Hi everyone.
I don't want to bore everyone with my whole story again so I will try and keep it short and get to the point
. I have been having intestinal issues for about three years now. I thought at the time that my gut issues were from taking so many antibiotics for my other health issue( Interstitial Cystitis). I was on low dose antibiotics for like three years to help prevent the bad UTI's I get. Well I started having gut issues which my symptoms were awful pain and cramping in my intestines. My stools were pretty much normal for the most part though. I just had lots of pain. Went through quite a few tests ( MRE small bowel, CT scan, colonoscopy, abdominal ultrasound, vaginal ultrasound, various blood tests) and all were pretty much ok. My GI doc diagnosed me with IBS even though I did not have the typical IBS symptoms at the time. Well fast forward to the beginning of this year my IC bladder really started getting bad and I got another UTI. I was put on suprax antibiotic for 10 days. After that UTI my bladder just would not calm down. My doctor gave me this med called uribel to take for the pain in the bladder. I only would take it on and off, like maybe for a week on and week off or sometimes I would even skip taking it for 2 weeks. Well this past month my bladder has been bad so I ended up taking it for like 17 days straight. Note, I only took 1/2 capsule of it which is not even the full dose which would be 3 caps a day. I am VERY sensitive to meds so I do not tolerate them well at all. Anyhow, July 6th I woke up in the morning as normal went to the toilet and had watery diarrhea with some pieces. I only had one bout that day. I felt crampy and just sat around all day with the heating pad. I could not figure out what was going on. I did have a ice cream sundae with vanilla ice cream, whip cream, and caramel the day before so thought maybe it was bad or something?? Or could it have been the Uribel I was taking. It has different meds in it( methylene blue, phenyl salicylate, sodium Phosphate, hycosymine).That or maybe a stomach bug, but it did not feel like the typical stomach bug at all. I mean I only had diarrhea once that morning and my upper gut did not feel bad at all, so I don't think it was a stomach virus. I have had stomach bugs in the past and I am usually super sick with puking and many watery stools. The next day my stool was still very soft and in pieces( close to diarrhea). So since this started July 6th I have not been right. I have not had a normal stool since. I will have pieces on some days, then I can have mostly water on other days or just pudding consistency. So far I have only went once a day( though I probably would be going more just that I feel so awful I kind of am just sitting around with my heating pad on my tummy. I called my GI doc a week ago and talked to the nurse and she said probably just IBS and to add fiber to my diet like oatmeal or rice. I did that and did not seem to be getting any better. I also bought this fiber stuff called "Heather's tummy fiber" which is a soluble fiber and easy on the gut. It is suppose to help with diarrhea and constipation. I started that on Sunday. I am still not better. I finally called my Infectious disease doctor who treats my UTIs when I get them and talked to him about this. I figured I would call him since he gets back to me right away. My GI doc takes 3 days to even get a call back from the nurse! Well the Infectious disease doctor said he would test my stool for bacteria and do a culture on it. I sent that in this morning.
I do not know what is going on. I feel just awful. My tummy feels constantly crampy. I have to literally sit with my heating pad all. It seems like nothing I do diet wise is working very well. Anyone else have any suggestions. I have that "feeling" like I always have to go. I have lots of gas too most days. Also, I never feel like I am empty. I know my GI says probably IBS, but for me when I was dx with IBS three y ears ago because he could not find anything on my tests, I did not have these symptoms. What can I do to bulk up my stools? I mean they are usually soft pudding like and messy( though I Had a couple times where it was mostly water). I am worry about getting a UTI which I do not need right now. I try and shower after I go just to keep extra clean down there. The last thing I need is to get a UTI and end up on more antibiotics. I don't want to take any more antibiotics as they are known to really aggravate things. My gut Microbiome is all messed up I am sure, I do not want to damage it anymore if I can help it. Please offer some suggestions if you have any.. Thanks for listening to all this.:sign0085:
I don't want to bore everyone with my whole story again so I will try and keep it short and get to the point
. I have been having intestinal issues for about three years now. I thought at the time that my gut issues were from taking so many antibiotics for my other health issue( Interstitial Cystitis). I was on low dose antibiotics for like three years to help prevent the bad UTI's I get. Well I started having gut issues which my symptoms were awful pain and cramping in my intestines. My stools were pretty much normal for the most part though. I just had lots of pain. Went through quite a few tests ( MRE small bowel, CT scan, colonoscopy, abdominal ultrasound, vaginal ultrasound, various blood tests) and all were pretty much ok. My GI doc diagnosed me with IBS even though I did not have the typical IBS symptoms at the time. Well fast forward to the beginning of this year my IC bladder really started getting bad and I got another UTI. I was put on suprax antibiotic for 10 days. After that UTI my bladder just would not calm down. My doctor gave me this med called uribel to take for the pain in the bladder. I only would take it on and off, like maybe for a week on and week off or sometimes I would even skip taking it for 2 weeks. Well this past month my bladder has been bad so I ended up taking it for like 17 days straight. Note, I only took 1/2 capsule of it which is not even the full dose which would be 3 caps a day. I am VERY sensitive to meds so I do not tolerate them well at all. Anyhow, July 6th I woke up in the morning as normal went to the toilet and had watery diarrhea with some pieces. I only had one bout that day. I felt crampy and just sat around all day with the heating pad. I could not figure out what was going on. I did have a ice cream sundae with vanilla ice cream, whip cream, and caramel the day before so thought maybe it was bad or something?? Or could it have been the Uribel I was taking. It has different meds in it( methylene blue, phenyl salicylate, sodium Phosphate, hycosymine).That or maybe a stomach bug, but it did not feel like the typical stomach bug at all. I mean I only had diarrhea once that morning and my upper gut did not feel bad at all, so I don't think it was a stomach virus. I have had stomach bugs in the past and I am usually super sick with puking and many watery stools. The next day my stool was still very soft and in pieces( close to diarrhea). So since this started July 6th I have not been right. I have not had a normal stool since. I will have pieces on some days, then I can have mostly water on other days or just pudding consistency. So far I have only went once a day( though I probably would be going more just that I feel so awful I kind of am just sitting around with my heating pad on my tummy. I called my GI doc a week ago and talked to the nurse and she said probably just IBS and to add fiber to my diet like oatmeal or rice. I did that and did not seem to be getting any better. I also bought this fiber stuff called "Heather's tummy fiber" which is a soluble fiber and easy on the gut. It is suppose to help with diarrhea and constipation. I started that on Sunday. I am still not better. I finally called my Infectious disease doctor who treats my UTIs when I get them and talked to him about this. I figured I would call him since he gets back to me right away. My GI doc takes 3 days to even get a call back from the nurse! Well the Infectious disease doctor said he would test my stool for bacteria and do a culture on it. I sent that in this morning. I do not know what is going on. I feel just awful. My tummy feels constantly crampy. I have to literally sit with my heating pad all. It seems like nothing I do diet wise is working very well. Anyone else have any suggestions. I have that "feeling" like I always have to go. I have lots of gas too most days. Also, I never feel like I am empty. I know my GI says probably IBS, but for me when I was dx with IBS three y ears ago because he could not find anything on my tests, I did not have these symptoms. What can I do to bulk up my stools? I mean they are usually soft pudding like and messy( though I Had a couple times where it was mostly water). I am worry about getting a UTI which I do not need right now. I try and shower after I go just to keep extra clean down there. The last thing I need is to get a UTI and end up on more antibiotics. I don't want to take any more antibiotics as they are known to really aggravate things. My gut Microbiome is all messed up I am sure, I do not want to damage it anymore if I can help it. Please offer some suggestions if you have any.. Thanks for listening to all this.:sign0085:
