I have chronic diarrhea and rotten egg, fecal-smelling breath that reacts to grains, wheat, sugar, yeast, etc. Only things I can eat with no issue are chicken, some red meat, most vegetables, bananas, and eggs. Initially I thought it best to see a dentist (been to 6) and a gastroenterologist (3) and an ENT (1)-- this excludes the PCP's in between and over the years.
So far I've had a colonoscopy and endoscopy (clear), parasitic test (negative) and a SIBO breath test (positive, but still experienced a full spectrum of the symptoms when it went away. Even when on the antibiotics for SIBO, any grains, sugar, yeast and wheat would have my breath smelling to kingdom come and diarrhea every time I went for a #2.
What made me think there might be more going on was when one doctor gave me nitaoxanide, I had solid dumps for the first time in years (sorry for the visuals). Even when I stick to a strict diet of veggies, meat, honey, and eggs, my stools would still be a little loose, but this kicked that to the curb for a while. Once I was off (for not even a week), one doctor thought it was okay to test me for parasites, and when the test came up negative, she insisted there were no more parasites despite the obvious fact that maybe their numbers were too low to show up after a long stint on nitaoxanide-- I also like to suggest that eating a very healthy diet that limits my symptoms would possibly affect results. Even worse, when I mentioned that my symptoms were still bad as ever on rifaxamin, she shrugged and didn't talk about it, insisting that SIBO could be the only cause.
Since gastros seem intent on assigning a blanket disease like IBS or something that could be a symptom of a root cause (SIBO), or even worse, just saying it must be GERD since all the others are ruled out, I finally gave up with the gastros and decided to actually get a tangible answer and to end the guess-and-check-games they keep playing. So, I decided on seeing an Infectious Disease Specialist. I am aware my issues sound like they're purely digestive issues and that IDS's are likely to to roll their eyes when seeing my case, but I can't help but feel there's something parasitic going on (this stems from reading about how giardia can cause this, or how one guy with worms took care of the issue and ceased to have bad breath and diarrhea). I'm beyond done with incompetent doctors that give me an "oh well," and then look at me like I'm the crazy one when I suggest seeing someone who actually knows more about parasites and bacterial/viral infections that could possibly cause GI problems. I can't explain how desperate I am for an answer, and, subsequently, a solution. I would go absolutely broke and lose everything if it meant I could have this taken care of. I'm tired of the "who farted?" comments every time I speak or burp, and the loose stools and diarrhea are driving me insane.
Oh, I almost forgot, I was in the military when this first started up. I got in trouble and was forced to work in a sewer for a week (this just happened to coincide with when my symptoms first started). Also, being stationed in the backwoodsy area of Northern Florida where it's humid and our water supplies were often dirty and sometimes even brown, and free-range ticks were a tourist attraction has me thinking there's more to this than my doctors have been willing to admit.
So please, I'm begging you all, someone, just help. I'm desperate and I want a normal life again.