Questioning if it truly is IBS.
Posted , 7 users are following.
Hello! I'm literally at my wits end with all of this and need some others opinions. It's a bit lengthy so bare with me. Everything will be as raw and honest as possible so keep that in mind if it'll gross you out at all.
In the beginning of June I got food poisoning and haven't been right since. I got it after our fridge broke and I ate chicken that had gone off (precooked chicken that got too hot), I vomited orangey coloured sick twice (one straight after the other) and that was that. It was awful as naturally I'm not a sickly person and the last time I was before this was years and years ago (at least 6, likely more) but that was that, it took me about a week to start eating to my regular diet but I was back and fine, then a week after I had orange juice and just plummeted again. I felt sick every day (but wasn't), my stomach wouldn't stop hurting and groaning and all I had was gas and more gas. My bowel movements were still somewhat normal but when I was anxious they were worse. I had times where I felt incredibly ill and times where I felt semi-okay. They did a stool test and that came back clean.
So, same thing, I recovered from that and was somewhat okay - not great, I stuck to the food I knew was okay and ate a lot of that (sandwiches, certain crisps/chips, etc, nothing out of the normal for my regular diet).
Then a few days ago I had battered sausage and chips and curry sauce from the chip shop and oh.. it was awful. I felt fine at the time, maybe a little bloated but not too bad. However I woke up at 3 am in so much pain and the next day I was on and off the toliet all day, doing small bowel movements that ranged from being normal to runny but there was so many. I went to my doctors and she gave me imodium and that was that, I didn't eat for the rest of that day because I was too paranoid. So the next day I ate nothing but plain rice about twice, but still woke up the following morning around 3 am with awful stomach pains. The next day I upgraded jacket potato and nice biscuits and woke up at 5 am with somewhat bad pains and then that brings us to today where I've had wholemeal toast with a butter oil spread, hula hoops (crisps).
I keep getting a burning sensation in my stomach for no reason too, I kept dismissing it for hunger but after looking into it, it seems stomach ulcers can cause it too, after suggesting this to my doctor he just got annoyed and said there's no way I can have one as none of my symptoms match (which is false from what I've seen about them) and that I just have IBS. I was also told my IBS would pass but it's been three months since I got the food poisoning and I can still hardly eat. After eating anything, no matter what, I generally get heartburn or indigestion. I don't know why I'm waking up at these weird times, I generally don't even need to go to the toliet after I wake up. I don't really get much bloating (which is strange considering it's the most common IBS symptom).
Through all this I've not really improved, since the food poisoning I've just felt nausea almost every day, had stomach or back aches, stomach pains/burning and just generally felt awful.
I've had blood tests ran and found out I'm lacking quite bad in vitamin D and they're retesting me for some more blood tests (not sure what off the top of my head, feel free to ask if you're curious and I'll find out).
Another little piece of info, I think I've always had a lowscale form of IBS as I've always had cramps after sex and small reactions to food that last for a few of my bowel movements, not the entire day like last time. Any questions please ask, I'm honestly at my wits end and unsure how much more I can take with this all.
0 likes, 29 replies
judy975
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Forgot to add, the main reason I'm questioning if it's IBS is most peoples flare ups/symptoms don't last this long, when I say I've felt like this every day for a month, I truly mean that!
Guest judy975
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Hi, I think it is the chicken poisoning you had in the first place that gave you all those symptoms. Poisoning does all kind of things to the system. Please help me to remind you that IBS is a syndrome and not a desease. Doctors always put it under IBS as that is an easy way out. Why don't you reduce your fat intake to 40-45 gram a day, let's say for 2 weeks and see how you feel. I have been doing that for a year now with success. I have got BAM Bile Acid Malabsorption. My Ileum is not working as it should after rectal cancer.
jan48389 judy975
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Jan
rob2000 judy975
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pippa58442 judy975
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judy975
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Hi everyone! Thanks for your responses. I'd like to try cutting fat out of my diet but I'm quite underweight and need a fair amount of fat in my diet. I'll try at least taking a bit out but I find it difficult because I get super anxious (especially with this new found IBS) when trying new foods. I know a parents friend took three months to get over their food poisoning but when you're going through it yourself it all feels a little ridiculous and like it'll never go away.
My doctors aren't fantastic, they knew I wanted a bunch of tests done but all they seem to want to do is have blood tests done (which is awful for me since I'm not very good with them and tend to pass out afterwards & feel really drowsy for the rest of the day).
Low fodmap is honestly something I find difficult, I try and stick to it here and there but it contains a lot of foods I'm potentially allergic to (and I feel in no fit state to try them at the minute lol) or foods I generally dislike. Of course there's some I do like but I feel like my main issue at the moment is everything is just too much on my stomach, not even because of the IBS, just flavour wise and I don't really understand why, if I had just had the food poisioning I would but considering it's been three months and my stomach seems to be worse after this flare up, it's bizzare.
I went to an out of hours GP with my second flare up (the oj one) and he said it was post infectious IBS, the struggle I'm having is doctors will tell me it's PI-IBS/IBS and to just "educate" myself more on it! Despite the fact I already know tons and tons. I know not everyone gets bloating but I just don't feel like it IBS in my heart of hearts, it just feels like something else. I'm concerned if it's something that needs treatment and I'm not giving it the treatment it needs.
Forgot to mention, after the oj I went and saw my regular GP and he prescribed Gaviscon, I take it once after every meal and it does help with the gas side of things but not much else. I'm always a bit anxious taking medicines like that because I don't want to have to live on them for the rest of my life or my body get so used to them and become immume. I'm desperate to be eating normally again, I'm willing to try low fodmap, I just don't feel like my stomach is ready for many new foods yet which is the worst part of this all. I'm so ready to eat and watching everyone else eat nice meals is heartbreaking to be perfectly honest.
FA54321 judy975
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Hi, I found taking Gaviscon caused more problems than it solved. Anything we reduced stomach acid can cause a rebound effect, where you can experience even more acid. I would definitely take as much fat out of your diet as possible, as this causes stomach acid.
The low FODMAP diet is designed to take out foods which can cause reactions in people with IBS not the other way round. Also, you may be confusing allergies with intolerances, reading your other posts. There is no ‘quick fix’ with these issues and taking out foods in your diet that are bad for you, even though you may enjoy them is experienced by many of us with intestinal issues. Believe me I know - I have IBS and have done low FODMAP (and can now identify the foods that cause symptoms and have eliminated them from my diet), as well as having Coeliac disease, and am intolerant to all dairy, soya and a host of other problems and don’t have the luxury of choosing what to eat. It’s a matter of getting your priorities sorted, if you want to get well, you need to take a good look at your diet, there’s no short cuts. Cut down on sugar and fat, (they both cause acid) and eat more healthy foods, including plenty of vegetables and some fruit (there’s sugar in fruit too, so you need to be careful, veggies are a better choice). I know it’s hard, but eventually you find other foods you can eat instead that you will enjoy. It could well be the food poisoning has been the trigger and it’s caused imbalances with the flora in your gut but you now have to deal with the issues it’s left you with.
judy975 FA54321
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Ah I see! I was concerned it might be the case, I'm having to take it for now anyway so hopefully it won't mess with my system too bad haha, I am taking it less than when the doctors recommended just to make sure my body doesn't become too reliant on it.
I haven't had too much fat in my diet as of late, nowhere near as much as I used to so that's a good start I suppose.
My system just seems to disagree with stuff at the moment, I feel like most of it is just building it up. I believe they tested me for coeliac (and I was kind of annoyed because they were very insistent that they thought I had it despite me not having any issues that concerned it and it came back that I didn't with my bloods).
I've never been fantastic with dairy but since the FP they've been encouraging me to eat yogurt.. Which honestly, is a disaster at the best of times, let alone now.
I feel like my body is just a bit up the creek, I'm hopeful this will all pass but maybe that's just blind optimism lol.
FA54321 judy975
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judy975 FA54321
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I believe so, I've been living off sandwiches and stuff like that so I can't imagine I didn't have the gluten in me. I don't seem to show any side effects after having it either.
I'm starting to wonder if it's just milk that's
the cause, I spoke to my mum and she said even as a baby I was never great with milk and throughout my childhood I still wasn't fantastic with it. I honestly have no idea what's going on with my body and I think that's what makes it so difficult - if I knew I could avoid problem foods but because I'm still unsure I'm just sticking to the same foods over and over again.
FA54321 judy975
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judy975 FA54321
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Yeah, I realized that so I've been branching out every now and then. I've had strawberries, chicken and a handful of other things but more than anything I think the FP just really messed with my system and made it all go out of wack and it's just trying to recover. I started a food diary but I just don't seem to get the time to keep it, I'll try again since I know it's quite important to. There are these biscuits I was eating and they had quite a small amount of milk in them and I was doing okay with them but found I was feeling a little worse each time so I've switched to a version with no milk but I have been trying to have little bits of things that I'm not fully eating in my system - e.g milk. I had no idea, thank you! I'll keep an eye out for it.
Thank you.
FA54321 judy975
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judy975 FA54321
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Hm, savouryish? They do have sugar but I'm finding cutting sugar out of my diet makes me feel worse sadly. I'll try and do the food diary! Just hard to get into the swing of lol.
sam18386 judy975
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Hi Judy, I don't know how tolerant your stomach is but you never mentioned ginger at all. If you have children can you remember having it for sickness? It is something I swear by, that and back it up with Gaviscon, it sounds like you've got trapped acid. The poison through your horrid chicken will have left your system but it doesn't take much to upset your bowel. It's possible that your IBS has upset your gut further up. The comment about it improving over 3 months is no nonsense, ask for a different opinion and ask for a dietitian appointment too. Ask for every blood test going and put your foot down hard. You won't get far if you down push hard. Good luck it will be a tough road, keep you diet bland and write down what makes you sick and AVOID chicken!!!! X
judy975 sam18386
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Never had children, haha! Never really tried ginger either but once my stomach feels a bit more normal I'll give it a shot, thank you!
Trapped acid? Never heard of it before! I'll look into it more. Is it common for it to last this long? (Today marks 3 months since my FP, lol).
I've got more booked but blood tests take so much out of me and I'm out of energy for days.. which usually means another flare up lol, so not ideal but I'll try and get them done asap.
Thank you!
I was told to eat more chicken actually haha, but I haven't as of yet, I've mostly been living on ham sandwiches which seem to go down extremely well (a ham sandwich with tomato, lettuce & mayo is legit the meal that does best for me, I have no symptoms afterwards!) so it's all a bit bizarre.
Thanks for your comments!! ?
sam18386 judy975
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judy975 sam18386
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Will do, thank you! Believe I've already been tested for magnesium and they're running another test for it. Vit d came back as quite a bad one and I've got pills for it but I'm just waiting for my stomach to feel a bit more normal before I start them haha. Thank you! x
sam18386 judy975
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Hi judy, how did all the tests go? I have bloods at my doctor's at 9.15 today.
judy975 sam18386
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I had to cancel mine sadly, some stuff came up and it was the same time mine was due to be done. Regardless, my doctors are kinda weird even about my last lot of bloods - they really didn't say much, especially considering all the things I was tested for so I guess I'll just have to see if they say anything after my next lot.
Good luck with yours!
pippa58442 sam18386
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sam18386 judy975
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judy975 sam18386
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Thank you, me too! I'm just hoping to build up some stength by the time I rebook it haha.
Good luck with your bloods! Hopefully they come back sooner, when I last had mine done they told me four days for mine and they were back within one!
sam18386 judy975
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