colon problems

Since 2001 after I had sinus surgery, and was given a large dose of antibiotics, my colon has not been acting right.  I was told the flora in my colon had been destroyed.  Since then my I have frequent diarrhea, gas, more than three times in the 1st hour of waking up.  I was hospitalized and they tested me for diverticulitis and was told I was too young for that, I have no gallbladder, I recently had my appendix out which was surrounded by a tumor which my appendix was twice the size it should have been.  I have had numerous scopes and my test results come back fine,  can some one please tell me if it this irritable bowel? I was told when they removed my appendix, my surgeon had told me that if it had been Crohn's disease, he would not have been able to operate and he said from what he could see my colon looked ok.  Some days I am fine. But for this last week I have had watery bowel movements and it will not stop even when I take something like Imodium (immodium).  Can some one help me???

[CalGal]

Betty, get on some good probiotics and see if that's of help. A lot of people have problems following antibiotics usage. They can help get rid of infections, but they can also royally mess up the GI system killing both good and bad flora alike. There are a number of decent brands on the market including Culturelle, Digestive Advantage-IBS, FloraQ and Align. Not each works for everyone so you may have to try more than one, but give each a decent interval before switching. Early use can - but doesn't always - produce a lot of gas, but consider it a 'war' in which the good is trying to overcome the 'bad' and wait it out. The other thing to do is take a long hard look at your diet. Keep a food diary to see if any foods make things better or worse. Many foods just don't agree with those who have IBS and those foods can vary from individual to individual although there are some 'constants.'  Check the helpforibs.com website.

If it is Crohn's disease and it's in the early stages just looking at the colon from the outside wouldn't tell a surgeon a heck of a lot. But unless you have Crohn's that runs in your family I wouldn't immediately assume it's Crohn's. If you want to fully check on Crohn's you'd have to run through the whole battery of tests including running something like the Serology 7 test from Prometheus Labs.