Help Me To Understand My Symptoms

[jorge0464]

Hi all,

Thanks for your time and help. I am desperado and it is the reason because I am posting. I have what I believe is a severe malabsorption because I can see undigested food in my stool, have non-stopping loud bowel sounds after eating, abdominal cramps, dry skin, lines on my nails, random muscle tics around my body and large amount of stool. I was tested for Celiac in blood and had intestinal biopsy that were negative but the visual report in my endoscopy suggested Celiac because they could see damage. I have been totally gluten free at least there are gluten sources that I don't know. The fact is I don't see any turn over yet. I have been more strict with my diet since only one month, before, I ate outside sometimes and I really don't know if CC could happen. Anyway, my question for you is if my symptoms are familiar with you, specially large amount of feces and bowel noises. I know the villi will take time to regrowth. How long does it was for you to feel normal again ??

Thanks for any help.

Jorge.

[knivhoj]

Hello,

I fully understand if you are getting desperate, apparently the digestive tract is a complicated thing, and doctors seems to know very little about it. Your story sounds very much like mine, so let me tell you my experience, and then you can see, if there is something that sounds familiar to your situation.

Four years ago, I was treated with antibiotics (Amoxicillin and Cipro). My diverticulitis went away and the treatment was considered a success by my doctor. To me, it was a disaster. I developed intolerance to gluten and six months later, I was unable to digest all types of starch, and I had several food allergies. Like you, I saw undigested food in the stool, dry skin, loud bowel sounds, gas, bloating, lines on my fingernails and large amount of stool. I had candida infection in my mouth and several other places on the skin, so my doctor suggested a treatment (Diflucan and Nystatin). It helped in the mouth and on the skin, but had no effect in the guts. Syclovir and ThreeLac had no effect either. My stool turned yellow and contained a lot of fat.

After two years of being gluten free, my doctor did the blood tests for celiac and also did a biopsy. Both were of course negative, but an apirate taken from the small intestine showed a bacterial overgrowth. It's all friendly bacteria, but they should not be in the small intestine. The cure is more antibiotics, and trust me, I was really scared of candida, when I started the treatment. I bought lots of probiotics to take during and after treatment. The treatment worked wonders, and the new candida infection on my skin was treatable.

Many doctors are using a simple Hydrogen Breath Test to diagnose a bacterial overgrowth, but beware, celiac or gluten intolerance may give a false positive result in this test.

I just recently did a gluten tolerance test for a blood test for celiac. The result was negative, but the effect of gluten in my body was very strong, so I have an official diagnosis of non celiac gluten intolerance. The interesting thing is, after ingesting gluten for four weeks, I again see the signs of a bacterial overgrowth in my small intestine, and antibiotics have once again become necessary. I hope this will be of some kind of help.