Hi all
Went to see a specialist senior GI doctor yesterday with my ongoing bowel issues and he said it sounds like I have post infectious IBS and I might have picked up an infection and my bowels are still in a spiral.
Have any of you been diagnosed with this? We are still doing a colonoscopy on Oct 5th but he is adamant he will not find anything.
I really cant believe that he is so positive that he will not find a cancerous tumor though (this is my fear), this has been going on for about 8 weeks now, I have had a few normal BM's from then to now but most of the time the BM is narrow, small & the qty is quite small too however I have also lost 13lbs in 8 weeks due to reducing my calorie intake drastically only because I am so anxious..
One thing to remember my partner started with the same issues 8 weeks ago and we both went to the GP whom requested stool samples which we both did and it was normal, the GP requested Full blood test panels from me (as I saw the dr again after our initial visit) and they were normal (surely if there was infection my white blood cells would have been fighting something??). My partner seems to have gone back to normal now but every other day or maybe more he will be plagued by explosive diarrhea with all colors of the rainbow (sometimes) other times he would need to go about 4/5 times a day where me I just have small narrow stools every morning, they are soft & some mornings it could look like cow poop (all mushy).
So anyone that has been diagnosed with this Post infectious malarkey if you can give me some insight.. - sorry for the long post...
Your symptoms sound like IBS. Even if you have go rid of the infection, your bowel may still be disturbed. Your GI specialist likely thinks nothing will show in the colonoscopy because he thinks you have no red flag symptoms.
Ditto what Philippa says really. the fact that you & your partner have both had the same "disturbance" & symptoms also leads to think of some sort of infection or poisoning. Gastro's can sometimes come across as blase or seem dismissive; i think it's because they deal with it everyday, & they often don't put themselves in the patients shoes. So although he seems "positive" he won't find anything, & indeed no red flag signs, it's good & reassuring he is still going to go ahead with a colonoscopy which is what i would want in your position. take care & i hope this comes to a good conclusion for you . x
Hi
Thanks for your message I just feel that the stool sample was normal for both of us (proves there is no parasite or infection), my inflammation came back normal etc.....so I really cannot warrant the 'infection' thing, my anxiety is so bad I really cannot cope anymore. I do have left sided pain like a stitch lower stomach and sometimes by my hip, for it to be so localised I would think its a tumor growing.
Thanks so feel absolutely terrified....
I get left sided pain too but it changes location frequently. I get different types and intensity of pain. I have had changes in bowel habit with mainly constipation and a period of loose stools with nausea. Once I was diagnosed with IBS, my symptoms improved because my anxiety disappeared. It had been through the roof previously because I convinced myself I had a tumour and it had been missed. Anxiety and your fears which are only natural, will make your symptoms worse. If your colonoscopy shows nothing along with your other tests, then your are likely to be disgnosed with IBS.
Well I am hoping that the colonoscopy will show nothing...I am hardly eating anything probably dropped my overall daily consumption of food by 1000 cal on some days and I now do not snack like I used to every day including dropping alcohol every weekend....I am hoping that this is caused by my weight loss.....my anxiety is seriously elevated....
Good luck with everything.
Very much sounds like IBS.
hello i have exactly what you suffered from and tomorrow is my colonoscopy, i have been like this for 8 weeks now also my doctor thinks it is post infection IBS, can you tell me what happened with you? your colonoscopy results and i can see this is 5 years ago so are you good now? did you take any medication?