Small intestinal ischemia and infarction - Causes of Diarrhea?

Digestive health
1

Hi,

I could not find where to actually put this, so I thought I would try this category and see what sort of responses I receive.

About 2 and half years ago I had "Small intestinal ischemia and infarction" which is basically part of the intestines turned gangrene and spread, by the time I had surgery just over 50cm of my intestine was removed and stitched back together. It is a painful operation, and two days later when I should of started getting better I became worse. I could not eat, drink or even take any drugs orally. By the evening, I was throwing up a lot of bile to the extent whereby the doctors had me rushed down to surgery and I was unable to even sign the consent form because I was still being sick with bile. I spent another 5 hours in surgery, when I woke up and asked what had happened I was told there was part of the gangrene from the intestine had been touching another organ, which they removed the dead part and another part of my intestine had turned gangrene. Anyway, after spending over 3 weeks in hospital I was allowed home, and was told that the recovery period would take about 10 months. It did take a long time to fully recover.

Now, the trouble is for over a year now, I get diarrhea quite often, I have seen my doctor and had many scans, X-rays, CT-scan, colonoscopy, blood tests, etc but nothing shows up. I am on over 30 tablets a day, some even state they cause constipation, but with me I do not even get this. If I get a loose stool, I normally take 1 or 2 Loperamide 2mg hoping it will stop, most of the time it does. Panic or Anxiety attacks seem to trigger it off.

My wife and I, and my doctor have been trying in vain to find what is causing it, and so far drawn a blank. I'm not going to list all the medications I am on, because these have hardly changed over the years in large quantities.

Breakfast normally a glass of orange juice, a banana and a bowl of porridge. A few plain biscuits so I can take certain tablets between others.

Around midday, I will have a sandwich I have tried all of the following:

Bread and Jam (no butter or margerine) causes no problems

Bread, butter and mature cheese causes diarrhea

Bread , butter and mild cheese causes no problems

I tried the above as a lactose intolerance test, I also tried drinking semi-skimmed milk - none of this caused diarrhea.

Dinnertime/Evening meal:

A roast dinner with vegatables, potatoes, meat, etc. - no problems.

Puddings are fine unless I have Rhubarb or unsweetened apple pie.

Tea/Coffee I have no problems with unless, I have it black with no milk.

Just before bedtime:

I have to eat a few biscuits to break up the times between tablets.

I take tablets around 6 times a day, the amount varies. Some are due to be cut down soon. Diarrhea normally comes on around evening time or during the night (not the best of times!).

Would carbonated drinks cause loose stools?

Would the orange juice every morning cause loose stools?

Would water drinks with a hint of orange, etc cause loose stools?

I have tried so many combinations and running low on what else it could be? If I make a major change in medication as in a new one added then this causes loose stools, regardless of what the medicine says about constipation!

Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Les.

2

Les . What a time you have had . IBS will cause loose stools orange juice is a no go for me it sounds also like you have some acidity and carbonated drinks won't help that . You sound to be managing a decent amount of food though which is good . Could it be one or some  of the medications ? Hope you get some answers , I hope we all do ! Issy

3

Hi Les63

You mentioned that you had a colonscopy and how long ago was that?  Could you have IBD like Ulcerated Colitis which pretty much tie in with the symptoms you have?  With Ulcerated Colitis, most foods can trigger a flare up and what works for one person may not work for another.  Just a thought.

Hope you find an answer soon as I know it can be very frustrating.

4

Hi issy,

LOL, I'm in and out of hospitals every month, but thats a different disorder and not connected to the abdominal system. And I have just come out of remission for cancer last month, which has been 7 years!

You may have "hit the nail on head" so to speak. You mentioned IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), I used to suffer from this many years ago, but back then I felt nauseous and diarrhea. What through me off of IBS is I never get nauseous at all, it's always diarrhea nothing else.

I'll try without carbonated drinks and pure Orange Juice.

Medications would be the last thing I would mess around with, since these are set up by my Pain Management Clinician and Neurologist Consultant and my own GP. Basically, if one medication needs to be changed it must be authorized by all 3 people, but there is a 4th person whom also has input which is my Epileptic and Functional Episode Specialists. That's why I don't really want to start playing around with dosages because some are Class "A" medications, which took me awhile to get on to, the dose I am on now is lethal to anyone. Even now, and I have been on them for over 6 months, I fall into a weird subconscious dreams, which make you feel like everything around is real, and you do not feel you even are asleep as such. Take one example, I can be typing a message on these forums, subconsciously I have shutdown but I to anyone watching me sees me still typing, but if they seen what I was typing, it makes no sense whatsoever! But it is a known side-effect on higher doses.

I will try and cut those things out, much appreciated!

Regards,

Les.

5

Hi,

Colonscopy, I have had a couple the last one would have been around November 2012 - I had the major operation in the January of that same year. I have never heard of IBD, so I looked it up on the NHS website regarding the symptoms:

1. Abdominal (tummy) pain – this is more common in Crohn's disease than in ulcerative colitis <-- I only get pains before I need to go to the toilet.

2. Recurring or bloody diarrhoea <-- This is rare, and may happen about twice in a year.

3. Weight loss <-- I have never experienced weight loss. But this could be because it usually stops after taking 1 or 2 Loperamide 2mg caps. Usually, I stick to only one, which is enough to stop it.

4. Extreme tiredness <-- I suffer from extreme tiredness, but I put this down to Tramadol, which are also supposed to cause constipation, however I do not get constipation.

I have also been checked for 'overflow', but that was negative as well. Perhaps, I should mention this to my doctor, because she has even stated shes running out of ideas.

It's like my Consultants say "I am a complex case!" - and I do agree with them, some medications I take are to counteract side-effects from others.

Thank you for bringing that to my attention.

Regards,

Les.

6

HI Les63

I agree that you should cut out the carbonated water, organge juice and adding any citrus flavouring to water as these can irritate the bowel. Just drink plain water. Also, do you take decaffeinated tea and coffee? caffeine can cause diarrhoea. A combination of what you are eating and drinking  is obviously causing the diarrhoea in the evening and during the night. You do not mention what puddings you have.  I think you will have to go through a process of elimination with your food and drink intake and make the above changes and take it from there.  You are a tryer I'l give you that!! hope you find an answer...best wishes....Lilly

7

Hi Lilian,

You stated "citrus flavouring to water", are you referring to still water with hint of strawberry in, etc? One thing I cannot stand is tap-water, it tastes disgusting even though it is passed-thru an "electrical water softener" on the stop-tap to the property.

Don't ask, it was not my idea, and I picked it up on Ebay for 1 pence!! The guy didn't even put postage & packing in the price, so I did actually pay only a penny for it. Basically, it works by removing all negative ions in the water coming in to the property. Another part fits on the side of our main Electrical Trip Switch box.

After seeing previous replies I was going to purchase a couple of bottles of water with a hint of strawberry, it is not carbonated it is still water which is why I was looking at it, but I have not yet bought any.

Puddings these vary, on Sundays my wife normally makes a homemade Rice pudding with nutmeg, but with Canderel sweetner, not sugar. Puddings in the week I am referring to things like Müller Rice Pots or their Fruit Corners. I don't have them everyday, only if I feel a bit hungry but they don't seem to cause problems.

Now, this might just be a coincidence but on Sundays and well in to Mondays I don't suffer from diarrhea at all. The only thing I do suffer from is more flatulence than normal, but I would assume this is down to me liking sprouts with my roast dinners - no one else in the house eats them apart from me.

On some Saturday mornings for breakfast I do have a fried breakfast - now this I would have thought would cause diarrhea but it doesn't. We usually have Gypsy bread, 2 x fried eggs, 2 sausages, black pudding (about 4 or 5 thin slices), bacon, baked beans and fried tomato's. Yes, it is not really healthy eating, but we do not have it very often - about once a month.

Don't get me wrong I don't mind changing foods, I have noticed there is many things I could eat when I was a teenager, but now just repeats on me and gives me terrible indigestion. Home-made pickled onions we made ourselves we both were mad on them, well neither my wife or I, can eat them anymore. Cheese and Tomato on toast is another, and many spicey foods are definte No, No's!! But our bodies change over the years and so does what you can and cannot eat.

I look forward to your reply on the water through, I did not think there was sparkling water to be honest, but we only shop online.

Regards,

Les.

8

Hi Les63,

I was not referring to tap water, I was referring to 'Natural Spring Water'..

that you can buy in supermarkets also strawberry flavour spring water.   They taste ok, put them in the fridge and drink them cold, or tepid out of the fridge.

They taste nothing like tapwater, I drink them all the time. Instead of puds why not try natural Greek yogurt or Onken yogurt and put your own grapes, strawberries and  blueberries in it. The yogurt is full of good bacteria to keep your tum, and digestive system healthly. The grapes, blueberries and strawberries are good sources of antioxidants that prevent cell damage and help to stave off diseases.

Regarding that huge fry-up of a breakfast, I would grill instead of fry and poach the eggs. I know you say you only have this occassionally but the fat mixed with the rest of the days food will perhaps cause the diarrhoea. There is an awful lot of fat in that brekki have it, but cut down on the fat.

You did not mention whether you have decaf tea and coffee.  If you do have caffeine  in your tea or coffee start taking decaf.  All the changes mentioned may help toward eliminating the diahorrea.....happy eating Les.....best wishes

Lilly...

 

9

Hi Lilly,

Well, trust me to read things wrong! LOL My mother-in-law comes around on Sundays for her Roast dinner, she always says it's the best dinner of the week. Shame really, she lost her husband just over 2 years ago, and she is 75 in June, but to see her you would never have thought so. She is not one of these people that just sits around all day, never has been as far back as I can remember.

You can guarantee every week she will moan about our water and her tea tasting horrid. She uses the same tea-bags as we do, the only difference is we have a britax kettle which filters the water!

As for coffee and Tea, tbh I'm not sure I don't read labels on the items, perhaps I should start, if it is going to help me.

Regards,

Les.