My ordeal with post-infectious IBS
My story with post-infectious IBS has been crazy but I am here to provide people who are experiencing it some hope. Last April after a year of strange on and off random stomach aches I was told I have H.Polyri.
After two rounds of antibiotics, omeprazole, and taking ibuprofen for breast pain I was dealing with at the time, my stomach was left in poor health. The gastroenterologist told me it would take some time for my stomach to heal fully but did not tell me to stop taking the ibuprofen or/and what foods to stay away from or that I should take a stronger probiotic ( I was taking a CVS over the counter probiotic at the time.).
After a month of waking up every day nauseous and loose stools I went back to the gastro and did an endoscopy and they diagnosed me with chronic gastritis but told me to continue with regular diet and did not provide me with any information how to treat my gastritis. After another month I returned to the gastro complaining of the diarrhea and minimal bleeding and they performed a colonoscopy and it came back normal.
I left the gastro and thought maybe it is all in my head so I tried to forget about it. Fast forward a few months later I was still seeing black specks in my stool and still having loose stools every morning. There was a stomach virus going around my job and I unfortunately caught it. The virus lasted a day day but my stomach was left in the worst possible shape. I was extremely gassy and felt nauseous after I ate anything.
A week later I woke up with a fever and was having diarrhea all day and it seemed like I caught the stomach bug again. This time my stomach was absolutely destroyed. I lost 20 pounds in a couple of days. My gastritis flared up really bad and my stomach would make these loud rumbling noises that sounded like there was an ocean in my stomach. I had to call out of work for two weeks and thought I would never leave my bed. I saw another gastro and they gave me pantoprazole for my gastritis and dicyclomine for stomach cramping. the pantoprazole seemed to calm down my gastritis and after two weeks it seemed that my stomach was calming down so I stopped taking both medicines.
I returned back to work and tried to eat again but everything I would eat would go straight through me. So I was losing more weight and became worried. I followed up with my gastro and he diagnosed me with post-infectious IBS. After reading about post-infectious ibs it seemed that it was all a waiting game and all about luck if you got better or not. Being determined to get my life back especially since I was only 21 and had my dream job in the fashion industry, I decided to look towards holistic health. To sum up my treatment for about 4 months all I ate was a cup of bone broth with a banana in the morning, two slices of gluten free toast with raw honey, and for dinner I would eat wet white rice with a sweet potato or potato with a piece of organic chicken.
I saw an acupuncturist who helped me reintroduce foods to my system and I took herbs while having a session of acupuncture once a week. I kept positive and stopped googling post-infectious IBS and reading the forums. I made sure I got 8 hours of sleep every night and kept my stress levels down. For about 6 months I did not go out to eat and I would reintroduce foods very slowly.
There were definitely a lot of unsuccessful attempts but the successful attempts were amazing. Now almost a year later I am not 100% back to normal but I AM ALOT BETTER and will take how I am now any day compared how I was a few months ago. I know I need some more time to be a 100%. I have gained some weight ( not all ) back and I now occasionally eat Mcdonalds and Chic-Fil-A again without any stomach upsets. I do still take the Chinese herbs and I eat healthy for the most part. My ordeal with post-infectious IBS taught me not to take my health and food for granted.
JUST BELIEVE YOU WILL GET BETTER AND YOU WILL :)
Useful supplements:
- B-12 supplements
- Vitamin D supplements
- Multivitamin
- Refrigerated probiotic
- Chinese Herbs
- Powdered bone broth in a fruit/green smoothie
This is a user story submitted by Rose on 18th of July 2018.
2 Replies to “My ordeal with post-infectious IBS”
I have no idea what post-infectious IBS is but I couldn’t imagine how hard your experiences were. Glad you’re getting better and better. Good luck with your journey Shawn! :)
So glad to hear that you are doing better. I have suffered from debilitating IBS for over 25 years…I have taken Mastic gum, Holy Basil, Oregano Oil, Bentonite Clay, Activated charcoal, Colloidal silver…and the list goes on. I don’t believe in pharmaceuticals because doctors are far too quick to randomly prescribe, and the long-term toxic side effects associated with any medication are worse than the condition. I also had black mold exposure after going through a hurricane…black mold was growing between a leak in the roof of my home and the walls…it was invisible until I had my home tested…terrifying experience and my hair was falling out in clumps. Keep in mind that there are over 350 forms of IBS…they are unfortunately all grouped under one collective “umbrella” known as IBS…but each strain vastly differs. Anyway, for me – yeast is a toxin…it didin’t used to be, but it has been one for 5 years now…so that eliminates having cheese or chocolate (which is filled with yeast by the way, and it is also covered with Aspergillus mold during the fermentation process as the cocoa beans are left out to dry in high humidity conditions)…it also eliminates vinegar (fermented with yeast), cream of tartar (found in all Peppridge Farm cookies…that is extracted from fermented vinegar), citric acid (made from Aspergillus mold), apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, etc etc. I also can’t have any sorbitol or mannitol (not even in their natural form in fruits), fructose in any form, eggs, poultry (bird-egg syndrome), honey, nuts or nut butters (high afflatoxin and mycotoxin mold content), corn, malted barley flour (fermented/yeast), anatto food coloring, vanilla, black pepper, flouride (I can only drink Penta water from Tree of Life in California)…flouride makes me violently ill, limonene, cane sugar (another huge trigger), palm oil, betacarotene food coloring, carageneenan, xanathan gun, acacia gum, agar gum, locust bean gum, guar gum, or cellulose gum (all the gums used as additives here in the U.S. are indigestible fiber and they ferment in the colon). Beware of “natural flavors” in products too!…natural flavors can include bones and diseased animal by-products…the FDA approves anything with a flagrant disregard for what it can do a person’s health…in my opinion, the FDA is actually even worse than Monsanto…so be careful – read ALL ingredients before you buy). I am self-healing through trial and error…and many years of research. ALSO – for anyone like me with IBS (and intestinal damage), beware of prebiotics and probiotics – they are complete toxins for me!…chocolate and bananas in particular are huge prebiotics…and of course we all know that any form of cheese (with the exception of cottage cheese, ricotta cheese,or sour cream) do have probiotics that survive the journey through the GI tract! I am letting all of you know that probiotics can do much more harm than good…they introduce new bacteria into a compromised system that is already overloaded with bad bacteria – it’s a dangerous prospect and one that should be avoided at all costs. What has worked for me is: cinnamon bark extract (500 mg. capsules…BUT I do not ingest the capsule because it is a vegetable cellulose capsule…and cellulose is indigestible fiber…instead, I place the contents into a liquid – however, do not take cinnamon bark for more than 5 consecutive days because it accumulates in the liver), patchouli oil applied topically on the skin – it’s a miracle cure for internal parasites, harmful bacteria, and any form of internal fungi…research it and you will be amazed at the wide range of benefits it provides. I can still eat waffles…but only one brand which does NOT contain malted barley flour or yeast. I also can’t have brewed coffee because the mold content is too high…however, I can have the General Mills Cafe Vienna…it is sold in a small tin. I gave up sugar completely and am able to have small amounts of sour cream because it is not aged – therefore, it does have any probiotics. Bone broth destroyed me because it contains apple cider vinegar, so that idea is out. I avoid all insoluble fiber – period – because I can’t digest it. So far, what I mentioned is all that I am able to eat without becoming violently sick and starting the cycle of abdominal cramping etc. all over again. A word of advice about Lactaid milk…steer clear if you have any issues that mirror mine because Lactaid milk also uses Aspergillus Niger mold to make the lactose-free enzyme! Hopefully I have helped someone reading this.