Frustrating stomach Issues

[AS29]

I am a 23 year old female with a healthy history.  In April, I became very sick after visiting a restaurant.  I became constantly bloated, gas, with large amounts of diarrhea.  I thought I had contracted food poisoning, and after about 10 days the symptoms subsided.

However, between April and today the diarrhea has come back and has occurred daily (very watery with mucus) with gas. I live in a city where I do not have a PCP and no one is taking patients.  So I visited the walk-in clinic.  I described the same symptoms and emphasized this has been happening on and off (more on) since the end of April.  At first the doctor didn't believe anything was wrong until lab results came back with a slightly high WBC (11.3).  He put me on 3 days of Cipro which worked well.  I only had diarrhea once and mainly had solid stools.  I took a stool sample which came out negative for enteric pathogens, normal enteric flora absent, ova & parasite exam negative.  

Several days after I got off the Cipro I started having watery diarrhea multiple times a day with gas. It is mostly yellow.  I've had two solid stools, one of which was bright yellow.  I went back to the walk-in clinic concerned because the watery stool was listed under serious symptoms.  They took blood tests and my WBC is back down to 6.8.  They seem to draw no conclusions from these labs; however, I continue to have these same symptoms.  I'm aware that this could just be antibiotic associated diarrhea, but I keep reading that the symptoms I'm having after Cipro are "more serious" and then I just get laughed out of the doctor's office.  I keep asking for a GI, but they tell me I can't go unless I'm referred by the walk-in clinic.

My cousin recently went to the hospital for coloin issues and may have IBD. Her GI is requesting (despite my negative stool status) my stool sample report to make sure they tested everything and that we did not contract something from the same source.

Any help is appreciated. I'm to the point of frustration and tears.

[AS29]

Thank you.  I appreciate your detailed answer.  I am definitely not insulted at all about the advice on cleanliness.  I made sure to do a thorough cleaning straight away and we've been very good about washing our hands, etc.  I definitely am not going to give up because something certainly doesn't feel right!

[ggreg]

I feel for you.  I had diarrhea at least half-dozen times a day for six months.  I thought I was gonna die!  Turns out it was an ordinary medication i was on, my doc and I just switched to a diff tranquilizer, Ativan, and when I stopped taking it, symptoms went away instantly, and I went back on my old tranq.  I, too, had eaten at a restaurant about the same time I started a diff tranq.  I tell you this not only to show you why I sympathize, but also in case you are taking any kind of diff medication on a regualr basis, beginning around April, maybe even Feb or March, including diff brands of vitamins and birth control pills.

With that said, if I understand you correctly, your cousin's doc has taken an interest in you (probably becuz either you ate at the same place or you all hang out with each other often... hand contact can spread it) and so he wants to try to help you.  He is absolutely correct to want to see that stool sample report, because there are various bacteria and parasites that require a special test to be sure you don't have it.  You see, stool sample tests cover the basic ones that usually afflict people.  But some tests are more involved, so they don't do those.  I'm thinking you may have one of those not-usuallly tested micro organisms floating around in your gut, and for whatever reason after the antibiotic, it either didn't kill it or you inadvertently reinfected yourself.

So, let that doc see your report.  Try to make an appointment, too, to visit with him, nevermind all that referral jazz (an insurance thing), because if necessary, his offices can contact the local clinic you went to and get a referral for you.  

And I do not mean to insult either you or your cousin, but washing hands often is important whilst you may have whatever bacteria is the culprit here.  And to make real sure you two aren't passing it between each other, in addition to washing hands frequently, you need to go around to all surfaces you touch a lot and with a mixture of chlorox and water or alcohol, wipe off doorknobs, phones, lightswitches and spigots and toilet handle, refrigerator door pull, oven and dishwasher bars, anything you grab hold of a lot that you may not ordinarily think of cleaning.  Once you've cleaned them special, that's enough, just add them to your normal cleaning routine with ordinary cleaners.  Tell your cousin to do the same.

I sure hope that doc discovers what's going on.  He sounds like a VERY responsible and knowledgeable doctor to me!!!