I have posted about my ongoing problem before, but I am beginning to despair now (again!).....

Every now and again I have an almost 'normal' stool......and have noticed when I am on holiday/away from home or back in the UK, that my stools improve, but since I got back from the UK on 13th August they have got increasingly worse and are now just loose, fast and yucky!!!

This morning was particularly bad, and I thought about what I ate yesterday (which was too much I'm guessing!) and I ate a lot of tomatoes for lunch and added a can of tomatoes to my baked fish dish...by the evening I was SO bloated and uncomfortable I can't tell you!

I have also started eating bread again recently, and yesterday in particular I ate a lot more than normal - although previous days I didn't, but I still had the loose stools!!???

I was thinking of getting a food allergy test done, but don't know which type to do.....any ideas anyone?

This situation has been with me since 2005....since my peri journey began....but I am now over 2 years post and it still has not gone away.

I did wonder about IBS, but then I don't get any pains as such....but I do sometimes feel 'constipated' by the afternoon and try and squeeze out a rabbit size, more formed stool!!!

Anyone care to comment on this experience?....It would be nice to hear someone that has experienced this and has managed to cure it.

Sorry it's such a yucky subject, but I am feeling rather desperate this morning!


thanks!

Caz

i myself dont have this problem but my sis for 20 yrs has never had a solid stool ( she tells me everything) i know at this time of our lives alot of digestive problems can develope, its very common......

Caz, couple of things. You say when you are on vacation it improves. Could it be something in your water source at home? You can have your water tested for impurities especially if you are on well water. Second, have you been actually TESTED for food allergies? If you recently reincorporated bread back into your diet it makes me wonder whether you might have a wheat allergy. Google Celiac and see if your symptoms match. My sis has horrible IBS with the runs but she has extreme PAIN and if you don't have pain it makes me wonder whether it's simply a food issue. There are SO many foods they test for and if one of the foods you think might be the culprit and it is NOT on the test ASK!!! They can make a testing solution for just that food.

Gosh, ladybug, I agree with you. You are always "right on."




I think it is a grain allergy.




To rule this out, try the scd diet. (http://www.scdiet.org/)


This diet is very restrictive, but you can use it as a guidline, and just cut out certain foods. It has a very healing effect on your gut. Keep a food diary, which is a real pain, but necessary in order to track down food allergies. My experience with allergy test....you are allergic to everything, including life! LOL! ...and when all is said and done, you will still have to be your own detective and figure it out yourself.

By the way, I do not eat much bread, although I love it! It seems to cause me to bloat and gain weight....and I don't seem to digest my food well when I eat a lot of it.

Shebee

What about a gluten intolerance??? Celiac? Look it up on the internet and you will find that the bloating and loose stool can be blamed on that lovely white bread you may be eating.

I know I am susceptible to wheat and gluten, and for the most part have been avoiding it for over 16 months, however the loose stools did not go away...although the bloating sometimes did, but noticed in recent months that when I ate bread, it didn't seem to make a huge difference, this is why I am wondering about tomatoes or the water - but I have to say I always use a Brita filter before I drink it!

I am not celiac as I do not have any other symptoms other than the loose stools and bloating (and I do have harder stools in the afternoon, if I go at all, but they are insignificant in size!)....

Sorry you are dealing with this. I hope you find the answer soon.

I am dealing with it also.

Sounds very much like IBS to me. (see my recent post on this topic ) I don't have a lot of pain, but the gas is unbelievable. I can feel it rumbling around in my stomach and sometimes it's quite audible which can be embarrassing in public places!!

The thing about IBS is that it can flare up without warning. Foods that don't bother me during less stressful times will bother me during stressful times and will throw my entire system off kilter. Right now I'm in the midst of the loose stool battle myself so I can truly sympathize with you.

Food sensitivities and allergies can also trigger these symptoms I would imagine.

Google "IBS diet" and there are some helpful tips out there. Not every method will work for everyone, so you may have to do a little bit of homework to find out what's triggering your symptoms. I do have wheat sensitvities for sure, but now it seems even eggs are starting to bother me. Sigh.

YES!!! that is what I am dealing with at work

My stomach this week has been BLAH.......no clue why. I have been eating the same stuff as usual

but do you have loose stools most of the time?

Have you been taking any vitamins or supplements? I know that too much Vitamin C will give you the runs, and my stepfather took some of those multivitamin packs with all the different doses in it, and almost pooped himself out of existence, until he figured out what was causing it.

Actually I have been taking 'Emergen-C' on advice from my Doc.......but not every day...reckon I will have to keep diary of food and vits etc., to see if I can detect something.

No not most of the time...thank goodness.

Couldn't it be that when you are vacation you are able to relax and not focus so specifically on this particular issue?

I thought that too...but I was not at all relaxed when we went to the UK last xmas, and yet they were not so loose then.

Have you been tested for lactose intolerance? That was the answer for me.

Now I can have "small" amounts of milk products (especially low-fat versions) without trouble, but it requires a period of time having none at all. I still have to be careful with dairy.

Hi JJ...

thanks for your suggestion....however, I switched from cow's milk to soy milk over a period of several months and nothing changed, unfortunately.

I need a trained detective for this it seems!

Caz
p.s. glad to see you here again!

Caz my MIL had the loose stools at the age of 70 and no other symptoms except she became anaemic & started to lose weight. It turned out she was coeliac. When you say you avoided gluten, I don't know if you are aware but it is present in many sauces etc that you might not expect. The UK coeliac societyactually publish a book full of the things.

I have had IBS in the past, not a lot of pain but similar symptoms to you at times. My doc prescribed buscopan which you can now buy in supermarkets overe here. Maybe worth looking for something similar in the US to try. My Mum suffers a lot from stomach acid and this causes her to have similar reactions too. Certain foods - too much fruit/ fibre / tomatoes can set her off.

What you could do to test for food intolerance is try eating a restricted diet for a while. Start with boiled rice , chicken & carrots and gradually introduce foods one at a time. Start with those you would feed to a baby... it's a similar weaning process! LOL It can take 48 hours for a food to have a bad effect. I have had to go through a similar trial/ error to find friendly foods for my bladder.

Caz,

My husband has had a terribly sensitive stomach most of his life and unfortunately he passed that trait on to my son. Either he had constipation or loose stools, diahhrea, heart burn, acid reflux and sometimes all of the above at once! He's had the upper GI tests done, the lower GI. If he could have had a colonoscopy once a month, he would, just to find make sure nothing was "creeping up on him". He kept a bottle of Maalox or GasX or whatever, by the bed and in the middle of the night would take a swig if needed.

Come to find out, it was the Maalox giving him diahhrea/loose stools! He was drinking that stuff like water and it was causing the diahrr. and loose stools. Talk about a vicious circle! He quit the antacids and no more symptoms. He does however take prilosec for his stomach issues.

Could it be the same with you?? Just a thought..

Squigs, I appreciate your reply.

I have tried eliminating a lot of the stuff you mention, but it didn't seem to help..in fact I am at a loss because even when I have eaten things that I thought bothered me, didn't and sometimes I would have an almost normal stool thereafter.

I just keep thinking it must be some allergy either to food/water or airborne.....guess I'll only find out if I do a food and allergy test.

Another problem I have is I just don't get that full colon feeling...you know the feeling like you want to have a good poo!.......in the morning I just feel like I have to go and it turns out all loose and whooshes out like a tap! (sorry for the graphics, but it helps anyone here that has similar problems to diagnose!!).

I am such a BAD person at eliminating foods to see what happens....but right now I am trying, and am not eating tomatoes and gluten.....I'll see how that goes anyway.

cheers!

Caz

Caz, I would not continue to "guess" at what this is since it's been going on since 2005. Has your doctor never suggested a colonoscopy? It is an easy test (although the prep the night before is yucky), and it would give you peace of mind to know exactly what is (or isn't) going on. Your symptoms could be several things. It might be something that can be treated with the right medication, but you need the proper test. I'd ask my doc for a colonoscopy.

Good luck!

Caz, I would not continue to "guess" at what this is since it's been going on since 2005. Has your doctor never suggested a colonoscopy? It is an easy test (although the prep the night before is yucky), and it would give you peace of mind to know exactly what is (or isn't) going on. Your symptoms could be several things. It might be something that can be treated with the right medication, but you need the proper test. I'd ask my doc for a colonoscopy.

Good luck!

agingracefully, I appreciate your advice, but I really don't think I need to go those lengths (pardon the pun!) and excessive costs and anxiety to have a colonoscopy..simply because I do not have pain, discomfort and I do occasionally have a normal movement (OK maybe it is only about once a month, but at least I have one!) and feel fab apart from that!

My doc actually said it was IBS, and that a colonoscopy would not be recommmended!

Caz

Ok three 'M's there in recommend...had too many glasses of wine tonight!!!!.....but it is Friday!

...oh....and now its the a.m. and I am paying for too much wine with a headache!!

....and also with a terrible BM!

I googled celiac symptoms...still don't think that's me....I did a test early this year which showed my SIga levels had improved.....I probably need to do another one to see where I'm at.

I must admit that after reading the celiac info, I am going back to being rigid about not eating gluten and adding my 'fractionated pectin' (which after using I had a great run of good BM's!).

Kath...are you out there?....how is your situation going?

I agree with aginggracefully --- just get a colonoscopy to make sure there is no colon cancer; then, if you are not in pain and feeling fine all the time, why worry about it? From what I've read, you can have polyps or early stage colon problems and not experience symptoms. But if you get medical validation that there is no disease present, then I guess I'm confused as to why this is an issue. If you're not in pain, not dehydrated, and not having to go to the bathroom a zillion times a day so that you can't work or get anything done -- isn't that ok?

I'm not sure how old you are, but you will need to get a colonoscopy at fifty, so why not do it a bit earlier and have the peace of mind? Maybe all the prep would clean you all out and jump start your system back into a "normal" routine. However, it may be that perennial "looseness" is just a new norm for you. A lot of women have that right around their periods, so it can be related to hormones, and maybe yours are out of whack enough that you have a problem intermittently across your whole cycle. I believe if you had celiac, the colonoscopy would also help to diagnose it, if they find evidence of the flattened villi.

hi Wits....

I am terrified of a colonoscopy (have a good friend that works in an operating theatre and says they are truly awful!)....but have heard they do a 'virtual colonoscopy' now...so i may pluck up courage one day if I don't get this figured out.

My 'villi' is improving according to a recent test I did.....so this is strange.

Really? I have only heard of the prep for a colonoscopy being bad, but not the colonoscopy itself because you sleep through the whole thing. I saw an article about those "virtual" ones also -- wonder if they are as thorough.

It is indeed odd you would be told something about your villi improving. When the villi are flattened, that is considered a sign of celiac (it runs in my family but I don't have it)? If you think you might have celiac, you should get tested because it can lead to malabsorption problems, where your body becomes unable to extract nutrients out of your food. I wonder if the test where they said the villi were "improving" was a test for celiac?

Caz,

Shortly before my 59th birthday this year I broke down and had my first colonoscopy. I had also heard that it was no fun, but that the worse part was the prep the night before. Much to my surprise, it was no big deal - not even the prep. I mean the stuff you drink is supposed to give you diahhrea/loose stools, but you're already used to that, right? So I was given the usual iv's, wheeled into the room and the next thing i knew I was in the recovery room. Over and done! Now I could join the ranks of those who have had a colonoscopy and lived to tell about it...lol. j/k It was really not bad at all.

Sorry to contradict your friend, but that was my experience. I agree with aginggracefully that if you had one at least you'd have some peace of mind about what it wasn't.

I appreciate that recount Eminar....although I am a VERY nervous and anxious person when it comes to anything alien to my body, and am very much a lightweight when it comes to any medication etc.,....the only 'operation' I have ever had is when I had my daughter, and let me tell you it was a most awful experience, hence why I only have one child!!

So....the jury is still out on that, but who knows, I may just go for it one day....if I still feel the need.

C

Hi Caz,

Glad you brought this up, I think I am in a similar situation. It has me concerned. Lately, every morning without fail, I have loose stools. It's like a big flush or sometimes two and then I am good the rest of the day. Prior to that, I was having a long spell of semi constipation. We started jucing fresh carrots/apples and pears, I would drink a small juice glass of this with breakfast and each time I would get diahhrea! Then I switched to supplements with whole foods and multi vitimans and still I get the same results.

Here is what I am thinking in my case. It could be the "raw" foods factor, or another that I suspect is anything with firmentation (sp), alcoholic beverage, even soy things like miso. I know that my supplements also bring it on. If I skip all of these, then I do have harder stools and they eventually turn towards constipation. It's hard to find a happy medium in my case. My whole system seems to have changed with menopause. I am nearing the one year mark.

In the past I did have IBS problems, and I followed the IBS diet and it worked well for me. I ate lots of rice, potatoe and cooked veggies, nothing "raw". I recently also switched from my soy milk to the almond milk. Sometimes I think the big flush is "okay" as I know it clears things out, but have no clue why I don't have a normal stool these days.

I will keep trying new things and keep you posted. Best wishes!

Juliann

All I will say is that I totally relate to you about being VERY nervous and anxious when it comes to testing or weird stuff happening to my body. I have never been like that. I think turning 50 and peri has flipped me out, I feel like my body is a mind field. Well, I did feel that way, I think I'm getting a little used to all the weirdness and the AD is helping me be a bit calmer. I'm "supposed" to have a colonoscopy this year, but, I'm nervous. I check my BM's every morning to make sure they look "good", lol. I know I'm weird, but, actually I've been told you should do that. My ex found out he had colon cancer very recently, he had pain in his stomach for a long time and he saw blood in his stools and then loose stools the last 3 months which is finally what made him go in to the Dr. But, he was a heavy drinker (sober the last year then this, it really is sad) do he attributed the stomach aches to the alchie and drug abuse. The Dr. said he had it for 7 years or so, he is only 48. I also have another male friend who has it, he ignored his stomach pains for years and other symptoms. So, now my son has to have his first colonoscopy at 31 ish, which kind $ucks. I want to not be so afraid of this test because if caught early colon cancer is quite treatable. So, I am working up to doing the test, it probably won't be within the next several months though, lol. I am just getting over major anxiety as it is. I know your Dr. has said you don't need one and thinks you have IBS. It's good you have no pain, that's a good thing. I do hope if you really feel that you need further answers you will do whatever you need to do to find them even if that means the ucky colonoscopy. Take care, Mich

Darn it!! Here I go again, I should proofread before I post instead of after maybe it really is a "mind" field, lol. Actually, I meant mine field.... probably no one cares about this except me, lol

Juliann!

I am so glad to hear someone else with the same problem!......Have you ever done any food intolerance testing?

That would be my next stop.....

I know how you feel about the morning 'whoosh'...but then I am OK too for the rest of the day, no pain, no discomfort, but then I can feel 'bloated' by evening, but I am putting this down to something I am ingesting.

I am being my own food detective at the moment!

I'll keep you informed.

Caz

Caz - just to warn you ... I'm not 100% sure about the results of these intolerance kits... when i had gastritis a few years back, there was very little food I could tolerate without great pain. Some of the few things I could eat were boiled egg sandwiches & porridge. Well just after i started to recover, i decided to do the famed York Labs postal blood tests available over here out of curiosity. I came back supposedly seriously intolerant to all the major things including gluten but worst of all were eggs, yeast, oats & dairy - the only things that I had been able to eat in that time & be pain free! If I gave them up I wouldn't have eaten anything at all!

I think if it had come up as one or two things i might have tried to avoid them but there were so many, my life wouldn't be worth living if I gave them all up! I like to travel & eat out so I never did anything about it.

Having said all that it's worth a go for you to try & work out the cause of your problem - just wanted to let you know if you try the York ones, what the results might come back like

Squigs....I understand, that is why I have taken so long in getting one done...because I too am skeptical about the outcome.

I am starting with an elimination diet first, then will see what I discover...got to save $$ where I can anyway (don't know about the York one, but the tests here are bloody expensive!)

I do know that white bread is a 'no, no' for me, but other than that I'm stumped.


Cheers Squigs x

Witsend and Eminar are correct; I've had 3 colonoscopies and they are actually one of the safest tests you can have. You will need to get one at age 50, and the peace of mind you get from knowing what your problem is (or, in most cases, what it ISN'T) is amazing. Plus, if your colonoscopy is "clean", you don't need to repeat it for 10 years. The only reason I have had 3 is that I had some bowel issues years ago and then my dad developed terminal colon cancer 5 years ago. And, Witsend is correct here, too...you can have polyps or cancerous growths without pain or other symptoms. That's why colon cancer is a rather "sneaky" disease. But the upside is that with a colonoscopy, growths can be removed while the doc is in there doing the test. No need to go back for more procedures. And, if the growths are caught early, cancer can be prevented entirely.

Please know also that a colonoscopy is not an "operation". I'm a big wimp, too, and truly, the worst part of the whole thing is having to have a clear liquid diet the day before, and the "clean out" with the prep you have to drink. And if you are already having those kinds of bowel movements, the ones you have after you take the prep will not feel much different, if at all. After it's over, you get the joy of going out and ordering a big ol' burger (or meal of your choice!).

I do understand your fear and don't want to seem unsympathetic, but you sleep through the colonoscopy, and I would be much more afraid of finding out two years from now that I had to deal with something that could've been prevented with a colonoscopy.

Are you writing from the UK? I wondered when I read the words "operating theatre" in your post. I don't know how the health care facilities are where you live, but here in the U.S., colonoscopies are done often and safely.

Good luck. I think you would really benefit from the peace of mind by having this test.

Thanks aging.....

I am from the UK but live in Virginia now.

Peace x

I'm been following your post about IBS, and let me tell you that I had the same like you. In one post you mentioned about flat stool, and me and my husband had it from time to time. At this moment my stool are very normal ( going everyday at almost the same time ) always look my stool before flushing . The only advise for you, is to take probiotics, our immune system 70% depent on a good interna flora ( hope you understant my english ), If you have not been taken probiotics in long time, this will be the best time. Stress, hormones fluctuation, antibiotics etc. are the worse enemies, producing the internal imbalance. So, you have to feed your body with a good regimen of Probiotics. In my case I was taken Probiotics and at the same time was eating Manuka Honey, for my indigestion, and remember one thing, if you have gastric problems, your IBS will be active, cause they all connect. I bought the MANUKA HONEY at the health store and it worked for me. Not tell tomorrow but so far so good. This is my humble advice.

menosick

Caz,
Had diarrhea off and one for years!
Was always told I have IBS, but 2007 it became very severe.
Upper GI & colonoscopy rules out anything serious but I wanted answers.

Have you had any stool tests?
My tests showed I have a pancreatic digestive enzyme missing.
I don't break down fat. (stool will float)
Gosh this is gross!
I take caplets when it acts up, other wise it’s ok.

Only problem with something like this you have to watch about malabsorption problems> absorbing nutrient and vitamins etc.

Talk to your doctor about it since it’s a non invasive test.

Gosh Snowy......aren't we all one group of 'upset' people!!

My stools don't float fortunately......but can tell they are 'greasy'.......I do often wonder and worry about the malabsorption thing....I mean I take all these lovely expensive vitamins etc., and I could be wasting my money if they are just being 'thrown out with my.....er.....waste!'

>>If you have particularly greasy, smelly, floating stools, you may have a problem absorbing fat from your gut. The problem may be in your pancreas or small bowel. <<

Talk to your doctor about a stool FAT TEST

First they can just do a regular stool test>>> then if the fat content is high you may have to do a 3 day one.

Will tell you about that about later!!!