Chronic diarrhea. Mild but it leaves me feeling so terrible.

Poor dear !….wondering if you have been to a gastroenterologist…or if you have had a colonoscopy…. So sad this has plagued you for so long ! Sending healing thoughts.

Something similar happened to me. I discovered that I was lactose intolerant. I have been through a long route including the FODMAP diet and later limiting fermented foods, along with not eating wheat products. Gastro doc did two colonoscopies, no red flags. I finally used a nutritionist and had the SIBO test done. We got some things sorted out and I am feeling better. Still am not sure what causes what. It is a long, snakey trail for most of us. Hang on and use your common sense, you will find some solutions.

@nycmusic
Tx for your kind words. Yes, have had all the investigations but it's never really led anywhere 😕

@vcfoley11
Thanks for your reply. I do avoid wheat, which helps matters.
Am wondering if iron supplements (for mild anaemia) might be part of my current flare. Might stop them and see what happens. 🙂

Hello,

Sorry to hear that your life goes to hell when you stray from your routine and eat something that doesn't sit well with you - I find your situation somewhat relatable, especially when you mention that even mild diarrhea gives you exhaustion, a sick feeling, and "a vile feeling in my head". For me, I've described it as a cloud of miasma that takes 3 or 4 days to go away, during which I am not firing on all cylinders and generally feel underwhelmed. I also have diarrhea, but mine is nominally related to SIBO due to small bowel surgery. Curiously enough, for people without surgeries to their intestines, the leading hypothesis for the cause of SIBO is severe food poisoning, where they presumably damage their vagus nerve with all violent retching and never return to baseline. Although antibiotics have helped in the past they don't seem to permanently fix the issue for me - right now I seem to be managing quite well by adhering to my strict routine and just accepting when things go poorly. I have also had to be super conscious of introducing even tiny amounts of new foods or supplements - most recently, even 2g of collagen supplement completely upset my digestion, despite being such a small amount of food.

As far as a mechanism for why you or I feel so bad after diarrhea, the only working mental model I have is that that: bacteria feast on food they were never supposed to see -> they produce some sort of by-products that the body starts to absorb but doesn't like -> diarrhea initiates to flush the food and by-products out, but the damage is already done, your body has absorbed something akin to a poison and it takes a few days for it to flush out. Keep in mind that this is all made up by me, but it seems to be at least directionally correct.

The only thing I would recommend for you is to see if you cannot see a 'motility specialist', a specialized form of GI doctor, if you continue struggling with diarrhea. Although loperamide is great if it works for you and you can tolerate it, there are bigger guns in the pharma arsenal that you may be interested in trying if the diarrhea continues to cause lifestyle issues (of course though, it's not treating the root cause).

Best wishes and good luck!

Thanks very much for taking the time and sharing your thoughts/theories. Much appreciated 🙂 All the best.

I can relate. After decades of an increasing problem, I saw a Gastroenterologist who determined that there was an imbalance of the chemistry in my colon. He prescribed Colestipol and after a dose adjustment I have not had diarrhea unless I ate something that I know sets me off. I was recently taken off the Colestipol by another physician during treatment of another disorder and the problem has not recurred.
My suggestion is to see a gastroenterologist and avoid wheat as much as possible.

@2011panc
Wow! First time I've heard of an effective treatment, really. I will research that drug. Many thanks