Bowel/bile problems possibly caused by gallbladder/liver after mystery illness

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For some backround, i was born with severe acid reflux which continues to be prevalent, and when i was little i would have diarrhea multiple times a week. For more backround, about two years ago i began having diarrhea which very quickly became severe and i began vomiting constantly aswell. Had a colonoscopy and endoscopy, barium swallow, gastric emptying test, no one could figure out what it was and quite frankly didnt seem to care all that much. It got to the point i was on my death bed and didnt recover until a long hospital stay. About a year ago i started vomiting large amounts of bile at random times and whenever i drank water on an empty stomach.

Of course, recently, when id finally gotten to my healthiest, i suddenly had a day-long illness which i originally presumed to be a bug. Now i dont even know what it couldve been because my symptoms have been prolonged (its been a month). My only intestinal symptom was diarrhea, which was strangely odorless and was basically just bile by mid-day. I woke up in the middle of the night to vomit once, and it was just bile. I slowly recovered within a week, just for it to almost return by the weekend. I was so frantic about it that i used what i knew could slow down my intestinal motility. Ever since, it's been a back and forth fight and im damn sick of it.

To get back to the topic, my stool is whats been concerning me. When i wipe, theres always bile leftover with the stool. The stool itself is like healthy brown but really orange tinted. Occasionally, there are tiny black specks in it. I do not eat anything that could cause the appearance to look like this so please dont ask. Originally, i tried probiotics, which helped enough to the point that it went back to a normal color, but that was only temporary. Every other day i have to take 1-2 imodiums to slow things down before the diarrhea starts again, which also seems to color the stool relatively back to normal. However, im afraid im already starting to become tolerant of the imodium and it will eventually stop working.

Ive gathered some research from actual real people, and its suggested i could have a gallbladder blockage, bile malabsorption, problems with my bile salts, and/or gi bleeding (which is probably much less likely), etc. My mother and every immediate family member on my father's side has needed to have their gallbladder removed for some reason.

I have so many other health problems that have arised in just a few years so i dont want to have to live with this. I dont want to have to focus on this all the time like its made me have to do, because gastrointestinal issues are what effect me the worst emotionally. It wouldnt seem like much to you and likely even less to doctors, but im very young and illness has taken up so much of my life already.

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3 Replies

  • Posted

    Things I forgot to mention were that they tested for every intolerance/allergy/celiac disease, which all came up negative, except for casein intolerance or something like that. Im also unable to gain weight and lose weight at times, even though im eating alot of carbs to try and combat this. And finally, if it offers any extra insight, ive been peeing alot more frequently within the past few months.

  • Posted

    Good morning, unfortunately i cannot give you an answer but can say that i went through something similar 18 month ago.

    For no reason i took diarrhoea for 18 weeks causing me to lose a lot of weight, had the test eventually, colonoscopy and blood tests, nothing found, cut a long story short i eventually got Mbeverine tablets from doctors, slow down the fuctionality of the bowel but have to be careful with what i eat, especially sauces containing garlic and stopped taking milk, not properly cured and still have bad days.

    What i have found out is like yourself i was and still am bothered with reflux, stopped all medication as when i take the tablets i get diarrhoea for a day or so.

    Ask you dctor to try a different tablet to slow down your bowel functionality and see if that helps.

    Fingers crossed for you as i know partially what you are going through, i have also been able to put on 7lbs in weight

    • Posted

      Even with the medication that slows my bowel motility i still havent been able to gain weight and i wouldnt be surprised if im still losing weight, and i really struggle with this because i hate my body looking like this

      Regardless thankyou for the support, its always nice to know im not alone and i hope things will resolve for you one day aswell. Even if symptoms are improvable, its still hard to have to deal with these things at all

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