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Posted 1/6/2016 12:38 PM (GMT 0)
Hi all

Happy New Year and good health to you all; God willing.

Happy New Year to you.

We are now in America and happily settled down and in our new home.

One thing that remains is my digestive issues. I've been well for a while but since coming here I've kind of got into a situation where I go from a totally normal few days to a sudden bouts of bad bowels for no reason. I have:

- Alternating normal stools and then softer diarrhea like stools. Often in the same bowel movement.
- Sore anal area after a bowel movement
- The odd rare speck of blood and mucus every so often.
- I have about 2 bowel movements a day right now.

It's probably my body adjusting to a new country; I feel tired, and I am not sleeping well either.

I'm thinking of going to see a GI here and really worried at this persistent problem but I'm not sure if I am putting myself through more aggravation or if this is just chronic IBS or niggling IBD.

What do you advise guys?
Posted 1/6/2016 1:25 PM (GMT 0)
I just read an article that said that travelers often experience changes in gut which is normal. Since you are newly landed maybe this is a good reason to sign up with a GI locally and get their opinion. Always good to have someone to call if things get worse. He/she will ask when your last c-scope was and want to do their own.

Does UK give copies of their scope report to you? Always good to have copies of testing to carry these (and leave with) your new doctors. US docs like to see numbers (blood tests) and medical reports (scopes, biopsies) rather than what patients tell them verbally.

You've made a big move, new food, new water, with different bacteria, new stressors. But anal soreness and a change in bowel warrants further attention. Of course by the time you actually get an appointment things may settle down, but find a GI anyway and get on their roster to call when needed.
Posted 1/6/2016 1:26 PM (GMT 0)
Sounds like rectal inflammation to me. Do you have any rectal meds?

Not to say your not having IBS issues as well, I have that going on with my UC in remission. But the blood, mucus and pain after a BM is telling me inflammation.
Posted 1/6/2016 2:13 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome to the US :) I agree that you should use rectal meds if you have them. But whenever I travel I tend to have some sort of GI upset. What state are you in? Sometimes the change in elevation can also cause distress.
Posted 1/6/2016 2:24 PM (GMT 0)
Hi thanks guys.

I'm in Washington state and have only been here two weeks. My last scope was in September and I was mildly flaring with regular blood. This feels different to then.

This time I am having bouts of Diarrhea but having totally normal days too. There isn't any blood to talk of, it's hardly a speck and happens maybe once a week. That I can is probably my hemmies.

I have booked myself in with a specialist IBD Primary Care doctor who can then decide if further care is necessary.

With regards rectal meds, I was using them a month ago when I was bleeding but the bleeding stopped when I stopped the rectals. My GI said they were irritating my hemmies.

Maybe I should try the suppositories again?
Posted 1/6/2016 2:30 PM (GMT 0)
Wouldn't hurt to try them. Sounds like low level inflammation so it could help.
Posted 1/6/2016 2:41 PM (GMT 0)
i'm assuming you moved to western washington - i mean who would come all that way and wind up in EASTERN Washington shocked

at any rate, i always feel a bit ill when i travel west - too many cars, people, and too many everything !

come east my friend - you'll thank me later smilewinkgrin

ya, i think you just need to give it some time - lots of changes !

good luck on your new life :-)
Posted 1/6/2016 2:48 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah we have moved to Seattle in WA. And the weather and food is different to London. I'll see a GI, stop the spicy diet, and visit the doctor on 19th. Maybe it the traveling and changes that's causing this. Low level inflammation may well be right too which a course of suppositories will help with.
Posted 1/6/2016 3:54 PM (GMT 0)
One thing...you don't want to allow the inflammation to continue to simmer, and yes...use the suppositories.

q
Posted 1/6/2016 4:24 PM (GMT 0)
I was reading this recently:

The Science Behind Vacation Constipation
Why the holidays are a prime time for traveler’s constipation
www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/12/all-i-got-for-christmas-was-constipation/422046/
“Any time you leave your general habitat, it’s throwing your gut microflora off balance,” says Brooke Alpert, a New York-based registered dietician.
Posted 1/6/2016 4:28 PM (GMT 0)
Happy to hear you're settling in! I think you should use the suppositories :)
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