Diarrhea After Endoscopy

[bergyali]

Hello-

I am new to this forum, and appreciate ANY wisdom I can get. I have been struggling with undiagnosed autoimmune problems since July that have affected my heart and liver. I have had GI issues since I was a child, and my cardiologist recommended a gluten-free diet in suspicion I had celiac or intolerance to gluten. Initially, I felt a lot better on the diet, had more regular (bulky, daily ) stools for those months. THEN, a GI doc insisted I have an endoscopy (despite being gluten-free for 2 months) which I knew would most likely not show anything since I was refusing to do a gluten challenge. However, since he said there still may be enough villi damage to see, I agreed to do it. Ever since then, I have not had a normal bowel movement. Every single morning has been loose diarrhea, and discomfort throughout the day. This is frustrating- my diet has not changed since before the endoscopy, I am not being accidentally glutened. I have no idea why since the day after the procedure (3 weeks ago) my tummy can't settle down.

Does anyone have ANY ideas what could be going on, and what might help? My diet is very healthy (I have a nutrition and fitness background) with whole foods, vegetables and fruits, potatoes, lean meats, limited amounts of grains. I have little to no processed foods with the exception of nut bars like kind bars.

Thanks so much for your help!

Ali

[Korwyn]

Get some probiotics (PB8 or PB10) and a couple bottles of Saccharomyces boulardii. Take the boulardii on an empty stomach though. See if that helps. If you can tolerate dairy, empty a couple capsules of the PB into a room temp serving of live culture yogurt and let it sit for about 10 minutes after you mix it in. PB's should be refrigerated as they are live/suspended bacteria.

[WinterSong]

I'm sorry you're having a hard time. When I went through my endoscopy I didn't eat for about 15 hours beforehand. Afterwards I ate a banana and instantly felt like someone was punching me in the stomach. I was pretty sick for a few days. I say try the probiotics and maybe some ginger tea and cinnamon and just keep eating the healthiest you can. Hope you feel better!

[modiddly16]

I had some Diarrhea for a few days after but I also had a colonoscopy, so that was kinda the point I definitely second the probiotic suggestion! Also, maybe steer clear of some veggies, some of them are none to make you a bit more regular..not that any of us ever have problems with that! I hope you feel better soon!

[lizard00]

I just had an EGD on Monday. I can't say that I think it gave me D, but I've had it on and off for a week, which I attribute to the Nexium they put me on. I stopped taking it a couple of days ago, as it was doing absolutely nothing for my problem, but I know it did give me D. It's kind of starting to taper off.... dunno if you're taking any new medications, but that might be worth looking into.

My stomach hurt a lot too on Monday when I finally ate. But, it hurts all the time anyway, so I wasn't really sure if it was to do with the procedure, or if it was just my stomach in general.

[Karl Otto]

I went through a endoscope up my backside as well in the past. First off, they did not give me any sedatives and, the procedure was very painful to me. It hurt something terrible especially when they in-flated my guts to be able to see better. Before the test, they made me wait for 7 - 8 hours without food or water. I was having low blood sugar symptoms that, made me feel like I was dieing. I was dizzy, weak, shaky all over, I could hartly breath, and couldn't even remember my own name. That is how low my blood sugar was back then. The VA Hospital in Denver knew about my low blood sugar problem long time before I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, too. In my opinion, the bowel problems are due to eating foods with gluten in them. Remember, the longer you eat foods with gluten in them, the more damage you do to your guts.

[bergyali]

Definitely not eating gluten, that is for sure. Thanks for all this wisdom! I take probiotics already- is that not enough? The doc wants me to give a stool sample because they think maybe I picked up some sort of infection during the procedure.

[Korwyn]

It is possible you picked up a low grade C.Diff infection. Unfortunately this is becoming more and more common. The Boulardii occupies the same niche in the intestinal tract that C.Diff does. It is a (good) yeast and will help displace C.Diff if that is what you are fighting. It would be much better to deal with it via PB and Boulardii than antibiotics because the antibiotics used to treat C.Diff are brutal. Absolutely brutal. And not always entirely successful. (google c.diff for more info). The Boulardii won't hurt either way. Are the PB you are taking a broad spectum (like an 8/10) and are you keeping them in the fridge?

[Karl Otto]

I use to take probiotic in pill form. I took them for 1 whole years. After, the first 12 months, the probiotics started leaving me dehydrated. The dehydration make me very sick. However, when I stopped taking them, I never got dehydrated again. Go figure ! I thought that my constipation would return because, I stopped taking my probiotics but, low and behold, it did not. I have had no more problems with constipation anymore.