Hey - this is my first post and it might be a bit long as there's quite a bit of backstory. I'm a 23yo woman and have several long term health problems including type 1 diabetes, autoimmune hypothyroidism and skin conditions (psoriasis, eczema, allergies). I'm also autistic.
2 years ago I suddenly developed severe diarrhoea, nausea and malabsorption. At the time, the fact that I had just returned from a holiday abroad made my GP think it was more likely an infection of some kind than anything long-term. However, stool samples for infections detected nothing and it went on and on. It was quite severe for about 3 months and then calmed down a bit but has still been ongoing for the past 2 years.
I get what seems to be constipation (or at least blockage of some kind) where I don't pass stool for up to 1-2 weeks, during which there is a lot of mucus. However when the "constipation" passes I don't have a hard mass of stool at all, but almost invariably have diarrhoea with a lot of mucus and occasionally bleeding. I also have vomiting on a regular basis after eating. My GPs have been throwing around IBS for a long time but I eventually pushed them to do blood and calprotectin tests. They found that I am in metabolic alkalosis (i.e. my blood is too alkali) which is "unusual" but we haven't got much further than that. Additionally my fecal calprotectin was high at 450 (the lab's reference range was <50).
I'm now waiting for a specialist appointment with a gastroenterologist in 12 days but worrying quite a lot about what this is and what the next steps will be. With a calprotectin that high, it looks like it's almost definitely something inflammatory? But my GP won't make any kind of definitive statements at the moment so I feel really in limbo, even though lots of people need to wait WAY longer than me to get answers so I shouldn't be too bothered. I'm currently just in a difficult state where I'm so exhausted, dizzy and stuff that walking around makes me feel like I'm going to faint. And eating is making me incredibly bloated with severe stomach pains. If anyone could tell me anything about what the diagnostic process is likely to entail that would be really helpful.
Also, going on steroids is likely to be basically catastrophic for my diabetes control (I already have "brittle" diabetes with very large and difficult to control blood glucose swings) so reassurance that thee aren't the only option would be pretty helpful as well!
2 years ago I suddenly developed severe diarrhoea, nausea and malabsorption. At the time, the fact that I had just returned from a holiday abroad made my GP think it was more likely an infection of some kind than anything long-term. However, stool samples for infections detected nothing and it went on and on. It was quite severe for about 3 months and then calmed down a bit but has still been ongoing for the past 2 years.
I get what seems to be constipation (or at least blockage of some kind) where I don't pass stool for up to 1-2 weeks, during which there is a lot of mucus. However when the "constipation" passes I don't have a hard mass of stool at all, but almost invariably have diarrhoea with a lot of mucus and occasionally bleeding. I also have vomiting on a regular basis after eating. My GPs have been throwing around IBS for a long time but I eventually pushed them to do blood and calprotectin tests. They found that I am in metabolic alkalosis (i.e. my blood is too alkali) which is "unusual" but we haven't got much further than that. Additionally my fecal calprotectin was high at 450 (the lab's reference range was <50).
I'm now waiting for a specialist appointment with a gastroenterologist in 12 days but worrying quite a lot about what this is and what the next steps will be. With a calprotectin that high, it looks like it's almost definitely something inflammatory? But my GP won't make any kind of definitive statements at the moment so I feel really in limbo, even though lots of people need to wait WAY longer than me to get answers so I shouldn't be too bothered. I'm currently just in a difficult state where I'm so exhausted, dizzy and stuff that walking around makes me feel like I'm going to faint. And eating is making me incredibly bloated with severe stomach pains. If anyone could tell me anything about what the diagnostic process is likely to entail that would be really helpful.
Also, going on steroids is likely to be basically catastrophic for my diabetes control (I already have "brittle" diabetes with very large and difficult to control blood glucose swings) so reassurance that thee aren't the only option would be pretty helpful as well!