysbiosis from frequently having to take antibiotics. I imagine dysbiosis can swing either way. If something is not working right. It does sound like a good probiotic might help, as a general thing?
Yes. I hope I won't need antibiotics again any time soon too. I can often fight things off nicely with herbal remedies which don't cause me grief, but one never knows...
But the last time I had to take them was 18 years ago now. (I am shocked at how quickly that time has passed!!)
I didn't have IBS at the time but do remember unusually looser stools when I took them. That all went back to normal the day after I stopped taking them, and I had absolutely NO gut issues afterwards -I was perfectly normal again -even though I didn't take probiotics.
You might need a good probiotic such as Alforex to help rebalance things.
Here's how to protect your microbiome when taking antibiotics:
I don’t have any experience of this antibiotic, but I do experience similar bowel movements since changing from IBS-D to IBS-M. I’m more constipated, but sometimes go several times a day and, occasionally, get urgent movements which are still quite hard (recent research discovered that 70% of people with constipation get urgency, even though that seemed counter-intuitive). Probably nothing to get too worried about, and may change when you stop the ABs, but IBS has a habit of changing because it is, after all, a dysfunction with no obvious cause in many cases.
Thank you for replying. I think I was confused because I’ve always understood constipation to mean fewer BM - I read less than 3 a week, but you’ve just confirmed what my urologist said that you can have BM every day but still be constipated! I was worried as I was needing the toilet up to 4/5 times a day but just passing very small amounts of pebble sized chunks! Thinking about what you say, it does sound like I’m constipated especially as I get that feeling of incomplete evacuation most times - I’m going to try some fybogel sachets as I can’t up my dietary fibre any more than it is. I can’t wait to come off the antibiotics but when I’ve finished the nitrofurabtoin (for UTI) I have to start an 8 week course of doxycycline- my poor bowels won’t know what’s hit them! It would help of course if I could reduce my anxiety - I’m sure no-one else spends as much time focused on their BMs - it’s quite sad really lol!
I see that we’ve communicated before over the much-favoured low calorie-high fibre diet, which you’ve obviously tried, but is not working to reduce the constipation. One possibility, which is relatively easy to resolve, is to drink more fluids (other than alcohol, which tends to dehydrate - sorry, I know it’s Xmas!); that might help with stool consistency, but I did read once that introducing too much fibre too rapidly can result in constipation (not my experience, I must say, but it does seem that this is a very complex issue)!
With regard to antibiotics, Zoe scientists are saying that it can take several months for the gut to recover from even a short course, so you may have to be (very) patient in your case, before you see any changes in bowel habit. I agree with xjrs that using a probiotic during antibiotic therapy is useful in reducing side effects in the gut; it worked for me when I was taking ABs off and on every year for 15 years. But you need to take them at least 2 hours before or after the ABs, otherwise you may kill the bacteria in the probiotic.
It’s inevitably going to be difficult for you with all you’ve got going on but, hopefully, when you’re able to stop the ABs, the gut will get a chance to settle down. In the meantime, try not to get too concerned about any bowel changes because the ABs will complicate (and possibly exacerbate) any bowel issues. If you’re not getting any “red flags” (blood in stool, etc), then it’s probably best to wait until after the course(s) of ABs to judge whether there are any remaining issues which need attention in a more typical situation.
Wishing you all the best for Xmas and the New Year.
Thank you so much for your reply. Yes I’m pretty hopeless at drinking enough (my urologist - I have interstitial cystitis) is always telling me off about that - the problem is that I never feel thirsty - even if my mouth is dry .. I’ve been trying to do that my setting alarms to remind me but when You’re out and about with no loo in running distance the last thing I want to do is drink and I seem to be out and about a lot! Anyway you’re right about that - it does need addressing. I don’t drink much alcohol as, sadly, my bladder doesn’t like it! I’ll take the probiotic as far away from the antibiotics as possible. Extra fibre does seem to make things worse for me but that’s my fault as I’m probably not drinking enough with it. I’ve even bought a flask that has hourly markers on it to remind me when to drink and how much so I’ve no excuse really just a chronic lack of thirst .. you’ve been kind so thank you and I hope you and yours have a peaceful holiday season.
Are you getting enough vitamin D and vitamin B12? Both needed to combat inflammatory and anxiety problems.
hi. Thank you for replying. Yes I am thank you. I’m on extra B12 as intake metformin which can deplete it and I’ve been on vitamin D3 for years. Blood tests show good levels of both.
I have all the symptoms that you are suffering from, if one part of your Bowel or digestive system is not working right it cocks up all of it, Anxiety and irritable bowel cause a lot of problems also, I have awful constipation and cannot go to the toilet without being in agony after, know wonder we suffer Anxiety it sure wears you down. I have just had a colongraphy CT scan can be quite painful I am waiting for my results.
Hi Lamly. Thank you for replying. I’m sorry you suffer from anxiety too. As you say it’s no wonder when we are being made constantly aware of our bodily malfunctions! I’ve been trying fybogel sachets and drinking lots of water but I just swell up like a balloon when I take the fybogel or movicol which is very uncomfortable. I’m under the care of a lovely urologist who explained that if you get constipated you’re much more likely to get bladder problems too - I’m certainly prove of that - I hope your results are ok.
Try some probiotics if you’re not already doing so.
I started on Actimel before going onto tablets.
I recommend Alflorex or Optibac women, I’ve had antibiotics coming out of my ears over the last year or so. You need something to counteract the side effects of them.
Covid gave me constipation and pellet like stools. Probiotics helped me become more regular.
I also found yogurt, kefir helped loosened me up.
Hi. Thanks for replying. I am taking Alflorex. I hadn’t thought of Covid having anything to do with my symptoms but maybe it did. I’ve had it twice now and the last bout, although less severe, did leave me feeling out of sorts for a long time. I can’t exercise much due to fibromyalgia and interstitial cystitis, which doesn’t help with constipation I know. I’m off all dairy as that really is a trigger for me. I’ll keep taking the probiotics. Thank you.
The only thing that helps my IBS symptoms is a couse if antibiotics which I am given when I have a severe flair. Amoxacyllin is the usual one prescribed but fluclxacillin has done the trick too. I think my IBS is caused by a bacterial infection or diverticulitis . I have a long, loopy, twised, floppy, bowel. I have had IBS d for years then c as my bowel became stretched.
It’s all very depressing really isn’t it? I mean trying to second guess what’s going on inside us all the time. If the antibiotics help with your symptoms it would seem logical to assume you had a bacterial infection- maybe something like helicobacter pylori .. I’m sorry you have all that to deal with. Hope things get easier for you.
Thank you for your best wishes.I also wish you all the best and hope you find a treatment that works for you. It is also a matter of guess work for GPs. They give the IBS label frequently when nothing specific is shown on a test. I have RA and my problem is either inflammation related or bacteria related. When I have a course of antibiotics I am asked to put my RA meds on hold, as my RA meds lower my immunity. Good luck.Happy Xmas.
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