HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Post Infectious Ibs?

Support Forums
>
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 3/29/2009 5:25 AM (GMT 0)
I had just had a couple of questions... i beginning to think i have developed a bad case of post infectious ibs and worrying, stressing, and panicking about the whole thing isnt making it worst.. i want an answer so i can create a way to deal with this and power through it cuz honestly i do not want to live the rest of my life if i am in this discomfort i cannot even imagine.. but any ways.. how many of you guys developed ibs after a bad infection or food poisoning etc? and did it ever get better or fade away?? I can put down my symptoms and stuff but i figured nobody wants to read about that kinda crap anyways LITERALLY! hahaha yes my first ibs joke about poop. lol but ya any input would be great thanks and i can let you all know my symptoms if you are interested i just find less ppl respond if my question is like a page long LOL
Posted 3/29/2009 3:44 PM (GMT 0)
First of all - I want to welcome to our group here at HW! You'll meet lots of nice folks, very helpful and kind.

Second of all, believe it or not, we want details. Nothing at this point grosses ANY of us out. I do think I can freely speak for the community here, we've all swapped such personal and often times gross details. Each time I'd prefice my posts with apologies for making members here uncomfortable, nearly everyone said not to worry.

So don't worry, you can't scare us away!

That said, I am not qualified to answer your specific question - can you contract IBS from an infection.

I have chronic, 24/7 IBS-D like symptoms due to have had rectal cancer almost 10 years ago. I've had the lower part of my colon removed and internally I'm reconstructed, I have permanent staples in there too. Lovely detail. Again, I can guarantee you no one winced at that detail. This is such a nice group. But I am stuck with this now, been dealing with it all for 10 years (come this June to be exact, when I had a temporary colostomy reversed 10 years ago).

Personally, I find that a low residue diet helps me the most. Small meals, instead of 3 large ones, avoiding foods that irritate my GI tract, keeping a food journal (any notebook will do, one pay per day, record every single thing you eat, drink, if you took meds that day or not, if you were stressed out, sick with a cold, etc.). After a while you will see that a pattern begins to form. If you ate foods that messed you up on specific days, avoid them in the future.

I feel my best when I eat the same foods each day/week. In my case these are mashed potatoes, white rice, cottage cheese, applesauce, turkey, chicken, fish (but not fried), iceberg lettuce salads, bananas, mac/cheese, plain english muffins, white bread. I avoid spicy foods, whole wheat products (no bran, no granola), fresh fruits such as pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, red raspberries, kiwi, candy, nuts, chili, etc.

Wishing you better days ahead.
Posted 3/29/2009 8:24 PM (GMT 0)
Hey i appreciate your understanding and help! ok well it all started 2 and a half weeks ago with a bout of food poisoning or stomach flu that made me throw up for 3 days and have some mild watery diarrhea.. after wards i felt extremely bloated and was having loose stools.. that is when i started to freak the **** out thinkin i had gastroparesis and all this crazy crap that i looked up online.. i became extremely stressed and anxious and i am not sure if that has to do with ne thing but it mite.. after the bloated feeling i was gettin discomfort in my right side radiating to my lower back.. thought it mite b gallbladder cuz i looked that up online but then it started swapping to under the left ribcage and back.. but primarily it is on the rite side like a constant dull discomfort.. i was takin vicodin and i produced some normal stools and everything seemed to start getting better.. 1 week after the initial illness i started feeling nauseous in the morning to the point of dryheaving.. after 3 days of that btw the bloating has gone down i do not feel that ne more.. i still had this rite discomfort but one day 2 weeks ago i felt great.. until having an extreme fight with my gf and it seemd the right side discomfort came back shortly after the fight? related? the next day i had a kabob meal with lots of yogurt sauce.. after wards my stomach wouldnt quit vibrating/rumbling/ gurgling until i pooped.. after that meal after everything i ate it did the same thing.. and when i lay down at night its even worst.. sometimes there is a sharper pain in my lower right abdomen but thats intermittent and i rarely experience it.. now my upper back on both sides is in constant discomfort to the point it makes my arms weak on whichever side its worst.. every 3 days seems like a new adventure of symptoms but the right side discomfort has stuck with me the entire time.. can gas be stuck in my upper back?? last nite i was also experiencing muscle twitches all over my body maybe like once every 15 minutes.. my appetite is gone sometimes its hard to take deep breaths i feel like there is a pocket of acid underneath my rib cage on both sides.. *** is going on with me i just cant keep my mind off it.. i smoke.. i smoked alot of weed before i got sick then i quit cuz now when i smoke i have panic attacks i think.. i am 19 year old male generally healthy.. o and i went to gastro er and primary doctor siad i was just recovering.. ct scan showed "thickened" colon slightly inflamed maybe but not enuff to do a colonoscopy.. wow this is super long and i highly doubt ne body would read it haha.. so stress and kabob seems to have set me back a couple of days but today i went back to eating small bland meals and the gurgling has no come yet.. what can i take for this discomfort.. i am already eating yogurt and taking acidophilus.. it hurts in my lower abdomen when i strain to poop and it seems like i have to strain for ne poop to come out.. lots of mucus when i have diarrhea
Posted 3/30/2009 1:24 AM (GMT 0)
Get a colonscopy. A CT scan doesn't give a good picture of the colon. I would also ask for a endoscopy of the stomach and duodenum. I messed up my stomach drinking acidic drinks and it took a very long time to get back to normal but now one thing can throw it off. Keep up the acidophilus. YOu mention anxiety so perhaps an antianxiety med might help for a while. I would also take something like Maalox Total and see if that helps. It could be you have gas pockets forming so Gas pills might help. Stomach and intestinal problems are hard to figure so you sort of have to try everything if nothing shows up in the coloscopy and endo.
Posted 3/30/2009 3:37 AM (GMT 0)
Hey i appreciate your help, i did end up feeling better by the end of the take after eating several small meals and taking milayna for my gas, i was wondering if you anybody could answer a question i have. What are colon spasms? Are they painful or is it something you can just feel cuz ur colon is contracting very rapidly? I am going to go get a colonoscopy if things do not get any better soon and i am not looking forward to it.. so are these symptoms common for ibs'rs? and does it ever feel 100 percent better even for a month or so?
Posted 3/30/2009 4:11 AM (GMT 0)
o one more question and hopefully somebody is still checking this.. is ok to take malayna, probiotics, and zantac within the same day?
Posted 3/30/2009 11:41 AM (GMT 0)
I agree with the colonoscopy advice. Don't take no from your doctor. Having one will give you peace of mind, if nothing else.
Posted 3/30/2009 3:04 PM (GMT 0)
Probiotics are okay to take with anything else (although taking them at the same time as you take an antibiotic pill might cause the antibiotic to be less effective; you can, however, take them on the same day--and should--but at a different time). I'm not sure what the malayna is, so I'm not sure if it's okay to take with zantac. You can actually call your pharmacist and ask him or her; they have a computer system where they can look up drug interactions.

I actually posted a news article quite some time ago that said there's a new theory out (they were actually looking for volunteers to track) that food poisioning can lead to long-term health effects, including long-term bowel problems. I mean, we think of food poisioning as something that makes you sick for 24-48 hours until you get it out of your system, but some scientists noticed that people who had had it seemed to have a higher rate of IBS and even muscle problems than average people. They started to wonder if it's like being posioned with some chemical or plant, in that it can stay in the body and cause permanent damage.

That being said, probiotics are typically quite helpful after this sort of thing. I either caught a bug or drank some bad water while on vacation, and probiotics have set me straight again. But I have been taking Culturelle, which is a pill that's much, much stronger than yogurt or acidophillus pills/milk. Those things are good for maintenance, but for a serious problem, you should switch to a more robust probiotic. In addition to Culturelle, there's a capsule form of Digestive Advantage. You should be able to find both in the bowel products section of any chain drug store. Even my grocery store pharmacy had the Digestive Advantage.

You can also try calcium supplements. Calcium has been proven to soothe minor intestinal irritations/inflamations. It won't help for serious problems, like Crohn's or UC, but I know from experience it helped me when I had my guts tore up after a bad reaction to sugar alcohols. If you are still having problems with diarrhea, get some Caltrate 600 w/ vitamin D (you can get the generic version); it is naturally constipating, so it can help some with the D problem. If you don't have a problem with loose stools, look for a calcium supplement with a high amount of magnesium in it (you will have to compare labels to see which has the highest level), because the magnesium counters the constipating effect.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply