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Poop problems - I need help!


HSmom

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Alright, I'm putting this out here...I really hope someone knows something to help me.

 

I poop too much. Four or five times a day. Usually loose enough to not hold its shape once it lands in the bowl. Acidic enough to be very uncomfortable on the skin of my tushy. Sometimes very urgent. When I am "good" and eat "Five a Day" of fruits and vegetables, it gets much worse. Salad? Are you kidding me? I can eat salad only if I planned on staying home anyway. Sometimes it's worse than others. Sometimes, I can just "feel" that I can eat a salad "safely" and other times I know it will set me off. Ocassionally, really "rich" food (like alfredo) will set me off, but not consistently.

 

I talked to the doctor. He suggested IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). I looked into it, but it really doesn't seem to fit. I NEVER get constipated. My problem is also not associated with anxiety or nervousness (ever).

 

Immodium does work to slow me down, but I don't think it's right to take it daily, so I only take it when I'm really bad (like I ate a salad).

 

I read that decreased stomach acid (i.e. high pH) can cause loose stools, so I cut out my acid reducer pill (ranitidine) and have found that I no longer have heartburn. That's good, but didn't help with the poop problem.

 

I've gone up to 2 bananas a day. That seemed to help for a few days, so yesterday I ate some sauteed mushrooms and seven spears of asparagus. That wasn't a good choice.

 

I went to the store and looked at all the natural remedies. I'm concerned that probiotics, etc will just make me poop more.

 

I love my home-dried plums (i.e. prunes), but don't dare eat them anymore. I like salads. I like asparagus and spinach (ack! too leafy). I like fruit! But I can hardly eat any anymore.

 

Any advice?

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Psyllium fiber, as in generic Metamucil, might help. Do drink plenty of water with it.

 

Drinking can chemically irritate the mucosa, which would make a high-fiber diet squirt right on through.

 

Have you tried a week of a BRAT diet, to rest your system, to see if it was better when you returned to your normal diet?

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Do you drink a lot of liquids, especially with meals?

 

Kefir can help with sluggish digestion but it takes a while to work.

 

Psyllium hulls like mentioned above, they attract water to themselves so they work for both too firm or too loose situations. Oatmeal also has bulking properties.

 

Vitamins with iron can de-loosify things but I think it wears off over time as your body adjusts.

 

 

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Alright, I'm putting this out here...I really hope someone knows something to help me.

I poop too much. Four or five times a day. Usually loose enough to not hold its shape once it lands in the bowl. Acidic enough to be very uncomfortable on the skin of my tushy. Sometimes very urgent. When I am "good" and eat "Five a Day" of fruits and vegetables, it gets much worse. Salad? Are you kidding me? I can eat salad only if I planned on staying home anyway. Sometimes it's worse than others. Sometimes, I can just "feel" that I can eat a salad "safely" and other times I know it will set me off. Ocassionally, really "rich" food (like alfredo) will set me off, but not consistently.

I talked to the doctor. He suggested IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). I looked into it, but it really doesn't seem to fit. I NEVER get constipated. My problem is also not associated with anxiety or nervousness (ever).

Immodium does work to slow me down, but I don't think it's right to take it daily, so I only take it when I'm really bad (like I ate a salad).

I read that decreased stomach acid (i.e. high pH) can cause loose stools, so I cut out my acid reducer pill (ranitidine) and have found that I no longer have heartburn. That's good, but didn't help with the poop problem.

I've gone up to 2 bananas a day. That seemed to help for a few days, so yesterday I ate some sauteed mushrooms and seven spears of asparagus. That wasn't a good choice.

I went to the store and looked at all the natural remedies. I'm concerned that probiotics, etc will just make me poop more.

I love my home-dried plums (i.e. prunes), but don't dare eat them anymore. I like salads. I like asparagus and spinach (ack! too leafy). I like fruit! But I can hardly eat any anymore.

 

Any advice?

Well, the Lord bless you. I think I can help, but first a few questions ....

 

1) How long has this been going on?

2) Have you ever had anything like this before?

3) Have you recently been on antibiotics or have a long history with them?

 

There's any number of things this might be, but if you don't mind providing info I'll try to help ... even if you want to go PM .. I'm assuming you'd rather not go through conventional medicine unless it's necessary - and sometimes it is, of course.

 

Regardless, the first thing I would do is get hold of a good probiotic formula. This is a good one and the one I take. IF there's a health store near you, I wouldn't wait, just make sure you get a high quality broad spectrum probiotic formula, even if it has to be refrigerated, etc..

 

I'm concerned that probiotics, etc will just make me poop more.

No, don't worry.

 

Probiotics can only help. Even healthy people benefit from probiotics. I take them now and again just for support, and always when there's any symptoms, even the slightest thing. Be sure to take them on an empty stomach.

 

For digestive health issues and information that could help you, and those interested in digestive health (hopefully all of us, since most disease originates in the bowel), an outstanding resource is Liz Lipski, PH.D., here. Her website is innovativehealing.com but it's down at this moment. There's lots of good information there.

 

~~~

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I agree with taking probiotics. They will always help, not hurt. I drink kefir, both milk and water, eat real sauerkraut, yogurt, etc. If I stop, it takes a while, but my system starts to get messed up. First usually comes constipation, and when that's cleared, it's just the opposite. I need probiotics (mostly in food form, but sometimes capsules) in order to make things stay normal.

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Could you be celiac or otherwise gluten intolerant? Just a thought. It's hard to take all the wheat, etc. out of your diet, but might be worth a try.

 

My son had had poop such as you describe his entire life. When we took gluten out of his diet, he started producing normal poop in three days.

 

His blood test for celiac was negative, BTW, but he definitely has a reproducible problem. He does a gluten trial every once in a while and regrets it.

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My husband had similar symptoms, and then we found out he was allergic to milk. It stopped when he took the milk completely out of his diet. Priobiotics also were helpful for him. I'd look into Ulcerative Colitis, as well as food allergies since I also have a friend with UC who can't eat fibrous foods or she has problems.

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FWIW, both of the above are possibilities, and there are at least a handful of other common ones. But without more history, there is no way to proceed with setting up an order of things to rule out, because it's just guessing. However, Gluten Intolerance certainly comes to mind, as does IBS or one of it's forms, as her doctor suggested.

 

But in almost any case, probiotics is the first thing to do, and by far the EASIEST. If probiotics don't relieve the symptoms, and more often than not they will, then you move on down the list using the history as a guide.

 

There is an elderly lady in my church, who is 1/4 Cherokee Indian and believes strongly in herbs and natural remedies, who had this same problem about 8 months ago. After doing everything she could think of with no success, she went to the doctors and ran through 4 or 5 different Rx medications. All these months she was miserable and felt progressively worse. When she didn't improve, the doctors finally hospitalized her, put her on IV medications and ran through an extensive series of tests. Still, they had no concrete etiology, so they put her on probiotics. Within 5 days, her symptoms were gone.

 

All these months of being this sick really zapped her good, and it didn't have to be. All she need was probiotics. Worse, she had been on an intense antibiotic therapy, which should have made the probiotic solution a no-brainer from the get-go. Instead, she suffered needlessly. She's been symptom-free for about a month now and isn't quite 100% back, because she was so sick so long, but she's almost there.

 

~~~

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Alright. Good thoughts all around. I appreciate having "fresh eyes" look at the problem.

 

I thought that "Psyllium fiber, as in generic Metamucil" would make me go more. Can anyone refute that? I suppose I could try it and then take an Immodium if needed.

 

As for "resetting" my system with the brat diet. No go. This is CHRONIC. Years probably. I do get better at times, like when I don't eat any vegetables and do eat two bananas, but once I resume "trigger" foods, it comes back.

 

I drink plenty of water and some decaf iced tea (sweetened with stevia).

 

I don't want to take iron to slow things up. Among other things, it's an oxidant.

 

All the Ulcerative Colitis stuff mentioned blood in the stool. I don't have that.

 

1) How long has this been going on? Years

2) Have you ever had anything like this before? Yes, for years.

3) Have you recently been on antibiotics or have a long history with them? I take maybe one round of antibiotics every 3 or 4 years (so rarely). I think the last time was ......... a long time ago. More than a year or two.

 

Could you be celiac or otherwise gluten intolerant? Or milk allergic? Maybe. I was skin-tested by an allergist for both wheat and milk. Both were okay. However, I realize that celiac may not show up that way. It's worth exploring. I thought about milk, but noticed no increase or decrease when I adjusted dairy products. As a matter of fact, I ate a BUNCH of cheddar cheese last night, hoping to slow things down, and it seemed to work. Only went twice (or maybe three times) today, but not loose and not urgent. The main trigger seems to be vegetables (fiber?)

 

Okay, I have a plan now:

 

1. Start with probiotics - how long should I allow before I expect to see a change?

 

2. Failing that, cut milk.

 

3. Failing that, cut wheat.

 

How's that sound?

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If you drink a lot of liquids, more than the recommended 8 glasses a day, I'd try cutting back on that too, especially with meals. Too much liquid can dilute the digestive acids and cause incomplete digestion, which pretty much means anything that's not digested just flows right on through.

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As for the probiotics, when my ds was really young, he had diarrhea for over a month straight. I started giving him powdered probiotic in his bottle and within 36 hours, his diarrhea was gone. In my experience, it works pretty quickly.

 

I think you have a good plan. Start with probiotics, if it doesn't work within a week or so, cut milk then wheat.

 

Good luck. I hope you can figure it out soon.

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Have you considered gall bladder problems? Reading your post tonight, brought back thoughts of ALL of the problems I had. :o

 

What about aches under your shoulder blades, a tightness across your lower back. Do you have upset stomach along with 'instant urges' to eliminate. Fats triggered my problems. Rich foods along with an over acidic system.

 

Look into acid/alkaline balance. Or try a macrobiotic style [far eastern ] of eating with increased alkaline balance. It can postpone gall problems, but probably not eliminate them.

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CoM mentioned Crohn's disease ~ this might well be worth taking a close look at. And take a close look NOW ~ not when you have messed around and allowed the inflammation to get out of hand and a bowel has become blocked and some hot head surgeon rushes in to fix it. :o Crohn's is an autimmune disorder, it cn be treated but not cured and surgery can NEVER correct the problem, only offer a very temporary stop-gap solution and will cause WORSE problems down the road.

 

Go see a gastroenterologist, they will start off probably wanting a colonoscopy, a small bowel follow through, a camera endoscopy and an expensive panel of bloodwork. A good history, though, with all symptoms and signs and such noted meticulously, might eliminate a bunch of that and help them narrow down the possible place(s) of interest. Most Crohn's appears in the last bit of small intestine where it joins the ileocecal valve and is difficult to get to, but they can diagnose it.

 

But a word of caution: Don't go read all the worse case scenarios for Crohn's and freak out!!! It can range from the truly horrific to extremely mild, so don't imagine a devastating sucky future based on internet accounts, ok?? Talk to a doctor!!!! A gastro-doctor!!!!!!!!! The meds to control flare-ups an be expensive, but most of the manufacturer's of the drugs have programs to help out folks without insurance who fall within certain income guide lines.

 

Take care of yourself! (((hugs)))

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You can use Metamucil for regularity, both to keep things from going through too slowly and to keep them from going through too fast.

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Couple more things to look at that might be making you have this problem.

 

1. Artifical sweetners

2. Medications (there are many that cause real problems)

3. Margarine instead of butter

4. IBS can give you the runs if you are under a lot of stress, but they usually have cramps too.

5. Oils you cook with.

6. Gall Bladder

 

I have the same issues here, but they are from the medication I take and it has caused me problems in the past with work. I've been forced to cut back to a lower dose and cut off certian foods to compensate for the lack of meds. But at least I can be out and not be running. I've found that any of those "new oils" make me have real problems as does margarine and I thought I'd try those yummy splenda chocolates only to find myself spending the next day in the bathroom. If this is really bothering you which I would think it does in more ways than one. I'd suggest you talk to your doctor and see what they can do. I started probiotics this last year and it has been a life saver. Not only has it helped with the stool issues, it is wonderful for your tummy, and many other things too. I take one capsile every day and it has helped me a lot. Also if it isn't an allergy you might look at a pesticide. Maybe the veggies are sprayed with something you can't handle. Just a thought.

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I have heard that probiotics are wonderful also. In order to start taking them what type and amount should one look for and what price range do they average, say for a month's supply, please?

 

 

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vine, You can buy them at a health food store or you can make your own. Yogurt, kefir, real sauerkraut, kimchee...all contain probiotics. I make my own water (and sometimes milk) kefir, which contains huge amounts of probiotics. You can also buy milk kefir (both cow and goat) in the store. Even my Safeway and King Soopers carry kefir. (Although it costs way more from them than it does from my health food store)...about $2.79-$5.00 per quart, depending on location.

 

The only probiotics I bought in a bottle were from Melalueca. Each capsule was supposed to be worth 10 cups of yogurt. They were the ones that I gave to my young son to help his issues. I think it cost about $10 a bottle, but I'm not positive.

 

A lot of national yogurt brands are specifically targeting digestion and tummy issues, such as Activia. It may be cheaper and easier to get.

 

Hth!!

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HSMom, I'm sorry I just saw this now. As some of you know I have not been well and haven't been on much. I have some very severe health issues but one of them is exactly word for word, symptom for symptom like yours. Because of having Lyme Disease many many years ago I was on massive doses of antibiotics. I have also had my gall bladder removed, have the DNA marker for celiac disease and tested high positive for an allergy to gluten and gliadin, a component of gluten.

 

All of these suggestions above are good ones, (I explored all of them) and ones you should certainly look into. As most of you know my background is in wholistic healing but nothing I did over the years effectively helped this particular problem. I hav gone the whole rout, even the medical one. I certainly believe that you can find out a lot from the test they take but when all else fails or even before all else fails, you might consider looking into the SCD, or Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

 

The main web site for it is http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/index.htm

 

That site gives a lot of information about how it came about and outlines the program which is supposed to be appropriate for all GI diseases.

 

However, I find this site really helpful as well http://pecanbread.com/p/index.html

 

The second site is geared towards children with Autism for which the diet has been very helpful and for children with GI problems exactly like yours and mine. I started it three weeks ago using the guidelines for the very sparce intro diet (2 to 5 days ONLY), and then following the stages.I am absolutely amazed at the results......I am not by any means well, that may not happen without a miracle from God (and yes, I do believe that's possible), but having these particular symptoms relieved is a blessing. I will admit that I had to tweak the intro diet because of allergies but once I did that it was only three days before the diarrhea stopped. It is not a diet for the faint of heart as it removes ALL grain and most dairy except for a variety of hard cheese and home made 24 hour cultured yogurt, and all sweeteners (including stevia) except for honey. I did not have a problem with cutting out gluten grains as I have been off that for years but it was more difficult to give up the non gluten grains. I am surprised that I do not miss them now. I do not even crave them though I did the first week or so.

 

A warning, if you do plan to try this diet please read through the whole web site so you understand the reasoning behind it thoroughly, you will have to embrace it totally or it will do you no good. Even tiny infringements cause a return of the symptoms. Ask me how I know that???? :o I MIGHT try it again when I've been on it a year....

 

HS, whether you try this or find another means to help, I want you to know that I understand exactly what you are going through and am sending you hugs and will keep you in my thoughts and prayers, hoping you will find help. It is truly a life altering problem. Feel free to pm me if you want but I only check in with Mrs. S every few days so it might take me a while to get back to you.

 

:bighug2:

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Thanks Mother. It's good to know I'm not the only one. I've done so much research and everything I find is for folks who are constipated or have diarrhea for just a day or two.

 

All of the above is still pending. I'll keep y'all posted.

 

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