Loose stool, 2 months now

[araczek]

Approx. 2 months ago I started having problems with loose stool. It graduated to liquid stool. I saw my GI doctor and he prescribed Levaquin and ordered blood test and stool sample to test for bacteria. All came back normal. During the period on the antibiotic I did SEEM to get better, stool firmed up. During the time I also was dehydrated. near the end of the antibiotic though my stool was still basically soft. It starts out hard at the beginning of a bowel movement then gets loose, finally near the end dispersing in a cloud in the bowl.
My diet has not changed significantly at all to cause this. I eat rather well and work out with weights. Being 57 I usually struggle to get my weight DOWN to 187-190, not eating carbs, junk food, starchy stuff, etc. But now I eat SOME of that stuff to try and get further ABOVE 180 lbs. I have lost 8-10 lbs. Have had terrible smelling gas pains but only near time of the bowel movement.
Doctor ordered a CT scan of abdomen but it seems like he's just downplaying this condition right now saying it's "nothing serious". I might add I have anxiety but "been there, done that". It's been stressful at work lately but I have handled that before without problems like this. Doctor said tests at this point are just to give "peace of mind". So I suspect he is leaning toward stress and anxiety but I DON'T BUY IT. Not when not a whole lot has changed in my life to cause me to "stress out".
My question obviously is why is this happening and moreover am I absorbing enough from food and my medications? My anxiety is higher but I have read elsewhere that serotonin levels can drop with diarrhea.

Any clues?
I

[araczek]

Thank you for your comments. I generally don't drink muck milk anymore. When  I am home Friday, Sat, Sun (I work in another state, rent a room there) I have milk with cereal, I used to use soy. During this period I WAS taking align. But before this happened my diet did and still does include 2 Activia a day.
Also about the anxiety. I am not ultr worked up about this issue so I don't think I have anxiety bc of this problem. I started have greater anxiety when this started but as I said I have been stressed before. I am concerned if there is some sort of malabsorption going on and I am not getting what I should from food and medicine. Hence possible the reason for lost weight and foul gas ( food not fully digested)? My theory anyway bc I know for a fact hunger affects anxiety. Have enough experience with the subject unfortunately. Still waiting on CT scan results.

[CalGal]

Whey is a component of dairy. The fact that if you use the whey you get gas suggests you may have an intolerance toward dairy in general. Intolerances can produce all the symptoms you're describing. Consider going off all dairy products and see if that helps. And if your celiac test only looked at results of testing using IgA antibodies, get rechecked for gluten issues based on IgG testing and consider getting tested for dairy issues in general.

[araczek]

We'll yes a stool culture was done as well as a test for Celiac disease and everything was normal. Can't say I have diarrhea right now but more of soft to loose stool. I have 2 movements a day and only seem to get bloated near the time of a movement. Worst thing is very foul smelling gas. Very embarrassing too. I have taken to using liquid vegetable multivitamin and vegetable protein powder (I bodybuild/lift weights). If I use whey protein forget it, REALLY bad gas ALL DAY.  I'm not a doctor but if I don't have a bacterial infection then I would think food isn't digesting well hence the bad gas. Normally it would be funny but not so funny now.

[CalGal]

If, after you get things checked out nothing turns up, consider checking to see if you've developed food intolerances. It's not a fad, it's real. And it can seem to appear out of nowhere.

My husband developed gluten issues 17 years ago, and a year later found out he cross-reacted to casein, a protein in dairy. He's been GF/DF since then and it changed his life. Before that, he had every test that the docs could order and the docs pronounced him 'just fine.' They never considered that foods could literally be poisoning him, but they were. And for him it seemed to come 'out of the blue.'

Food intolerances can present in many forms including the diarrhea you mentioned. Other symptoms can range from brain-fog and fatigue to full-on GERD and vomiting.

If you try everything and nothing shows up, consider checking with a functional medicine doc well-versed in food intolerance issues. Get tested and rule that in or out, too.

In the meantime, I hope you'll consider starting some probiotics that might give you a hand with the symptoms you're currently experiencing.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hi, understand your anxiety. Was a stool culture done? For the chronic diarrhea, if the stool culture showed a growth it is an infective pathology otherwise non infective pathologies like inflammatory bowel diseases or growths have to be considered. Amoebiasis is another infection, which can cause similar symptoms. If your symptoms persist you may need a colonoscopy to diagnose the cause for diarrhea. Regards.