Spiky Bugger
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2014
- Messages
- 6,201
So DS poop is often different. It is also often more frequent...in my case, it used to mean maybe 2 BMs first thing in the morning and even another after breakfast. Let me add right here that MANY GI docs consider 3 or more BMs per day, regardless of things like consistency, urgency and such, to be "diarrhea," and in need of treatment. (I think these guys are related to the RDs who don't understand malabsorption.) For me, this was my new normal and not in need of treatment.
Over the past almost dozen years post-op, there have been episodes of diarrhea. Some...most, to be honest...were immediately related to eating "the wrong stuff," which could also be "too much of the right stuff." (I learned about that from @Sandy , who explained that she--or I--could probably enjoy real sourdough toast with breakfast today...if I didn't have any yesterday and would not be having any tomorrow. I'm 70-yrs-old and still have trouble with the idea of "moderation.") Those episodes, certainly less than once a year, responded to flagyl...and paying attention.
Until last December.
My PCP prescribed flagyl, 250mg, tid, x 10 days. Tiny, temporary improvement. My bariatric surgeon prescribed flagyl...500 mg, tid, x 30 days. A little more improvement, but temporary again. He sent me to a GI doctor. I had stool testing...no parasites, no ova, no c diff (which I had before and which scares me.) So I had SIBO (Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth) breath testing.
That came back positive.
The SIBO "experts" all disagree with each other. And to further complicate matters, our altered anatomies add to the possible reasons this is happening. High risk for SIBO (essentially--gas, bloating/distention, diarrhea to the point that I have not had an uninterrupted night's sleep in almost five months, live in Depends "just in case" and don't leave the house except for doctors' appointments) includes any surgery that rearranges guts, plus old age, plus PPIs, plus opioids, so I get to be a Poster Child and some of you may, too.
Anyway, "my" GI doctor decided that my best bet is with Xifaxin. (Thse pills sell for $35.95...each...three times a day...for two weeks...so $1500+. I thought I'd have to pay about $800 out of pocket, but it was "only" $95, so, lucky me.)
And, drum roll please, it seems to be working...dramatically, in only 24 hours.
And if it does work, I probably won't be "cured" the way someone else might be. I have read that digestion slows as we age and I'm old. Opioids slow digestion, and I usually start each day with a Norco. (There may be additional, depending on how my bladder and arthritis are acting.) Proton Pump Inhibitors reduce the acid which also slows digestion. (I'm not sure why Zantac, an H2 blocker, would be any better for this situation...it isn't as helpful for the reflux/GERD, but I changed. I will check with GI doctor.)
The "type" of SIBO I have is primarily the the Hydrogen-producing kind. Given how much gas I have, I'm glad it's not the methane type because this place would smell like a Wisconsin Dairy Farm.
Anyway...a caveat...if your diet is NOT out of control, and if you are having diarrhea, and if your gas and distention are disabling--in my case, my waist measures 5" greater at night than it does in the morning; clothes that were loose in the morning are very tight by evening; bloating is so bad, it's hard to bend down to pick up something I've dropped...it might be time to start reading about SIBO.
BEWARE! The diets you find will be Low FODMAP/SIBO/"Specific Carbohydrate Diet" stuff. You will go nuts trying to figure it all out. But try. And figure out enough to know what you can eat for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow.
I hope you like steak and chicken and fish...and I hope you are NOT Sicilian and Mexican, because no garlic...no onion.
Over the past almost dozen years post-op, there have been episodes of diarrhea. Some...most, to be honest...were immediately related to eating "the wrong stuff," which could also be "too much of the right stuff." (I learned about that from @Sandy , who explained that she--or I--could probably enjoy real sourdough toast with breakfast today...if I didn't have any yesterday and would not be having any tomorrow. I'm 70-yrs-old and still have trouble with the idea of "moderation.") Those episodes, certainly less than once a year, responded to flagyl...and paying attention.
Until last December.
My PCP prescribed flagyl, 250mg, tid, x 10 days. Tiny, temporary improvement. My bariatric surgeon prescribed flagyl...500 mg, tid, x 30 days. A little more improvement, but temporary again. He sent me to a GI doctor. I had stool testing...no parasites, no ova, no c diff (which I had before and which scares me.) So I had SIBO (Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth) breath testing.
That came back positive.
The SIBO "experts" all disagree with each other. And to further complicate matters, our altered anatomies add to the possible reasons this is happening. High risk for SIBO (essentially--gas, bloating/distention, diarrhea to the point that I have not had an uninterrupted night's sleep in almost five months, live in Depends "just in case" and don't leave the house except for doctors' appointments) includes any surgery that rearranges guts, plus old age, plus PPIs, plus opioids, so I get to be a Poster Child and some of you may, too.
Anyway, "my" GI doctor decided that my best bet is with Xifaxin. (Thse pills sell for $35.95...each...three times a day...for two weeks...so $1500+. I thought I'd have to pay about $800 out of pocket, but it was "only" $95, so, lucky me.)
And, drum roll please, it seems to be working...dramatically, in only 24 hours.
And if it does work, I probably won't be "cured" the way someone else might be. I have read that digestion slows as we age and I'm old. Opioids slow digestion, and I usually start each day with a Norco. (There may be additional, depending on how my bladder and arthritis are acting.) Proton Pump Inhibitors reduce the acid which also slows digestion. (I'm not sure why Zantac, an H2 blocker, would be any better for this situation...it isn't as helpful for the reflux/GERD, but I changed. I will check with GI doctor.)
The "type" of SIBO I have is primarily the the Hydrogen-producing kind. Given how much gas I have, I'm glad it's not the methane type because this place would smell like a Wisconsin Dairy Farm.
Anyway...a caveat...if your diet is NOT out of control, and if you are having diarrhea, and if your gas and distention are disabling--in my case, my waist measures 5" greater at night than it does in the morning; clothes that were loose in the morning are very tight by evening; bloating is so bad, it's hard to bend down to pick up something I've dropped...it might be time to start reading about SIBO.
BEWARE! The diets you find will be Low FODMAP/SIBO/"Specific Carbohydrate Diet" stuff. You will go nuts trying to figure it all out. But try. And figure out enough to know what you can eat for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow.
I hope you like steak and chicken and fish...and I hope you are NOT Sicilian and Mexican, because no garlic...no onion.
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