Please Help

[thomasjohnlee]

Hi there,

I am a 22 year old male. Until recently, my health was more or less excellent. In November of this year, I went to India and suffered from diarrhea (with blood and mucus in my stool). I took tinizadole. It had no effect. I moved to Berlin in Jan, produced three stools for a specialist and was tested for dysentery and giardia. Both came back negative. They also run some blood tests. I was put on a strong general antibiotic, which worked, sort of. For two or three months, I had a relatively regular stool. (Not as firm as usual, though formed a regualr colour).

Then, out of nowhere, the diarrhea returned. My stools became loose, huge and greasy... A variety of colours too: black, brown, dark green, pale. Everything. Since then, I've had a colonscopy and an endoscopy (during which, doctors evaluated my pancreas with an ultrasound). Biopsies where taken in both cases. Also both cases didn't produce results... A really good thing, but a little frustrating.

I've recently had my stools examined for enzyme probs. All normal. And, blood tests confirmed that I'm not gluten intolerant.

Now doctors are stumped, and so am I.

The loose stools remain. I've had a dull pain in my lower back for the last 3 days (but that might well be from incorrect lifting at work, ie. likely). I don't have stomach cramps. I'm in exceedingly low spirits and am desparate to get back to normal.  

In sum: not dysentery or giardia, not an IBD, not cancer, not a pancreatic related condition. A mystery!

Any ideas?

I'd really appreciate any, any advice I can get.

Best,
Tom.

[poseidon5]

I agree that it could be IBS.  The most frustrating thing about IBS is that there are no medications or cures for it.  It is just that your bowels become easily irritated.  Maybe you should keep a food diary for a few weeks to see what foods cause stomach upset and diarrhea.  Since your symptoms began in India, were you eating a lot of spicy foods?  Maybe there are other foods (lactose, greasy, fatty) that are causing your symptoms and that cutting back on them could help you.

[JDS2805]

You have had all of the standard tests for diagnosing any potentially serious condition. While IBD was ruled out, I would not rule out IBS

[Banned1]

Hi Tom:

I'm so sorry you are suffering.  It's frustrating and heart-wrenching to go through this.  I'm not a doctor and know nothing about medicine but it sounds like it's digestive to me.  You said they evaluated your pancreas.  Have they looked at your gallbladder?  Forgive me for doing a bit of cut and paste here but I usually only answer posts where I might be able to help and it just makes life easier.

Your symptoms could be SO many things including microscopic sludge/stones in the common bile duct, gallbladder problems, Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction, Small Bowel Bacterial Overgrowth, acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, autoimmune pancreatitis, mininal change chronic pancreatitis, etc., etc., etc.    

There are two relatively non-invasive procedures: 1) Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS) and 2) MRCP-S (Secretin).  The EUS can image the pancreas and ductal system.  The EUS does require sedation and is similar to an upper endoscopy.  It picks up things that other tests can't including problems at the microscopic level.

Many people have great success with digestive enzymes and pancreatic enzymes.  Within two weeks, some people are pain free and their bowels are totally normal just from enzyme useage.  This is something you can talk to your primary Doc about.  I'm told that they won't do any harm so - unless you have side effects - why not try them?  Your Doc might even have samples.  This reduces the amount of work the pancreas has to do which will also reduce any damage to the pancreas.  You can get them at the health food store, too, but make sure they only have proteases, amlyase and lipase.   The name brands include Creon, Pancrease, Pancron, Protilase, Ultrase and Zymase.  They take about 30 days to make a difference but this is likely something that would really help you, Tom, and you'd know for sure if it's your pancreas if it helps.

The best things I can mention are to start a low-fat diet immediately as well as a journal to record everything that goes into or comes out of your body including medications, foods, etc. as well as how you feel, your mood and activities/exercise.  Avoid everything fried, everything with a high fat content and alcohol.  If you can try that for a month or so, see how your symptoms are.  This also gives you the benefit of hindsight and you can identify patterns or cause/effect relationships.

You can always get a second or third or fourth opinion.  Once you've found someone who is highly recommended, check them out at www.ratemds.com.  If they still sound good, ask your family doctor to refer you. Likewise, please rate any doctors you see so that others have the benefit of your experience.

Feel free to email me or post again.  I'm happy to share anything I've learned over the past two years.  I'm not on very often, so if you need me quickly, email.

All the best,

Sam