SIBO, or Duodenitis, or what?

Posted by mattdk @mattdk, Dec 12, 2022

I’ve been through a battery of tests with no issues found so I figured it’s time to reach out to see if someone else’s experience could help diagnosis.
Prior to my current issues I’ve had minor digestive issues such couple days a week i’d have diarrhea multiple times in the morning, or id be woken up at night by digestive “rumblings” but nothing that seemed worth seeing a doctor over. I was also diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about a year ago (probably have had it for a while before then though)

My current issues started with me waking up one night with what felt like just typical bad indigestion from eating spicy food to late at night. Normally when this happens I just sit up for a few minutes and the pain passes with a bit of gurgling sensation in my stomach. This time it didn’t the ache just wouldn’t stop. The next day I felt a little less of an ache so I had some tomato soup for brunch. Two hours later I felt very nauseous and vomited. And barley at anything all day. At the end of the day desperate to eat something I tried smoking some marijuana. All though I still had pain in what felt like my stomach the nausea cleared up and I was able to eat. Three days later I saw my doctor he said wait 5 days to see if it’s just a “bug” I did and it didn’t go away. After having and ultra sound, a gastric empty test, and endoscopy all come back normal with no issues found my doctor agreed it could be trulicity causing the constant pain in what felt like my stomach as well as the diarrhea I had developed. After a month of no trulicity some of my worse issues like nausea did clear up but I was still left with the following symptoms. Alternating constipation and diarrhea, excessive belching to the point of (where is all the gas coming from?) and a sore ache in the dead center of my abdomen right where I the think the duodenum is. What ever is hurting I can actually touch by pressing the spot and it instantly gets more sore. After having a CT and CCK HIDA to check my gall bladder all come back ok no problem. I’m now waiting (have to wait 4 weeks) on a breath test for SIBO. (At this point I’ve had the constant pain for 2 and a 1/2 months). I am concerned though about what this test will show because some things do or don’t make sense for SIBO. For example although I do get bloating and belching the main thing that hurts is the thing I can touch and push on which dosn’t feel like the small intestines. Looking up SIBO online the pain should be from the bloating. Also I’ve had zero extra flatulence. I’ve been trying to fallow a low FODMAP diet and although what I eat does make some difference in the amount of belching, it dosn’t seem to match up to high or low FODMAP . For example two hard boiled eggs and oatmeal causes as much belching as a steak and cheese sub with onions and Mayo. The tenderness in the middle of my chest as well as the ache which at times can feel like hunger pain matches symptoms of duadentitis, bust my endoscopy show no problems.

If anyone could provide some insight if this sounds like SIBO or what it could be it would help me immensely.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Digestive Health Support Group.

Janell, Volunteer Mentor | @jlharsh | May 9 5:47am

In reply to @blessedwildapplegirl "Well, I had my zoom appointment today with an alternative physician, and I have to say..." + (show)

I am encouraged right along there with you. Hey, I didn’t hear him say you are old. Go with “70-years young”. What is your next move?

blessedwildapplegirl | @blessedwildapplegirl | May 9 6:23am

In reply to @jlharsh "I am encouraged right along there with you. Hey, I didn’t hear him say you are..." + (show)

Hello. It’s 6:30 AM here almost and I’m still up with a horrible stomachache. Apparently I got cocky and ate too much. Anyway, my next move is to call the office on Monday and schedule a colonoscopy/endoscopy at the G.I. clinic and also call this doctor’s office and let them know they did not send me an email with the ingredients of the supplements that he recommended for me because I want to order them as long as I’m not allergic to anything in them. He will probably have to mail them to me because he’s quite a distance away. So I suppose it will be a week before I get them. I hope I don’t perish in the meantime! I’m being overly dramatic. I never thought that I would say that I’m actually anxious to have a colonoscopy, but I really am because I’m so tired of feeling this way. I almost hope they find something wrong so they can fix it! I’m not talking about cancer, of course, but if I have a hernia I want to know. And I must also learn to listen to my stomach and when it’s telling me not to eat, I need to honor that. I feel rather stupid tonight. And I guess the doctor wasn’t calling me old exactly, but I was just surprised when he was surprised that I still have a sharp mind. Is it that uncommon? I have lots of friends my age and they’re all very sharp. But then, all my friends are on the West Coast, so perhaps it’s something about living in the Midwest. 😁 I’m just teasing; I don’t mean to offend anyone. My late husband was born here in Kansas City, and he was the most brilliant person I have ever met in my entire life. I hope you are doing well. And thank you for asking about me.

blessedwildapplegirl | @blessedwildapplegirl | May 9 7:00pm

In reply to @jlharsh "I am encouraged right along there with you. Hey, I didn’t hear him say you are..." + (show)

Would you believe that the supplements this doctor recommended for me contain things that I told him I’m allergic to, like dairy? Every time I get my hopes up, they’re dashed. I’m so disappointed. Why don’t doctors listen to you anymore? 😩

Janell, Volunteer Mentor | @jlharsh | May 9 8:54pm

In reply to @blessedwildapplegirl "Would you believe that the supplements this doctor recommended for me contain things that I told..." + (show)

Oh, my! Maybe he can update his recommendation once you remind him. 😜 I’ll

It will be interesting to learn what your GI doc thinks about further testing, especially now that you have more information from a functional perspective.

Are you able to find food you can eat? You have had such and difficult time and I know it it’s important to you that you keep your weight up as much as you can. I completely understand having the feeling you want to find out something is wrong. too. It’s something you can point to, own, deal with. But, in the meantime you just may not understand it.

So, do I have this correct? Your PCP told you to take antacids. Did you try them, and when was that? Now, this new alternative doctor thinks you need something to help digest foods since you do not have a gall bladder, and also a colonoscopy/endscopy. What exactly will that help you know? You aren’t able to follow your alternative doc’s recommendation because of a dairy allergy. Do you think having a conversation with your GI pulling this all together would help?

blessedwildapplegirl | @blessedwildapplegirl | May 9 10:01pm

In reply to @blessedwildapplegirl "Hi. I posted a couple of months ago I think. In mid November, I suddenly had..." + (show)

@blessedwildapplegirl

Hi. I posted a couple of months ago I think. In mid November, I suddenly had a really bad attack of what I thought was irritable bowel, but it went on too long. I had eaten an apple and some coconut milk yogurt, and got severely sick about an hour later and couldn’t eat for a week and then finally was able to eat a little bit, but had terrible diarrhea for a week and went to the ER and they did a CAT scan, and said I had inflammation in my lower bowel, which I could feel because it was burning. I’ve had IBS on my life, but I had never felt like this! then I saw my doctor and he wanted me to take an ad acid, but my food felt like it was sitting in my stomach for 10 to 12 hours, so I said no. He recommended aloe vera gel, and I bought some, but I’m highly allergic to all kinds of things and very sensitive, so I never tried it. The burning was starting to go away, so I didn’t think I needed it. I started blending my food and then I was able to eat a little bit more and fast forward to five months later and for the past three weeks I’ve been eating pretty normally, although still blending about half of my food, and I’m always on a bland, mushy diet since they removed my gallbladder in 2012. Well, the other day, I stupidly, decided to try some more coconut milk yogurt, the same exact kind of triggered my stomachache five months ago! Guess what? I was in massive pain all night and I tried to eat half an avocado this morning and I’m in pain and I think I’m gonna go without eating again and I’m scared because I only weigh 82 1/2 pounds. I’m 5 foot four. I can’t believe I did that again. Has anybody else experienced that? When I googled it, it looks like I might have SIBO and the probiotics in the yogurt triggered it. I’m scheduled to go to a gastroenterology clinic this Tuesday and I didn’t want to go because I don’t want to take a bunch of pills or have a bunch of tests. I can’t believe I was feeling better and I screwed it up by eating the yogurt. I’ve also been under a lot of stress lately, but it’s never been like this except for that thing that happened in November. I also had some sleep difficulties when this first came on and I googled it and it’s possible you can get Covid in your stomach (I know someone that happened to) and I had been in a car with someone five days before I got sick, so I thought I might have long Covid. I stupidly didn’t test myself when I first got sick because I’m here alone and I was afraid I would panic. Yes, I’m very anxious. I just wondered if anybody else had reacted to probiotics that way. I was taking probiotic capsules, but they started upsetting my stomach, so I stopped them. Does anyone else suffer from SIBO? Does it sound like what this could be? I’m so scared I’m gonna lose more weight. I can’t believe I was just starting to feel better and had been actually going out of the house which I hadn’t been doing for months because I was so weak. I feel like an idiot. Thank you for any help anybody can offer.

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Believe it, or not, when I went to the G.I. doctor, I didn’t even get to talk with the doctor! I met with a nurse practitioner and she barely asked me any questions, and just perfunctorily told me that I had to get the colonoscopy/endoscopy and a CAT scan. I felt like she would have recommended that for everyone. So I don’t think I will mention the functional doctor because it might not go down well. And I emailed the functional doctor today and told the receptionist that I couldn’t purchase what he wanted me to because of the dairy allergy and she just answered back and said OK and if I had any more questions I had to pay for another visit. No explanation of why he would recommend something he knew I would be allergic to. She just said he trusted that brand. I think it’s his own brand! That feels like a conflict of interest to me. And no, there are really no foods I can eat when my stomach hurts like this, although sometimes I can have a few bites of an avocado, and it seems to help the inflammation. I think they’re looking for diverticulitis, colon cancer, and a hiatal hernia from the colonoscopy/endoscopy. That makes sense. I wouldn’t be surprised if I have diverticulitis because it runs in my family. But I’m allergic to almost all antibiotics, so I don’t want to take that route. I’m sure that’s what they would suggest. I have read though that you can use oil of oregano and it’s as effective as an antibiotic! I read that on the national institutes of health website. Now I just need to decide if I want to see if I can eat for a few days and get stronger before I have my test or if I should go ahead and schedule it while I’m already not eating very much. Kind of a conundrum. How are you feeling?

Janell, Volunteer Mentor | @jlharsh | May 10 10:26am

In reply to @blessedwildapplegirl "Hi. I posted a couple of months ago I think. In mid November, I suddenly had..." + (show)

@blessedwildapplegirl

Jump to this post

Ah, avocado helps you! Anything else help? Olive oil has been heavenly for me. I had to watch how much I used when I reintroduced it and now it helps add those calories I need. I also feel like vitamin C has been helpful, working it into each meal.

It is interesting you bring up oregano oil. I used it for a time and thought it was helpful. I have since, sorta reset everything and finding care to help me make progress instead of going in circles. To answer your question, This makes me hopeful!

blessedwildapplegirl | @blessedwildapplegirl | May 10 3:53pm

In reply to @jlharsh "Ah, avocado helps you! Anything else help? Olive oil has been heavenly for me. I had..." + (show)

Maybe I’ll get some oregano oil and try it myself. Online it said you should use it in conjunction with a doctor, but I don’t have a good doctor! I haven’t tried olive oil since they removed my gallbladder, and I had a lot of trouble with oils, but I used to use it all the time. Maybe I need to give it another try. I also take vitamin C and zinc every day, along with a liquid D3 and B12, since I don’t eat any meat. When I’m having a good stomach day, though, I’ve been eating some canned salmon or canned sardines just to get some protein. I’m glad to hear that the oregano oil was helpful for you. Anymore, I feel like we have to be our own doctors! Thank you for the feedback. I thought the avocados were helping, but I ate 3/4 of one last night and it made me really sick. Apparently if I’m having a bad bout of stomach pain with inflammation, I shouldn’t eat anything, but it’s been several days and I don’t like it. Take care of yourself! I wish we could go in and get a goat stomach transplant or something. However, since I’m an animal lover, the animal would’ve had to die of old age or suicide. 😊💕

Janell, Volunteer Mentor | @jlharsh | May 10 5:58pm

In reply to @blessedwildapplegirl "Hi. I posted a couple of months ago I think. In mid November, I suddenly had..." + (show)

@blessedwildapplegirl

Jump to this post

Hmmm, now avocados aren’t helping. Does it seem like there is a problem that is not related to, or not helped by a specific food? Your plan to loop in your GI group Monday sounds better and better all the time.

I am off for a walk since it is so nice outside.

blessedwildapplegirl | @blessedwildapplegirl | May 10 6:29pm

In reply to @jlharsh "Hmmm, now avocados aren’t helping. Does it seem like there is a problem that is not..." + (show)

Yes, I’m positive that I have either diverticulitis or something that has triggered severe inflammation in my bowel. I think the yogurt triggered it, but I don’t think it caused it if you know what I mean. I hope you have a lovely walk! I’m gonna go sit outside, but I don’t quite have enough energy to walk today. 😊

annpeters | @annpeters | May 10 8:07pm

In reply to @blessedwildapplegirl "Would you believe that the supplements this doctor recommended for me contain things that I told..." + (show)

I’m so sorry! I understand your total frustration and disappointment. So hard to get a good doctor that will just really listen. I am sending you good thoughts and prayers your way.

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