My problem has been ongoing since 2002. I have tried eliminating some foods and taking fiber tablets , whole grain cereals/breads, and reducing my coffee intake. I've been to two different doctors and was told to take immodium. Now I'm being told I should have another colonoscopy and lab tests. I almost forgot, I had an examination of my bladder that came up with nothing wrong. Are there any other procedures or medications that could help? I come from a large family and no one else has this problem.
Q: I need help with chronic diarrhea!
Answers (2)
7/10/09 12:17am
Hi Ronzi,
In your message/question you don't really discuss your actual problem, but I assume it is chronic diarrhea from the category you ticked. Are you having a few D bowel movements per day or 15-30? Are you losing weight? Do you have any other symptoms?
I'm not a doctor, but all of these things can make a difference in trying to decide which road to tell you to go down. I believe the first place to start is probably with another scope and make sure they take biopsies of the colon tissue to look for microscopic problems that only show up with a biopsy.
Have you considered that you could be gluten intolerant? Or dairy intolerant? To determine this you will need to remove all gluten (bread, pasta, etc.) and dairy products from your diet for at least a month.
IBS - Irritable Bowel Syndrome can cause chronic diarrhea, so it could be that. But do know that there is no magic cure for any of these illnesses. You'll have to work with diet, stress reduction, etc.
Before you see your doctor start keeping a daily diary of what you eat, how many BMs you have, their consistency, how you feel physically, etc. Then take this with you to your doctor's appt. so you can share all of your symptoms with them.
Best of luck,
Elizabeth
7/14/09 5:50am
Ronzi, you can create a food diary to track your food intake and BM's using HealthCentral's IBD diary. http://www.healthcentral.com/ibd/c/diaries
As Elizabeth suggested in her answer, there may be other food issues like lactose or gluten intolerance. These kinds of issues can emerge over time, and sometimes lactose intolerance can get worse as people get older.
In addition to tests, you should consider reducing the amount of food you eat at each meal -- more meals, but less food at each meal -- to see if that has any impact.
Isolating food issues is frustrating because it takes time and a lot of tests, but a diary can help identify items that you might not think are creating a problem.
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