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Anyone else's problems start after a stomach "flu"?

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Posted 12/23/2012 3:15 AM (GMT 0)
Hey, folks. Long-time lurker here, first-time poster.

I am starting to wonder how many people out there had their GI problems start like mine did. Twice in my life, I've had functional GI issues crop up suddenly and last for an extended period of time after suffering acute gastroenteritis (stomach "flu"). Based on my symptoms and the progression of the illnesses, I believe both cases were due to Norovirus. I had this happen when I was 8 years old, and I then experienced about a year of chronic nausea, early satiety (I remember feeling terribly full after just a few bites of food), and what I now recognize as symptoms of GERD (feelings of gagging, burning in my chest and throat, fullness in my throat, and constant throat clearing). I got to the point where I would refuse to eat or even drink to avoid the pain and discomfort food caused me; I lost massive amounts of weight. This eventually resolved spontaneously, and I continued on with my childhood and adolescence as if this had never happened.

At the age of 21, I once again suffered a stomach flu. Before this point in time, I had been about as healthy as person can be; I was very fit and loving life. But after this acute gastroenteritis, I suddenly started suffering with eerily familiar symptoms. The same symptoms I'd had as a child were back to haunt me, and I struggled to force down food. I started having nausea constantly, I would regurgitate food and acid immediately after eating anything, no matter how small the amount or type of food, and I started getting an incredibly full, "tight" feeling in my stomach after eating only a small amount of food; it felt like my stomach just wouldn't stretch to accommodate the food.

I have lived with these symptoms since I had the stomach flu in August 2009, though I have experienced several months where I felt totally better out of nowhere. I was diagnosed with GERD in early 2010 based on my symptoms and an endoscopy. Two gastric emptying studies have been normal, so I'm assuming the stomach problem is functional dyspepsia at this point. Barium esophagrams have shown normal swallowing (I have a hard time swallowing and a globus sensation, as well as a lovely taste in the back of my mouth). I have lost a significant amount of weight due to these GI issues, which is not good, as I was skinny to begin with.

Based on my own research, in recent years it has been discovered that functional GI disorders (gastroparesis, functional dyspepsia, IBS, and most recently - GERD) are seen more commonly in the following years in those who have had some sort of GI infection. The belief at this point seems to be that immune-mediated nerve damage is to blame (due to immune response to the infection). I think it is very suspicious that this has happened to me twice in my life, and though I have noted the stomach flu/chronic GI problem connection many times in the past, I only recently thought to research it. I will be discussing this with my GI doc the next time I see him. Here are links to just a small sampling of journal and review articles concerning post-infectious functional GI disorders:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22715178

http://topics.searchmedica.com/insights/content/article/1549113/1700599

Here is a fantastic overview:
http://usagiedu.com/articles/funct/funct.pdf

Post Edited (DestroyTheMap) : 12/22/2012 8:27:42 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/2/2013 8:16 AM (GMT 0)
Hello. I'm new here too but I can try to answer. I've had stomach issues off and on for a few years. However, in September I got sick with a food born bacterial infection called Campylobacter. It caused bleeding in my stomach, severe pain, vomiting, diarrhea. I lost 20 lbs in one week. Since then my stomach pain has been managed by nexium.

I have not had an official diagnosis of GERD but that is what my Dr. feels it is. The pain can be excruciating and, for me, usually at night.

So, I firmly believe stomach flues can contribute to or possibly trigger GERD if severe food poisoning can, as likely in my case.

I also tried going off Nexium last week and am tonight in pain reading this forum. My week went well til today.

Best wishes!

Skippy
Posted 1/2/2013 2:51 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Destroy,

Welcome to Healing Well!  Glad you came out of the shadows to post! wink I can say this...the first time my PCP doc had an inkling that I had GERD was after I'd taken Augmentin for a sinus or lung infection (can't remember which) and I had horrible gastritis and reflux that created uncontrollable asthma.  While it's not a stomach bug, it created an inflamed stomach (like a bug does) and increased acid production, which led to the increased reflux.

At that point he put me on Prilosec, and I avoided Augmentin (although a few years later I stupidly figured I could take it if I was careful to have a full stomach when I did.  Bad idea.  I ended up in the hospital with horrible gastritis, esophagitis, and asthma, which was really why I was admitted.)

I umderstand your symptoms post-stomach bug, because they're similar to mine post antibiotic!  I could only eat a spoonful of anything (BTW egg custard is great if you're having the problem...I lived on it) and even that could cause pain.  It's not fun.  Before I had the Nissen fundoplication surgery, I'd get these episodes at least a couple times a year, and they'd take two or three months to resolve, leaving me about 20 pounds thinner. 

Again, glad you've joined us.  I'm sure other members will be by to share their own experiences with you.  Best of luck!

Happy New Year!

Denise

Posted 1/2/2014 5:15 PM (GMT 0)
Just stumbled across this forum after some googling during one of my worst night of GERD pain ever. I contracted norovirus and after about 12 hours from the first vomiting spout, at around midnight, I was restlessly unable to sleep because the pain in the sternum area of my chest was so severe my wife thought I was having cramps ;)

It was definitely burning more than the typical heartburn-type pain, and was very focused on what I believed to be the lower esophageal sphincter - my guess is that in addition to all of the other wonders norovirus tolls on the human body is that it coaxes this muscle to relax thus aiding acid reflux.

I normally take Zantac 150mg 2x/day - I took another one as well as adding another pillow to lay at a more inclined level which seemed to have helped a little bit, at least enough to get an hour of sleep.

Typically maintaining a low-acid diet keeps the esophageal pain to a minimum but with norovirus all bets are off.

I wish 'norovirus' could be added to the original forum subject line because it really is distinct even though most people think it's the stomach flu.
Posted Yesterday 12:13 AM (GMT 0)
Well, I just had all of your posted symptoms. Thank you for the input. Started with possible reaction to bad food, calmed down, horrible cold, calmed down, full blown flu...seemed to calm down then today the reflux and stomach ache, other symptoms subsided. So now I've literally been sick for 40 days and tired of it. I will try your remedies and post the results. Thanks.
Posted 1/5/2017 4:51 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, mine happened after a similar incident. I found that 3 months on betaine hcl was all I needed to balance stomach acid again and mine went away.
Posted 4/4/2018 3:47 PM (GMT 0)
In 1994 I suffered a bout of "Stomach Flu" (Viral gastritis - type unknown) which has caused permanent damage to my digestive system - affecting both my stomach and bowels. This appears to be a little known and uncommon problem which now has the medical label of Post Infectious IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) - which covers a wide range of symptoms - including both excessive and much reduced muscular contraction of the gut.

In my case, as with the originator of this thread, I suffer with violent contractions of the stomach in response to food and in extreme cases even fluids. Within 5 minutes of starting to eat my stomach suddenly feels very tight and I can feel contractions trying to force the food back up from my stomach. When this happens I can regurgitate stomach contents at will, or try and wait out the stomach contractions until they subside. In general I do not feel nausea - just a very strong urge to regurgitate - to reduce the uncomfortable tight stomach feeling. It is very rare that I detect any acid in the regurgitated stomach contents, which would obviously be much more of a problem.

As stated in the original post it feels as if my stomach is failing to stretch to accommodate food - in fact it does the opposite and contracts violently in response to food. The symptoms are made worse by stress and anxiety (and attempting to continue eating) - but are most definitely a physical reaction to food and or fluid entering the stomach. Some foods are almost guaranteed to provoke a reaction (fried rice and most meats are worst for me) but if I am stressed and extra hungry (salivating) almost anything can cause a strong reaction.

For 13 years I suffered almost every day from these symptoms with little relief and no diagnosis. Various IBS medications proved ineffective, tests for Helicobacter Pylori were negative, and an endoscopy found no abnormalities - apart from an abnormally strong oesophageal sphincter - due to years of resisting regurgitation.

After years of seeing community doctors I requested a referral to a hospital consultant (in 2007). The result of which was that my symptoms were consistent with a rare condition that had no name - but some people seemed to respond to taking a Proton Pump Inhibitor (Omeprazole also known as Losec® and Prilosec®).

Within 2 days of starting Omeprazole my symptoms of 13 years had disappeared!
Every time I have tried stopping the medication (10 years now) the symptoms return.
I was started on 20mg once per day - and have been able to reduce that to 20mg every third day with almost no issues.

For anyone who suffers as I did I hope this information may be of assistance
Posted 10/9/2019 12:05 PM (GMT 0)
Seeing as no-one else has posted on this thread for over a year I thought I would just post an update.
My condition remains essentially unchanged - that being 25 years since the viral gastritis infection. The Omeprazole (Losec® and Prilosec®) continues to be effective - I take 20mg every 2nd or 3rd day - and if I stop taking it the my symptoms come back after 4-6 days without treatment.

I think the key phrases that caught my attention in the originating post are these:
Symptoms developed after suffering acute gastroenteritis (stomach "flu")
I remember feeling terribly full after just a few bites of food
I started getting an incredibly full, "tight" feeling in my stomach
I would regurgitate food ..... immediately after eating anything
Feelings of gagging, ...... fullness in my throat, and constant throat clearing
I would refuse to eat or even drink to avoid the .... discomfort food caused me
It felt like my stomach just wouldn't stretch to accommodate the food.

These descriptions were the first I ever found online that described my symptoms - the only element that thankfully I did not have was the acid reflux. In fact a characteristic of my condition was the distinct absence of stomach acid in the regurgitation for the vast majority of my episodes - which may possibly be due to the speed of onset of the stomach contractions (the acid was still localised in the stomach wall and not yet at significant levels in the stomach contents).

The original poster (DestroyTheMap) reported losing a lot of weight by not eating. I on the other hand avoided eating in social situations (parties, restaurants etc) and managed the issue by waiting out the immediate stomach contractions and then (after 10-15 minutes) continuing to eat with extra care. I could feel when my stomach contractions stopped - there was a very obvious relaxation that happened over a short period (10-30 seconds). If the stomach convulsions became too violent to resist I would allow the regurgitation to happen - making use of whatever facilities were available (toilet, sink, behind a bush). This would generally bring on a cessation of the contractions within a few minutes - allowing me to continue eating with care (eating slowly with small mouthfuls, well chewed).

This became my normal mealtime routine and my family and close friends were aware that I might need to stop eating or leave the table to throw up - not ideal during family meals - but I made it work. Probably stopped me putting on weight but I didn't lose any. Obviously an initial worry was that this response could be stress induced and not a "physical" condition. But over the years it became apparent that - while made much worse by stress - it was most definitely a physical reaction to food or liquid entering the stomach. This was confirmed by a few occasions when certain drugs caused a complete but temporary "cure" - most notably a cephalosporin antibiotic taken for a chest infection. Not entirely sure of the mechanism but the response was like a switch being flipped - both when starting and stopping the medication.

It appears that this rare permanent condition is now though to be due to immune mediated nerve damage following either bacterial or viral gastro-intestinal infections - and is referred to as Post Infectious IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) See this webpage: https://www.aboutibs.org/what-is-ibs-sidenav/post-infectious-ibs.html

Post Edited (DougCuk) : 10/9/2019 6:09:33 AM (GMT-6)

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