I can't digest food anymore

@lin23 Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I’m sure you’ll find some help and support here. How long have you had fibromyalgia and IBS and are you receiving treatment? Have you been to your doctor lately and gotten a referral for physical therapy to help you walk?
And what is being done about the non-digestion of food and IBS?
You may also find more help in the Digestive Health support group. I couldn't find anything specific, but if you post your question again, I’m sure someone will see it.

Have you seen a gastrointolgist for the stomach issues??

Any peripheral pain that would match CRPS? Curious since there was physical trauma? I was told ny my gastro that what can appear to be IBS can actually be CRPS of the colon esp if you are undiagnosed it might not be considered.

While, I am not a physician, I am trained in Laboratory Medicine and have suffered from a number of chronic GI issues. I have also been involved in the clinical development of diagnostic tests and treatments for various GI disorders over my 35+ year career in the biopharmaceutical industry. My response to your query should not be construed as specific medical diagnoses or recommendations for the treatment of your various disease states. The information I am providing to you is intended to provide you with relevant background information that may be useful in discussing various aspects of your medical complaints. As always, your health care providers should use their clinical knowledge and discretion to guide you care.

That said, you should, if you have'nt already done so, consult a gasteroenterologist (GI) re your digestive issues and referred pain. You report that you are unable to digest foods which may be suggestive of either exocrine or paracrine pancreatic insufficiency.

This may lead to a number of the physical symptoms that you describe. Have you experienced significant weight loss over the last several months or year? If so this is indicative of malabsorption of nutrients from ingested foods. Your worsening of your IBS symptoms/increased diarrhea are also suggestive of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).

The causes of SIBO are multifactorial but are often associated with the chronic consumption of acid suppressant drugs (pepcid, prilosec, etc). The long term inhibition of hydrochloric acid secretion by the parietal cells in you stomach allow for the colonization and overgrowth of harmful bacterial species that can also colonize the upper regions of your small intestine and cause SIBO. When this occurs, the noxious bacteria may form biofilms over colonies of theses bacterial which may result in injuries/inflammation to the small intestinal epithelial cells which are responsible for the adsoption of nutrients from the foods that you have ingested and properly digested.

The digestive process has three phases, cephalic, gastric and intestinal. I won't belabor with the details, but dysregulation of the gastric (stomach) and intestinal digestive processes may give rise to the symptoms that you are experiencing.
Have you been evaluated for gastritis, gastric emptying or motility, SIBO, exocrine pancreatic insufficency or pancreatitis? If not, it might be appropriate to discuss these conditions,tests and assessments with your health care providers. Depending upon the results of any tests for these conditions, there are a variety of treatment modalities that have demonstrated efficacy in treating these specific disease states and alleviating associated symptoms. These include the use of various antibiotic regimens to elimnate bacterial overgrowth in SIBO, pre/probiotic supplements to help re-establish a normal healthy gut microbiome or in the case of EPI the use of capsules containing exogenously derived (often from pigs) pancreatic digestive enzymes (trypsin, amylase lipase etc). If the issue is related to gastritis/gastro parents there are several drugs that can help with gastrin and intrensic factor secretion (necessary for vita B12 absorption) and pro kinetic drugs to stimulate gut motility.

@davidwrenn
Much gratitude David, for the time and consideration! As an 83 yr old miracle survivor from bladder cancer, diagnosed in October 2019, first received traditional "trilogy" of therapies, followed year #2 by immunotherapy. Now, my urgent problem malabsorption has been virtually ignored by my local hospital's GI team. My recent series of Pancreatic MRIs reflected no issues. As did concurrent bio-markers. Out of desperation and disgust, I have this week been referred to an independent GI team -- but now expect a long wait to see IF they will accept me and when they can help. Your kind narrative gives me hope that I will soon get help -- without leaving the state (Kentucky) for Mayo. Thanks again, DJD83

@djd83 I got continuous diarrhea from exocrine pancreatic insufficiency-EPI. I had no idea what was going on or how I got this. I had a colonoscopy and the doctor diagnosed EPI, plus I had malabsorption syndrome and lost approximately 20 lbs. The medication I was given was Creon. Doctors don’t know how or where this comes from so I’m just calling it another autoimmune disease. It probably isn’t but it is my way of dealing with it.

@djd83 I had undiagnosed SIBO for years.. I had no idea that what I was experiencing wasn't normal aging.. and I did not ask because it did not occur to me that frequent large bowel movements that were sometimes very urgent were abnormal. All we hear about is eating more fiber (I ate a very high fiber mostly whole food plant based diet) is great for you.. fast forward to post covid infection and 1 booster later, the GI symptoms got out of control and because everything was going right through me, I was hungry all the time, gained weight and had debilitating fatigue, along with gas and bloating common in IBS/IBD. AND I had frequent intense pelvic and lower back pain. It took almost 4 years 10 doctors and working with an RD (out of pocket) to discover I have MCAS which apparently was brought on by Covid. When I first starting having the pain, I was misdiagnosed with UTI's and took 4 rounds of antibiotics which killed the SIBO AND everything else in my system. Currently I am taking claritin and pepcid daily along with a GLP-1 and I feel 90% better. The GLP-1 is helping with the widespread inflammation (my colon would become inflamed after eating and because I have several endometrial cysts, the area becomes congested and created pain from pressure. ) I felt like I was in labor at times, the pain and pressure became unbearable. When I was sent to a urologist, his first thought was bladder cancer, thank goodness that was not the case. Now I eat a very limited diet, and very small amounts of food (like 1 cup maximum) at a time, and I feel better than I had felt in 4 years. Obviously I cannot stay on a GLP-1 indefinitly nor do i want to. The wait for doctors is awful, and I have deep empathy for anyone who is left in pain and suffering. I was told multiple times, go the the ER if it's that bad, in the ER they told me you need to see some specialists. I felt like a tennis ball, being whacked back and forth between medical professionals who mostly repeated the same blood work( 10 times in 3 years) and scans (at least 8 scans of the same area in 3 years) . The most progress I made (and the person who figured out what was going on with me) was a registered dietician. Again I had to pay out of pocket, but it was worth what I paid and more. I truly hope you get answers and relief SOON.

Have you been checked for gastroperesis? Food digests slow.
Have you ever been checked for hernia? Esophageal functions?
I’m on liquid diet because my esophagus doesn’t contract properly to push food down!!!
Hang in there…aging sucks! I’m not sure if I’ll find these posts again. 🙁 y’all can email me any time. Just put Mayo Clinic in the subject line so I know where you’re from!! God Bless All

Interesting here that so many have SIBO! I do as well. I keep xifaxin in the house. A targeted antibiotic that keeps the SIBO at Bay. I also am on an IBS diet called FODMAP. The MONASH university out of Australia has an entire website dedicated to it. Look it up.
It sounds to me like your pancreas is not doing its job. You can get some supplements over-the-counter to increase your pancreatic digestion. Some people have a lack of pancreatic enzymes that make it so their food doesn’t digest well. It usually times with greasy stools.
Make sure you’ve checked that you are not lactose intolerant and you are still eating lactose products. That will mess you up as well. Good luck.