# Post-Infectious IBS



## kletendre826

Hello all, I am fairly new the forums. I had two stomach viruses back in April and have not returned to normal functioning since. My GI labeled it PI-IBS and thought it would get better on its own within the next couple months (although that may be wishful thinking). I've tried to locate other people and threads specifically with IBS-PI but haven't found much. Is there a certain forum that tends to have more people with my situation?


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## katiebabe

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## refuse to live this way

I've been suffering with PI-IBS for more then a year now and had contracted c-diff back in 2007 due to an antibiotic although I recovered after a week in the hospital. This time around I've had 3 stays in the hospital and I can't tell you how many ER visits. I have just recently been getting better with a maintenance antibiotic and probiotics as well as anti-nausea and anti-spasmodic medication so I cn actually eat without my stomach bothering me. I am on the 2nd antibiotic dose in as many months and they have a tendancy to make me feel ill as well, but once I get through them I feel better for about 3-4 weeks. I don't feel nearly as bad as I did a year ago, or even 3 months ago for that matter. I feel the probiotics have done the most for me and are hopefully getting my gut flora back to where it should be. If I cn just keep the infection from returning I would be back to at least 90% which is saying a lot. Hopefully you also will get better in time. In the meantime, it is a matter of trial and error to see what will work for you. I would forget about the GI doctors. They don't seem to want to do anything other then run a bunch of routine tests and send you on your way, sick or not. With the money I've spent on them I could have bought a new car. Hang in there and read everything you can on this sight for IBS. You didn't say if you have IBS-D or C, but I'm guessing it's diarrhea. The symptoms of IBS-D are pretty much the same as PI-IBS-D, so you should get plenty of advice on the subject. Best of luck to you.


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## Dontgoonholiday

Hi refuse to live this way,I'm 2 yrs in and feel terrible everyday. Could u comment on what antibiotics and probiotics u use please? Thanks


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## Brianmay1975

I've been having IBS-PI for 4 years now. It didn't get cured, but it does get better. At times, I enter into remission and I can enjoy life fairly normally. However, flares are a common occurence and I'm also more vulnerable to other instances of gastroenteritis/stomach bugs. When I get one of this, it aggravates my symptoms again. I've got one last month, when I was into remission, and it started it all over again. I take antispasmodics daily (now it's mebeverine, but in the past I've also taken trimebutine maleate) as a first-line treatment. The second-line treatment is drotaverine, another antispasmodic very useful for relief of cramps (my main symptom is abdominal pain, but also D). I also take various meds to relieve the other symptoms.If you want to talk about it, PM me.


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## Little Hedgehog

Well, I've heard numerous times that the prognosis for PI-IBS is that it usually resolves or at least decreases over time. For some lucky people it only lasts for a few months, for others it lasts for a few years.But either way, it's very common for PI-IBS to resolve over time or at least to fade.


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## kletendre826

Little Hedgehog said:


> Well, I've heard numerous times that the prognosis for PI-IBS is that it usually resolves or at least decreases over time. For some lucky people it only lasts for a few months, for others it lasts for a few years.But either way, it's very common for PI-IBS to resolve over time or at least to fade.


Hi, I've had post infectious ibs for about 2 months. For the first month and 1/2 or so it was absolutely awful. It has gradually gotten much better already. I see another doctor today for a second opinion. But I feel fairly close to 100 percent. I know it probably doesn't seem like a long time to have post infectious ibs, but progress has been slow. Improvements are like every 2 weeks. I am hoping that is all I have and I can move on in a few weeks.


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## kletendre826

Update: My second opinion ran a couple more blood tests that I should get at the end of the week. He agreed that all of my symptoms sounded like PI-IBS. He said it could heal up in 3 months, 6 months, a year, or over a year. I am praying that I will be on the shorter end of that spectrum. Although this past week I feel like I took a step back with two minor flare ups. Nothing like I had 2-3 weeks ago but still not the same positive direction of last week. Sadly, I worry that this may be an often occurrence for the next few months at least.


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## refuse to live this way

Responding to your request of what I have taken to feel better. The antibiotic is Cipro, it makes me nauseated and sometimes gives me diarrhea, but if I can make it through the regimen I usually feel better for a few weeks. What has helped the most is the probiotic Florastor. My doctor's nurse recommended it and gave me samples. I am having a hard time finding it in the drugstores so I am going to order it on-line when I need more. I also have added Ultra Flora that I got at Walgreens. It has 8 strains and 15 billion, I figured it couldn't hurt. I went to see a Homeopathic Doc yesterday and he gave me some enzymes called Digest-All. I took them before dinner last night but did get up this morning feeling bad and 3 bouts of semi-diarrhea bms. The last time I tried enzymes (when my GI was playing guinea pig with me) they made me feel like I had a brick in my stomach and these are doing the same thing. I only have 4 samples, so I think I'll finish them and see how I feel. They are supposed to help with the bloating and gas, we'll see.Do try the probiotics, they were like miracle workers in a short time after starting. Actually felt back to normal for the first time in a year and a half. Hope they help you as well. Here's wishing you the best.


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## kletendre826

refuse to live this way said:


> Responding to your request of what I have taken to feel better. The antibiotic is Cipro, it makes me nauseated and sometimes gives me diarrhea, but if I can make it through the regimen I usually feel better for a few weeks. What has helped the most is the probiotic Florastor. My doctor's nurse recommended it and gave me samples. I am having a hard time finding it in the drugstores so I am going to order it on-line when I need more. I also have added Ultra Flora that I got at Walgreens. It has 8 strains and 15 billion, I figured it couldn't hurt. I went to see a Homeopathic Doc yesterday and he gave me some enzymes called Digest-All. I took them before dinner last night but did get up this morning feeling bad and 3 bouts of semi-diarrhea bms. The last time I tried enzymes (when my GI was playing guinea pig with me) they made me feel like I had a brick in my stomach and these are doing the same thing. I only have 4 samples, so I think I'll finish them and see how I feel. They are supposed to help with the bloating and gas, we'll see.Do try the probiotics, they were like miracle workers in a short time after starting. Actually felt back to normal for the first time in a year and a half. Hope they help you as well. Here's wishing you the best.


I have been taking digestive advantage intensive bowel support for about a month and a half. I also have walgreen's version of align though I haven't tried that yet. Right now I am only taking one digestive advantage. Not sure if I should try the walgreen probiotic or just keep doing what I am doing. Still get abdominal pain and once in awhile I'll have a bad day if I had a little bit of something that irritates me. Part of me wants to take both probiotic daily and see what happens but I haven't talked to my doctor.


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## refuse to live this way

The probiotics shouldn't hurt a thing, I would go ahead and try whatever you have. I'm presently taking 4 different kinds with different strains and it seems to be doing me a whole lot of good. Feel normal most days, just a bad morning on occasion which I'll take and cherish the good ones. I hope I'm on my way back to full recovery. Best of luck to you for a speedy recovery.


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## jmc09

Brianmay1975 said:


> I've been having IBS-PI for 4 years now. It didn't get cured, but it does get better. At times, I enter into remission and I can enjoy life fairly normally. However, flares are a common occurence and I'm also more vulnerable to other instances of gastroenteritis/stomach bugs. When I get one of this, it aggravates my symptoms again. I've got one last month, when I was into remission, and it started it all over again. I take antispasmodics daily (now it's mebeverine, but in the past I've also taken trimebutine maleate) as a first-line treatment. The second-line treatment is drotaverine, another antispasmodic very useful for relief of cramps (my main symptom is abdominal pain, but also D). I also take various meds to relieve the other symptoms.If you want to talk about it, PM me.


Hi Brian.How did you find Trimebutin treated you,were they helpful?Ive read about that drug because its available all across Europe but not available here in the UK.


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## kletendre826

refuse to live this way said:


> The probiotics shouldn't hurt a thing, I would go ahead and try whatever you have. I'm presently taking 4 different kinds with different strains and it seems to be doing me a whole lot of good. Feel normal most days, just a bad morning on occasion which I'll take and cherish the good ones. I hope I'm on my way back to full recovery. Best of luck to you for a speedy recovery.


Thank you Refuse, to you as well. How long have you had PI IBS for? What are you on currently other than the 4 probiotics?


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## kletendre826

Still been hard to find people on here with similar symptoms as us. I wonder if a lot of people who have PI IBS has left the forum after it has healed or got much better. My doctor told me it usually heals in a matter of months or years. He was from one of the better GI departments in the country. He said it could be 3 months, 6 months, a year, or certainly over a year. It is clear everyone is different and with different circumstances. I have had pi ibs after most likely a viral infection almost 3 months ago. My symptoms are significantly better than they were even after a month or two. It sounds like mine isn't as serious as a lot of people on here but it still is possible it may linger for awhile more. My biggest symptoms are abdominal pain which has gotten significantly better but very gradually, and diarrhea. My abdominal discomfort is at a point now where it is very dull and there are times in the day I can't even feel it. My diarrhea is more so just loose or very soft stools. I have a BM every morning within an hour at most then usually have another a couple hours or later. Today I had three which isn't that uncommon. When I was normal is was just one though. I also can be gassy and have some stomach gurgling after I eat at times. I take digestive advantage and walgreens version of align. I also take a calcium supplement. I hope more people will respond to me as well as tell their story since we don't have our own forum on the site.


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## refuse to live this way

I had my first bout in 2007 and then after antibiotic treatment last April it all started all over again. I was in the hospital 3 times last year. Besides the probiotics (Florastor, and Ultimate Flora) I'm back on a low dose antibiotic to try and keep the infection at bay. I will take these (10 days worth) for the next 4 months to see if it will finally rid me of the infection. I've also had a sinus infection at the same time which we are hoping will also be cured by the low dose antibiotic. I'll let you guys know if it helps. I also take an anti-spasmodic when my stomach starts rumbing and rolling, and Calcium D3 which helps diarrhea as well as your bones. Hope this helps. Best of luck to you both.


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## kletendre826

refuse to live this way said:


> I had my first bout in 2007 and then after antibiotic treatment last April it all started all over again. I was in the hospital 3 times last year. Besides the probiotics (Florastor, and Ultimate Flora) I'm back on a low dose antibiotic to try and keep the infection at bay. I will take these (10 days worth) for the next 4 months to see if it will finally rid me of the infection. I've also had a sinus infection at the same time which we are hoping will also be cured by the low dose antibiotic. I'll let you guys know if it helps. I also take an anti-spasmodic when my stomach starts rumbing and rolling, and Calcium D3 which helps diarrhea as well as your bones. Hope this helps. Best of luck to you both.


What started your IBS symptoms back in 2007? Did you get CDiff or anything like that this year to bring it all back? Were you pretty much healed before then?


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## refuse to live this way

An antibiotic (clendamycin) gave me c-diff in 2007. 5 days in the hospital for treatment and I was back to 100% in about a week. Another antibiotic (Levaquin) did it to me this last time. 3 different stays in the hospital in May, Aug, and Sep and I'm still fighting it. I feel much better today then I was back then. I felt like I was going to die, or wished I had, it was that bad. I'm still fighting bad gas, bloating (I look like I'm pregnant) and nausea on occasion and have been having an attach about once a week, but nothing like it was. I'm hoping this maintenance antibiotic will get rid of it once and for all. The probiotics have helped me tremendously. Funny how none of the doctors even recommended it


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## kletendre826

refuse to live this way said:


> An antibiotic (clendamycin) gave me c-diff in 2007. 5 days in the hospital for treatment and I was back to 100% in about a week. Another antibiotic (Levaquin) did it to me this last time. 3 different stays in the hospital in May, Aug, and Sep and I'm still fighting it. I feel much better today then I was back then. I felt like I was going to die, or wished I had, it was that bad. I'm still fighting bad gas, bloating (I look like I'm pregnant) and nausea on occasion and have been having an attach about once a week, but nothing like it was. I'm hoping this maintenance antibiotic will get rid of it once and for all. The probiotics have helped me tremendously. Funny how none of the doctors even recommended it


Interesting, I am glad you are feeling better though. I had a little bit of a flare up yesterday after doing fairly well for almost 2 weeks. Boy is this depressing. Went to the bathroom 4 times, when I am usually two times, sometimes one lately. I also felt warm and tired for the first time in awhile because of the pain. I am starting to think I need to see a therapist.


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## katiebabe

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## kletendre826

Never hear too much from the pi ibs crowd. Is there anyone who has recovered or is doing tremendously better than they were before? If not does anyone know of someone who is doing well or much better? I know this site probably accumulates mostly people who get it bad but I am disappointed I never really hear from people doing well. I admit on good days I don't usually visit the site. I have had pi ibs for over 4 months. It feels like it will never end sometimes but I still can't believe that I will most likely have this for a year, 2 years, or more. Disappointed.


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## thechemist

kletendre826 said:


> Never hear too much from the pi ibs crowd. Is there anyone who has recovered or is doing tremendously better than they were before? If not does anyone know of someone who is doing well or much better? I know this site probably accumulates mostly people who get it bad but I am disappointed I never really hear from people doing well. I admit on good days I don't usually visit the site. I have had pi ibs for over 4 months. It feels like it will never end sometimes but I still can't believe that I will most likely have this for a year, 2 years, or more. Disappointed.


I made an account just to answer. I had a terrible stomach virus back in the beginning of March. Stomach pain, nausea and gas (particularly bad in the morning but persisting all day) and of course, nice loose stools. I barely ate anything for about a week. Went and saw two specialists, one suggested PI-IBS or gastroparesis and one thought it was an ulcer. Since an ulcer can be fixed with pills, I went with ulcer and took a PPI for about two months. It did little to nothing as these attacks kept hitting me... I would get maybe a week in between attacks of feeling pretty good before I was bedridden for another week. I also began taking VSL #3 while on the PPI which only made me feel marginally better. Now in disbelief about the ulcer, I gathered myself another few doctors (and several thousand dollars worth of bills) but everyone kept throwing me IBS and functional dyspepsia. We're about 3 months in now, and the time between the attacks / severity of the attacks was diminishing. Not a lot, but enough to notice. My attacks had shrunk down from a 1 week affair into a 4 or 5 day event. I was stressing out like crazy over what was wrong with me and eating made me anxious. A Dr. from UCLA put me on some tricyclic antidepressants but they just made me feel jittery and I stopped them, not like they helped the nausea or bloating anyway which were my MAIN symptoms.sorry about my scatterbrain recollection up to this point. Okay, so we're in July. At this point I had read every scholarly study on IBS I could get my hands on (did I mention I'm a Chemist and have access to a database of scholarly journals?) and considered myself a google certified PhD (at quite a cost... these boards can be REALLY REALLY SCARY AND DEPRESSING!!! of course what else do you have to do when you're sick? hah...) and I decided &*#% all this nonsense, lets see how I feel taking NOTHING. and you know what? I started to feel better FASTER. I had a craving for pizza for the first time in... forever... and you know what? I went and got some. IT WAS DELICIOUS. I was cautious about how much I ate, but I didn't suffer from it. I was amazed. Now at just over 6 months (since this started), I feel like I can honestly say I am at least 80% back to how it was before I got sick. I'm still cautious with portion size but Im trying to step it up (I lost 20 lbs from all this). I think I still get attacks, but now they only last for a few hours, maybe a day TOPS and at the worst, they just make me feel _mildly nauseous_ with some bloating. Oh, and of course, still loose stool, every day in the morning with the urge... thought the urge is not as strong as before and some days are more solid than others... bordering on normalcy. I must say that while I improved slowly during the first 4 months, I really started to feel better during these last two months. I am eating pretty normally and enjoying a beer on occasion. I'm still waiting on test results (*no doctor ever suggested a parasite test so I INSISTED for my own piece of mind... though if I did have one its gotta be dead by now) but I'm inclined now to believe that I have been suffering from a transient form of post-viral IBS.Again, sorry about my hurried recollection here... it was all just such an unpleasant blur and I'm in a hurry to type this but MORE PI IBS PEOPLE NEED TO COME OUT OF THE WOODWORK TO LET OTHERS KNOW THAT THEY'RE GOING TO BE OKAY. Most people get better sooner. I've only realized in getting better how big a roll anxiety was playing. Its not something that's really noticeable but it DOES MAKE YOU FEEL WORSE. Thats probably why I felt better faster as I got better... just knowing for sure that you won't be miserable for the rest of your life is enough to make anyone feel 10x better.So, I guess all I'm really trying to say is: GIVE IT SOME TIME. YOU WILL BE WELL AGAIN. BE GOOD TO YOURSELF, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY AND DON'T FORCE ANYTHING. FOCUS ON BEING WELL RATHER THAN ON BEING SICK.IT DOESN'T LAST FOREVER.However, in the throws of my illness, I found ginger tea (especially with a chunk of fresh ginger in the bottom of the cup) particularly helpful for nausea and bad appetite and I found that avoiding sugar always led to me feeling better. I found that in the end, no food was particularly a "trigger" food even though I was skeptical of everything. Rediscovering the enjoyment of food helped me a lot in terms of my anxiety over eating. If you get a craving, by all means, you go get it. Just be careful about over-eating! Its a sure loser every time.I hope you find some of my mumbo-jumbo helpful. I'm hoping my loose stools go away this month. I probably post a "success" story thread when I get there / have more time to post.remember, you're so much better now than you were three months ago!best,-J


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## Goldfinch

Glad to share my story, which is a work in progress. First of all, to give a little background, I am 64 years old, and have not had intestinal issues of any significance until recently. I do, however, have another condition called interstitial cystitis which has been under control now with the help of one drug for three years. IC remission is typically dependent upon a strict diet, which has few similarities to the fodmap diet.The first week of this past August I developed a severe stomach flu. It came with fever, diarrhea, the usual suspects. After two or three weeks I was still feeling rocky, but better. However I still had loose stools or diarrhea at least once or twice a day. Tests ruled out eColi, parasites, continuing infection, etc. I started doing a lot of research, and came up with a diagnosis of PI IBS-D. My doctor agreed. About a week ago I went on a strict fodmap diet; in addition I went off all dairy. And I began taking a probiotic, just because spending the absurd amount of money on a month supply made me feel like I was sacrificing....well, something. I've been eating small meals and chewing my food until it loses all taste.Within four days my stool became a little more formed, and I was going to the toilet no more than twice a day. After a week on this diet this morning I had my first experience of constipation, which has never been a problem before. At least for me, fodmaps seems to have a distinct effect. Clearly I'm going to need to pay attention to what I am eating and get my system stabilized before I start adding one new food at a time. Like all of you on this thread I am hopeful that slowly my gut will repair itself. It is obvious that recovery time is different for everyone, and I suggest that any doctor who claims PI IBS will go away in 3 months or 6 months really doesn't know that. Meanwhile I am very hopeful, since the diet seems to make such a dramatic change.I certainly agree with several posters above that it would be very encouraging to hear from sufferers of PI IBS who have improved. I know all too well that once you start feeling good, going back to a support group board isn't always at the top of your list and that is totally understandable. Best wishes to all here!


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## kletendre826

thechemist said:


> I made an account just to answer. I had a terrible stomach virus back in the beginning of March. Stomach pain, nausea and gas (particularly bad in the morning but persisting all day) and of course, nice loose stools. I barely ate anything for about a week. Went and saw two specialists, one suggested PI-IBS or gastroparesis and one thought it was an ulcer. Since an ulcer can be fixed with pills, I went with ulcer and took a PPI for about two months. It did little to nothing as these attacks kept hitting me... I would get maybe a week in between attacks of feeling pretty good before I was bedridden for another week. I also began taking VSL #3 while on the PPI which only made me feel marginally better. Now in disbelief about the ulcer, I gathered myself another few doctors (and several thousand dollars worth of bills) but everyone kept throwing me IBS and functional dyspepsia. We're about 3 months in now, and the time between the attacks / severity of the attacks was diminishing. Not a lot, but enough to notice. My attacks had shrunk down from a 1 week affair into a 4 or 5 day event. I was stressing out like crazy over what was wrong with me and eating made me anxious. A Dr. from UCLA put me on some tricyclic antidepressants but they just made me feel jittery and I stopped them, not like they helped the nausea or bloating anyway which were my MAIN symptoms.sorry about my scatterbrain recollection up to this point. Okay, so we're in July. At this point I had read every scholarly study on IBS I could get my hands on (did I mention I'm a Chemist and have access to a database of scholarly journals?) and considered myself a google certified PhD (at quite a cost... these boards can be REALLY REALLY SCARY AND DEPRESSING!!! of course what else do you have to do when you're sick? hah...) and I decided &*#% all this nonsense, lets see how I feel taking NOTHING. and you know what? I started to feel better FASTER. I had a craving for pizza for the first time in... forever... and you know what? I went and got some. IT WAS DELICIOUS. I was cautious about how much I ate, but I didn't suffer from it. I was amazed. Now at just over 6 months (since this started), I feel like I can honestly say I am at least 80% back to how it was before I got sick. I'm still cautious with portion size but Im trying to step it up (I lost 20 lbs from all this). I think I still get attacks, but now they only last for a few hours, maybe a day TOPS and at the worst, they just make me feel _mildly nauseous_ with some bloating. Oh, and of course, still loose stool, every day in the morning with the urge... thought the urge is not as strong as before and some days are more solid than others... bordering on normalcy. I must say that while I improved slowly during the first 4 months, I really started to feel better during these last two months. I am eating pretty normally and enjoying a beer on occasion. I'm still waiting on test results (*no doctor ever suggested a parasite test so I INSISTED for my own piece of mind... though if I did have one its gotta be dead by now) but I'm inclined now to believe that I have been suffering from a transient form of post-viral IBS.Again, sorry about my hurried recollection here... it was all just such an unpleasant blur and I'm in a hurry to type this but MORE PI IBS PEOPLE NEED TO COME OUT OF THE WOODWORK TO LET OTHERS KNOW THAT THEY'RE GOING TO BE OKAY. Most people get better sooner. I've only realized in getting better how big a roll anxiety was playing. Its not something that's really noticeable but it DOES MAKE YOU FEEL WORSE. Thats probably why I felt better faster as I got better... just knowing for sure that you won't be miserable for the rest of your life is enough to make anyone feel 10x better.So, I guess all I'm really trying to say is: GIVE IT SOME TIME. YOU WILL BE WELL AGAIN. BE GOOD TO YOURSELF, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY AND DON'T FORCE ANYTHING. FOCUS ON BEING WELL RATHER THAN ON BEING SICK.IT DOESN'T LAST FOREVER.However, in the throws of my illness, I found ginger tea (especially with a chunk of fresh ginger in the bottom of the cup) particularly helpful for nausea and bad appetite and I found that avoiding sugar always led to me feeling better. I found that in the end, no food was particularly a "trigger" food even though I was skeptical of everything. Rediscovering the enjoyment of food helped me a lot in terms of my anxiety over eating. If you get a craving, by all means, you go get it. Just be careful about over-eating! Its a sure loser every time.I hope you find some of my mumbo-jumbo helpful. I'm hoping my loose stools go away this month. I probably post a "success" story thread when I get there / have more time to post.remember, you're so much better now than you were three months ago!best,-J


Thank you for the post. I appreciate you even made an account to post back to me. It is very nice of you. I am 5 months into pi-ibs now. It has really sucked by like you said I am feeling so much better than I did three months ago. My doctor set me up for an appointment in a month and half to see if I am better. If not I think he is going to order a colonoscopy, ct scan, etc. He put me on 20 mg of amitryptline as well. It has helped for the most part but I think my body is adapting and it becomes less effective over time. It was absolutely great at first. Now it helps my bowel movements be more normal but somedays I don't have a bm or today I had 3. They were normal thankfully, and most days I don't have any abdominal pain. I hope we can keep in touch as we both recover.


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## kletendre826

Goldfinch said:


> Glad to share my story, which is a work in progress. First of all, to give a little background, I am 64 years old, and have not had intestinal issues of any significance until recently. I do, however, have another condition called interstitial cystitis which has been under control now with the help of one drug for three years. IC remission is typically dependent upon a strict diet, which has few similarities to the fodmap diet.The first week of this past August I developed a severe stomach flu. It came with fever, diarrhea, the usual suspects. After two or three weeks I was still feeling rocky, but better. However I still had loose stools or diarrhea at least once or twice a day. Tests ruled out eColi, parasites, continuing infection, etc. I started doing a lot of research, and came up with a diagnosis of PI IBS-D. My doctor agreed. About a week ago I went on a strict fodmap diet; in addition I went off all dairy. And I began taking a probiotic, just because spending the absurd amount of money on a month supply made me feel like I was sacrificing....well, something. I've been eating small meals and chewing my food until it loses all taste.Within four days my stool became a little more formed, and I was going to the toilet no more than twice a day. After a week on this diet this morning I had my first experience of constipation, which has never been a problem before. At least for me, fodmaps seems to have a distinct effect. Clearly I'm going to need to pay attention to what I am eating and get my system stabilized before I start adding one new food at a time. Like all of you on this thread I am hopeful that slowly my gut will repair itself. It is obvious that recovery time is different for everyone, and I suggest that any doctor who claims PI IBS will go away in 3 months or 6 months really doesn't know that. Meanwhile I am very hopeful, since the diet seems to make such a dramatic change.I certainly agree with several posters above that it would be very encouraging to hear from sufferers of PI IBS who have improved. I know all too well that once you start feeling good, going back to a support group board isn't always at the top of your list and that is totally understandable. Best wishes to all here!


Thank you for the reply. I am 26 with no intestinal issues ever before this pi ibs d. I am 5 months in now and hoping that each month it gets better. My doc gave me amitryplitine 20 mg once a day. It has been helpful but hasn't made it pefect either. Thanks for reply, keep in touch.


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## thechemist

kletendre826 said:


> Thank you for the reply. I am 26 with no intestinal issues ever before this pi ibs d. I am 5 months in now and hoping that each month it gets better. My doc gave me amitryplitine 20 mg once a day. It has been helpful but hasn't made it pefect either. Thanks for reply, keep in touch.


oh man, I'm 25, I know where you're coming from! I didn't even realize PI IBS existed until I got it myself, what a miserable diagnosis. Like a several month long stomach flu... but hey, its not Chrons! just had a follow up with my doctor who confirmed his diagnosis (after yet another round of blood/stool testing) and agreed that I had certainly made progress and that he *expects* a full recovery! I was so excited that I ate way too much (and Mexican pizza maybe wasn't wise) and ended up feeling crappy this morning. Yep, its certainly a healing *process*feel better everyone!


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## Suzy876

Hi All, I'm posting as a fellow PI-IBSer! This weekend will mark my one year anniversary with IBS and I'm definitely feeling better than I was then! I've posted my story on other forums, but the short of it is: I got a bad case of food poisoning one night last October (cause is unknown). The next morning I felt better, but I still had lingering pains in my stomach. After a week of dealing with it I went to the doctor who told me to stay on the BRAT diet and come back in a week if it didn't go away. Well, it didn't. I went back, got stool samples done, was poked and prodded and the regular doctor was at a loss. She recommended I try CIPRO and if it didn't work to go to a gastro. One round of CIPRO and a ton of probiotics later I was at the gastroenterologist who diagnosed me with PI-IBS. I think it's important to mention that I suffer mostly from IBS-C nowadays. Over the last year I've had many ups and downs. I'll have bad days where my stomach will feel gassy and bloated and where I'll have a case of diarrhea that will make me feel ill for a day or two. However, for the most part, I feel ok. I'd say most days I'm at a 95% recovery and I eat things like sausage, egg and cheese for breakfast (this is saying a lot since all I could eat the first few months was gatorade and pasta). Some things that have helped me: FLORASTOR: I can't sing the praises of this yeast-based probiotic enough and I second all the comments on here saying how much it helped them. I take one in the morning (when I wake up) and then one in the evening (before dinner). DIGESTIVE ADVANTAGE: I take this as another supplement to the Florastor. I take it right before going to bed since taking it in the morning would leave me gassy. PEPPERMINT TEA: This is a miracle liquid. It would help the bloating and ease digestion. If I have nausea, I take some of this and it helps to relieve it. ALTOIDS: I keep this in my purse at all times. It may just be a placebo effect, but the same way peppermint helps, this helps when I'm on the go. FLAT COKE: I know this is a big no no for a lot of people on these forums, but sometimes having some coke will allow me to burp and release some of the pressure on my bowels.


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## kletendre826

Hi All,I just wanted to check in with my fellow pi ibsers. I have reached sixth months since the infection and am a lot better than I was 3 months ago. I continue to pray for a quick recovery. I am on amitrypline 20 mg a night since early Sept and that has been helpful. I am hoping to heal very soon. I also take two different probiotics and take a tablespoon of citrucel each day.


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## BQ

Good to hear! May it continue for you!


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## Goldfinch

Just thought it might be useful to post an update, since I have now been on the low-fodmaps diet for approx 2 full months. I am way better than I was then, and am making steady but slow progress. If I stick closely to the diet I rarely have diarrhea, although I am not quite as regular as I was before. For the first month I was very careful: no wheat, no dairy, only eating from the low-fodmaps list, and also no greasy or fatty foods. I didn't eat any beans or legumes, although I did start eating peanuts and they were not a problem, nor are almonds or walnuts.

A couple of weeks ago I introduced dried red kidney beans, which I soaked for 6 hours first and cooked (so not canned.) Yes, I do have a little increased gas from the beans, but I it only lasts a day and is not uncomfortable--and I love beans and rice, so it's worth it. I eat beans 'n' rice about once a week. I also now drink a very small amount of low-fat milk in my tea and on my oatmeal, but otherwise still stay away from most dairy, including cheese. One test with semi-dried dates proved not a good idea. The last time I ate a half a piece of wheat toast was also not good, but I find that I can take a bite or two of my husband's toast in the morning without it setting me back.

Here is what I eat a lot of: rice, rice noodles, steel cut oats, grits or polenta, peanuts, chicken, fish, shrimp, chard, green beans, potatoes, yams, bok choy, zucchini, red peppers (although a little fresh green chile or bell pepper doesn't seem to be an issue), bananas, berries, grapes, canteloupe. I do most of my own cooking and rarely go out to eat. When I do go out or buy prepared foods my most successful forays are Japanese, especially sushi, and Vietnamese food (lots of rice noodles and green tops of scallions in Viet food.) Tamales or things in corn tortillas are my latest indulgence; as long as there is no cheese in them, which isn't that easy to find. I believe that a modest amount of dairy is not that harmful to my gut, but I am supposed to be on a low-cholesterol diet so I stay away from egg yolks, cheese, ice cream, etc. If you frequent farmers' markets you will often find purveyors of vegetarian and vegan tamales, that have neither lard nor cheese in them and are made with organic ingredients. As a late night snack I find a finger of whiskey and a small square of chocolate does me no harm, but I don't do that every night. No wine, no fruity cocktails. No french fries. I stay away from red meat, just because I find it hard to digest. I do not have a problem with lettuce, but I don't eat a lot of green leafy salads anyway.

I took a probiotic for the first month, but now, without it, I don't see any difference, so I'm not taking any. I am taking 1000 mg of calcium carbonate per day, only with meals, and since calcium is good for me, it's a great bonus that it seems to have a binding effect. I am not gluten intolerant, but not eating wheat seems to be a good thing. Hopefully in the future I will be able to add some bread and pasta back into my diet, but for now I do better without.

I'm encourage to be this much better after only two months on the low-fodmaps diet and hope you all are doing better too.


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## mochamloki

I have post infectious ibs, or at least that is what they have labeled me as. I had terrible sickness of diarrhea back in july, it went away after lasting about a week but I didn't feel totally back to normal, then it came back even worse in august and lasted two and a half weeks. I was in and out of the ER, we tested for everything. Finally we travelled down to boston childrens hospital which is kind of far where I had an endoscopy, and a colonoscopy and was an inpatient there for about a week and a half. After I got better it came back in october but not nearly as bad and then it went away and then it came back last week and it's still here and I am so angry and sad.








I don't know how to make it stop.


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## kletendre826

mochamloki said:


> I have post infectious ibs, or at least that is what they have labeled me as. I had terrible sickness of diarrhea back in july, it went away after lasting about a week but I didn't feel totally back to normal, then it came back even worse in august and lasted two and a half weeks. I was in and out of the ER, we tested for everything. Finally we travelled down to boston childrens hospital which is kind of far where I had an endoscopy, and a colonoscopy and was an inpatient there for about a week and a half. After I got better it came back in october but not nearly as bad and then it went away and then it came back last week and it's still here and I am so angry and sad.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know how to make it stop.


Hi,

I got sick in April, had a stomach flu for about a week. Then I was good for almost a week when I was hit with a second stomach illness. This put me in a state of complete disarray where I lost a ton of weight had many symptoms and never felt anywhere near good. Today, it is seven months since I first got sick. I am lot better than I was back in the spring but I am still not where I used to be. It is very depressing to think I am probably going to be dealing with this for awhile longer. My GI docs have said it could take anywhere between 6-9 months, and another said 6 months, a year, or over a year. Most of what you read online say it is at least 2 years. The thing that helps me the most is amitriptryline (1 dose of 25 mg). However, that does not make me feel great but allows me to lead a normal life for the most part. I pray that you and I will have a quick recovery.


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## ssn51dreq

A relation of mine has coeliac disease so I've had blood tests to rule that out and my doctor diagnosed me with ibs after that. I have even changed toothpaste and mouthwash because of an ingredient called sorbitol which aggravates ibs. I will try to cut stuff out. Its been an up and down few years for me and I do let things bother me a bit.


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## thechemist

Hey crew,ive had the pi ibs for almost if not exactly one year today. Improvements are very gradual, disproportionately slow compared to the urgency you feel to get better! I remember at 1 month when I was still trying to force myself to eat (despite debilitating nausea) thinking that there was no way I could recover.

Well, Im much better. The bloating has decreased a lot and I'm hungry for three meals a day but Im still sensitive to "pressure in the gut" meaning I feel a little nauseous when I get gassy at all while eating... I counter this by eating slowly!

Over time I've had everything from healthy bms to super-mega d to bms every other day. I have found that STRESSING about my health makes things worse, eating out at restraunts makes things worse and traveling makes things worse. Getting ibs related anxiety under control is essential. I only figured that out after spending thousands on blood tests and the like. Being in constant worry about what you put in your body is HARD on the gut and the brain.

THE MOST HELPFUL ADVICE I HAVE RECEIVED IS TO FOCUS ON FEELING BETTER.

Ibs isn't going to kill you and you're stuck with this shit at least for a few months (you lucky bastard) so you don't focus on how your body is SUPPOSED to function, just listen to what your body tells you and do what you need to to FEEL GOOD because being comfortable is all we can do!

Eat healthy, exercise, distract yourself from Ibs. DISTRACT YOURSELF FROM IBS. I know, easier said then done, but you have a life to be living!

My most noticeable improvment was after 6-7 months, that's when I really could say to myself, "yes, this condition is definitely improving" and to be honest, that reassurance of "this isn't getting worse" or at least knowing I wouldn't be miserable like that forever was a MAJOR factor in FEELING better

Currently, Im no longer looking for a physical cause for my Ibs, I finally got around to scheduling with a psychiatrist and I'm on align probiotics. I'm pretty sure the align has made me constipated but thats for a post all of its own.

I know what you're going through! Feel free to pm with questions (I'll get back to you eventually) and stick around the pi Ibs forum, I'll make a big ol post after I see this psych a few times for my IBS anniversary post.

ugh. FEEL BETTER EVERYONE!


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## Colt

Thanks for the update and glad you are doing better. Really appreciate this post as sooooooooo many times people never update where they are at in this illness and we never find out what works or what doesn't. I am sure many of you have read an eight page thread only to find it ends abruptly.


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## risingstars

Just like to post as well. I believe some bad oysters caused my PI-IBS. Caused a week of diarrhea followed by 7 weeks of constipation and bloating. My pee also never seems to be truly clear anymore though, always a lightest tint of green or yellow, not sure if anyone experiences this...

Well after weeks of seeing my doctors, who all say to eat more fiber and "wait it out", I have not been officially diagnosed. I will say that Since my constipation started, I feel much better, and I am able to pass some normal stool at times, specifically in the morning or after long periods of not using the bathroom. All my stool/blood tests have come back normal though. I will have to strongly agree with thechemist and others. Go out, try to enjoy your life, and have some fun! I know this is easier said than done, and especially easier for me since my symptoms are not so detrimental to my daily life. I will admit that my PI-IBS-C, I get the best relief after totally enjoying myself through activities such as hiking and dancing! Anyone have any probiotics to recommend? I know many of already been mentioned in this thread


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## Lyrical1

Hi All,

I just wanted to share something that seems to be working for me. Like many of you, my troubles began after a horrific case of gastroenteritis which took place during an extremely stressful period in my life, and during which I took maximum doses of extra-strength Immodium and Gravol for 4 days so that I could function at an important job interview. Later, after I rehydrated and followed the BRAT diet, I still had much bloating, stomach cramps, plus a stinging stomach with some foods, and was running to the toilet about 5 minutes after swallowing my food.

Figuring it would resolve itself I went on eating a bland diet, but when two weeks later homemade chicken broth still upset my gut I started googling and it came up time and time again that you can become sensitive to certain foods and not to others following a bout of gastro, because the gut has been injured. You've wiped out all the flora and fauna and possibly damaged the stomach/intestinal lining. So, I removed meat, dairy, eggs, grains, soy, vinegars--except cidre seems okay--bad fats, all nuts except for almonds, the sweeter fruits (as they seemed to hurt upon entry), sugar, alcohol, coffee, teas (except tisanes), nightshade vegetables, and all processed foods. I also started taking probiotics (50million) once a day after a blueberry/peaprotien/almond milk shake, multi-spectrum enzymes with meals, and 500mg of magnesium at bed time. That seems to have done the trick. I usually cook my vegetables before eating them. Eating out is no fun, but I've discovered some places will rise to the challenge of making you something you can eat.

I did this for 2 months and now once a week I'm testing one of the above foods to see how it goes. I'm also religiously keeping a food diary to try and see patterns and relationships between symptoms and foods. I'm learning that I still need to avoid the classic IBS/F triggers--Dairy, Grains, and Soy and things that are really sweet/astringent. I'm afraid to eat nightshade vegetables. My allergist ruled out allergies and told me to avoid Dairy, Grains, and Soy for another 6 months, but to go ahead and continue testing some of the other things--e.g. strawberries, shrimp, fermented soy, etc etc. He's the one who diagnosed me with Post-Infectius IBS. He also said that it could take longer--a couple of years even--and that I need to be patient. Actually, for him the biggest issue was eliminating Dairy and all derivatives. Even if you don't experience gas or the trots immediately, they still might be causing you problems because these can still inflame your gut and in turn you might to react negatively to something else later on that you otherwise can tolerate reasonably well.

The research I've read shows that most people who follow this elimination diet with dedication and discipline recover within a few months to a year--without drugs, if they have classic post-infectious IBS. The trick seems to be to eliminate Soy, Dairy, Grains, etc *100%* and look for *hidden sources*. You simply can't cheat. Even the tiniest amount can throw you back to square 1, including topical/inhaled contact like shampoo or medications. The more intense your symptoms, the stricter you need to be. So far, I've found that simply avoiding the foods that most people with IBF and food allergies need to avoid has significantly reduced the bloating and the frantic trips to the bathroom. I also haven't had a migraine--well not a painful one--since I started eating this way and my skin looks a lot nicer. I don't feel 100%, but I don't face food with dread anymore. That said, I think I'm turning into a sweet-potato/avocado hybrid.

I admit that the diet is daunting. I lived on home-made Italian and Mexican food so eliminating wheat, potatoes, peppers and tomatoes was particularly difficult. To cheer myself up, I bought two cookbooks: Gywneth Paltrow's It's All Good and Julie Daniluk's *Meals that Heal Inflammation*. The former isn't strictly Elimination diet and but you can easily alter the recipes, and the latter is awesome and comforting. She has a lot information about gut health and supports it with peer-reviewed articles and offers a positive eating plan and simple, easy-to follow recipes. Haven't tried them all, but the ones I have tried are great. I think a lot of you might find Daniluk's book useful! Here's the link: <a></a>


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## Josh Goodman

Hello, just want to start of saying how much I appreciate this discussion, these boards for the most part can be really depressing and actually make you feel much worse. Heres my story, I am a 21 year old male in college over at Emory University in Atlanta and the last months have been tough. It started in early April, I was at a bar not being careful and I believe caught a bacteria from something I drank or ate not being clean. I also had been extremely stress the 4 or 5 months prior to this event with school and personal stuff. Well the next day I had extreme pain in my stomach (mind you I never had one stomach problem my entire life, I actually remember chowing down on beef jerky and red bull with zero problems the day before this happened, can't even imagine eating that now). Now the day after the incident I only had one bout of diarrhea but it was a pretty long and gross bout. My pain was both in my upper stomach and lower stomach and I was extremely dehydrated. As time has gone on I just had this bad lower stomach pain, like a cement block in my belly button and my stools got very hard and I was going much less. After a ton of tests from 2 endoscopies, an ultrasound, a ct scan, a stool test, and countless blood work with no positive results I was diagnosed with post infectious IBS. Which seems to makes sense as my symptoms appear to fall into that category. It has been about 3.5 months and believes I am getting better despite the last week being a bit of a relapse. I was given amitiza about 3 wks ago which has helped me be more frequent, and trazadone to help with the "brain-gut connection". I also drink aloe vera juice which I believe helps a bit. I know for a fact when I am relaxed and not thinking the pain, it is better and at times the pain is bearable, but when I start reading on this board that it can take years to get better I start getting anxious and it starts getting bad. I would appreciate any comments and Please anyone that had post ibs who got better share your experience, it really does help. And its summer so ive been seeing doctors back home but if anyone has any good experiences with doctors in the Atlanta area let me know.


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## emlica

Hi, only just noticed this and thought I'd add my story even though I *suspect* I may not really have serious enough symptoms to 'count' as PB-IBS, though my doctor sort of hinted at it. I had a bad tummy bug a while ago, the main symptom of which was just watery diarrhoea and abdominal discomfort (no vomiting), lasted about 5 days, maybe a week. Other people in my office had it as well. The worst of the diarrhoea stopped about a month ago now, but I'm still not back to normal. However, I *think* I am getting there, slowly. It's just the improvements are so tiny they're kind of hard to spot.

I've been to the doctor twice - the first time was only a week after the end of the major symptoms, and I went principally because I was really struggling to eat and feeling bloated all the time, and having some really odd twingey/crampy sensations in various bits of my abdomen, though especially in the right side. My stools weren't normal, but I figured that probably wasn't anything to worry about at that point (and to be honest I was just pleased they weren't watery!!!). Doctor confirmed what I thought - just recovering from the bug, intestines a bit sore but nothing to worry about. Two weeks later I was back at the doctor - the bloating seemed a bit better and the twingey sensations were reduced, but BMs were still... I don't know about 'loose', exactly, but not properly formed. I've seen someone on here use the term 'mudpie'. I think that pretty much covers it! Doctor said 'it can sometimes take a couple of months to get back to normal', but suggested blood tests to be on the safe side. She said if they were clear then it sounded like 'maybe a little bit of IBS' after the bug, and that it would just be a case of waiting for improvement.

That was a week ago now - the bloods were clear, so I've basically got a diagnosis of 'maybe a little bit of IBS' / GI issues post infection. I'm still not back to normal, but: the bloating has definitely improved, and for the last three days the twingey sensations have been significantly reduced (in frequency and 'intensity'). My appetite isn't back to normal - I don't find myself thinking 'oh yum I could fancy eating X' - but I don't have to force myself to eat and I'm eating a next to normal amount for me. I don't have abdominal pain or cramping, though I do think I still have a bit more gas than usual. Usually in the morning I'll have a first BM that's fairly solid, followed by a looser one (sometimes all in the same visit, sometimes separately) - and I think very gradually the amount of 'loose' is decreasing and the amount of 'solid' increasing. I then occasionally have another BM when I get to work, but this is usually pretty minimal. There's sometimes a little bit of mucus. On the plus side I have had a couple of days of having all solid BMs. None of them - regardless of consistency! - are usually particularly urgent movements unless there's a fair bit of gas involved - and then the urgency is just for the gas, if you see what I mean, I just don't trust my bowels quite yet so don't feel safe to release gas unless I'm on the loo!! I'm then usually fine for the rest of the day. That's how it is this week - a couple of weeks ago I'd have said the morning bathroom routine involved more visits, more urgency, and less solidity, and more general discomfort.

So for me, I'm hoping that my bowels will settle down properly in the 'couple of months' that the doctor mentioned and that it won't turn into proper PB-IBS like I see discussed on here. I just thought I'd say that from my experience - even with mild symptoms - improvements day to day can be so tiny that you wouldn't notice them, and you want to be thinking about how you felt a week or even two weeks ago. I've found probiotics to be the most helpful - and although I'm sure this is discouraged, I have also found benefits from a *small* glass of a 'digestif' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ap%C3%A9ritif_and_digestif) after dinner. It probably wouldn't work for everyone, though. Brandy was my nan's remedy for an upset tummy; I was always sceptical, but it oddly seems to help. I tried peppermint oil capsules, not sure if it helped or not, but after a few days I couldn't handle the stingy bum! I've not been consciously cutting out food groups; but I have been avoiding anything particularly spicy or fatty and not overdoing the sweet stuff or dairy - and not drinking alcohol except for the evening digestif.

As I said, though - I think I'm quite lucky in that my symptoms are very mild and do - I think/hope!! - seem to be passing, albeit slowly. Fingers crossed for everyone else who's posted here - I'm struggling enough after a month of just discomfort/inconvenience, so you really have my sympathies.


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## tweediepie7

Hello,

I am new to this thread, thank you to everyone who has posted with an update of their condition - it is so reassuring the hear that it gets better and I am currently so low with negative thoughts of never getting my life back or returning to work. Mine started after visiting India and getting a gut infection that was treated with Antibiotics. However, since being treated with the antibiotics my symptoms from the infection i.e. feeling hotter than normal, gassy, muscle twitches randomly, insomnia, fatigue, abdominal bloating, minor cramps, gurgling and general stomach discomfort, loss of appetite have continued. The only aspect which is not as bad as the actual infection is the number of times I am going to the toilet in the day and the consistency of my stools which are now just soft rather than watery - thank god.

I am posting because I have been off work since the infection over 3 weeks ago. The infection was dealt with by antibiotics 2 weeks ago today. I am 28 with bundles of energy - usually. I am now feeling utterly depressed by how disabling this is and I am having serious trouble with anxiety and sleeping at night (averaging 3 hours! when I usually need 8) which is making the whole situation much much worse. I would LOVE to get back to work but I am just not able to.

I completely relate to another poster who said even reading the threads on here can cause serious anxiety making the situation worse. I am crying as I type this and I just dont want to live my life if this is how it is going to be.

I am considering asking my GP for anti-depressants in the hope that they might reduce my anxiety and help me sleep - having never needed anti-depressants before in my life when I have been through some rough times, I am dubious about this but prepared to give anything a go at this point of desperation.

I have a couple of questions I hope people can help me with...?

Has anyone else experienced such difficulty sleeping with this and what did they find helpful?

How long can I expect to be absent from work with this? I am worried I will loose my job and therefore may even end up loosing my house unable to pay the mortgage.

It is reassuring to know that I am not alone with this even though I feel totaly trapped and alone at times - so thank you to everyone who posts.


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## kletendre826

tweediepie7 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am new to this thread, thank you to everyone who has posted with an update of their condition - it is so reassuring the hear that it gets better and I am currently so low with negative thoughts of never getting my life back or returning to work. Mine started after visiting India and getting a gut infection that was treated with Antibiotics. However, since being treated with the antibiotics my symptoms from the infection i.e. feeling hotter than normal, gassy, muscle twitches randomly, insomnia, fatigue, abdominal bloating, minor cramps, gurgling and general stomach discomfort, loss of appetite have continued. The only aspect which is not as bad as the actual infection is the number of times I am going to the toilet in the day and the consistency of my stools which are now just soft rather than watery - thank god.
> 
> I am posting because I have been off work since the infection over 3 weeks ago. The infection was dealt with by antibiotics 2 weeks ago today. I am 28 with bundles of energy - usually. I am now feeling utterly depressed by how disabling this is and I am having serious trouble with anxiety and sleeping at night (averaging 3 hours! when I usually need 8) which is making the whole situation much much worse. I would LOVE to get back to work but I am just not able to.
> 
> I completely relate to another poster who said even reading the threads on here can cause serious anxiety making the situation worse. I am crying as I type this and I just dont want to live my life if this is how it is going to be.
> 
> I am considering asking my GP for anti-depressants in the hope that they might reduce my anxiety and help me sleep - having never needed anti-depressants before in my life when I have been through some rough times, I am dubious about this but prepared to give anything a go at this point of desperation.
> 
> I have a couple of questions I hope people can help me with...?
> 
> Has anyone else experienced such difficulty sleeping with this and what did they find helpful?
> 
> How long can I expect to be absent from work with this? I am worried I will loose my job and therefore may even end up loosing my house unable to pay the mortgage.
> 
> It is reassuring to know that I am not alone with this even though I feel totaly trapped and alone at times - so thank you to everyone who posts.


Hi all,

I am the original poster for this thread. I had PI IBS that started late April 2012. I was in terrible pain, had many bm's per day, felt hot/feverish all the time, and had trouble sleeping with the anxiety of it all. I am now about 15 months into this and I am happy to report I am doing much, much better. For those out there that feel like there is no end in sight try to stay strong. I felt hopeless and terrible for a long time. Eventually out of desperation my Gastro. put me on amitriptyline 25 mg. It was by far the best thing for me. The pain had mostly subsided and now I was going to bathroom only once a day. It helped me get through my job and life. I felt like myself again. I have gradually over time decreased the dosage to only 10 mg per day. I am looking to stop it completely soon. I missed about a month of work (but was in and out during that time). After that I just decided I had to push through and overcome it. It took everything I had and was miserable. I completely empathize with all of you. I am happy to seemingly be a success story. I am not 100% yet but I am getting there and I feel back to normal and enjoying life again.


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## tweediepie7

Thank you so much for the update Kletendre, you have made a big difference in reassuring me. Particularly that you experienced the same fever type hot flushes, the trouble sleeping and also the anxiety as these are the main debilitating issues I have. I will ask my Dr to give me something to help with the anxiety and insomnia and take things from there. I need to try to get back to work and try to learn to cope with the symptoms at work every day like you did. Thank you for being so honest. If there are any other things you found helpful like avoiding certain foods or taking certain probiotics that you think might be useful please let us know.

Thank you


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## emlica

The anxiety is the worst - it's a real vicious cycle. I've found that just keeping really busy is the only way I can deal with it. I don't know if limiting my anxiety has helped with the symptoms, or if the symptoms have improved on their own, which has helped with the anxiety, but I am gradually getting there. I think probiotics have been good - they certainly shouldn't do any *harm* - and I found to begin with various remedies for reducing wind/gas (including simple stuff like Rennies) were surprisingly helpful as when the gas-related gurglings were absent it was much easier to think 'oh, I'm fine'! The other thing is that I did have to make myself eat fairly normally, as I realised one of the things I was anxious about was that my BMs weren't normal, but of course they won't be normal if you're not eating normally. I've just posted on the IBS-D board to say I think I've identified aspartame (sweetener in e.g. Coke Zero) as a possible trigger for D, but all that is really specific to individual people. I also struggle with dried fruit.


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## kletendre826

Hey,

I am glad my post could help. It took about a year for me to really start feeling back to normal. The low dose of amitriptyline really has helped a lot, I feel I am getting close to being off it completely. I also take digestive advantage intensive bowel support and florastor. I had started taking them because I heard good things about both. My gastro recommended florastor because he had heard some success with it and it has a bit of a track record. I'm a teacher so getting summer vacation was a huge help for me last year. I got to rest and recharge a bit, my anxiety over going back to school sick was really high still though. I did not do much in the way of anything fun. I was afraid to be out of the house and also didn't really feel up to being out. Slowly but surely I am coming back and I feel like I am mentally stronger than ever. I am still working on my anxieties but I'm getting there.


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## ric27

For those still trawling the web on this topic I also got post infectious IBS from Giardia in Bali. It took 5 months before giardia was completely eliminated. I continued to be very ill after all the tests came back negative.

A specialist diagnosed me with PI IBS. Essentially telling me hey all tests are looking good we have no idea why you are ill. So I download a basic app called My symptoms which i logged all my meals and symptoms as they happened. The app just correlates all the times you eat something and that symptom occurring. Basic but useful.

Over the next 2 months I found I was able to manage my pain by figuring out the following:

· Im now lactose intolerant (almost immediate diarrhoea and sore stomach for a week)

· Gluten sensitivity (constipation for days post eating more than 3 slices of bread)

· Coffee, alcohol & spicy food all cause pain for a few days (4 - 5 days)

· Stress - causes short term pain (1 day)

· Tea - lots of teas have caffeine something I did not know including green tea which made me ill for a long time.

Remedies ive used

· Peppermint oil is my favourite. Very soothing.

· Super probiotic with lots of human strain bacteria

· Eat very very healthy. I liken my stomach to a fuel tank of a car. if you put dirty fuel in the car it's going to run bad and give you problems. Eat fatty, oily or high sugar meals and expect your stomach to respond the same way.

· Distress through exercise. Makes me feel much better.


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## Josh Goodman

Again really appreciate all of you coming forward sharing your sucess stories. I am happy to say I am 4 months in and while its not a huge improvement, it certainly is significant in that I'm feeling around 20-30% better than when this nightmare first started and am hopeful this improvement will continue. I have a couple questions if anyone would like to chime in. What probiatic has helped you? Do you take any natural supplements that have helped (like peppermint oil, aloe vera, etc)? If you are on one, what type of anti depressent has helped? Is there is any other medicine that has helped you? And have you tried things like yoga or accupuncture and have they helped? I am entirely constipated post ibs and its just the constant dull and achey pain in my lower stomach that really bothers. If anyone has had anything similiar and found a remedy or just made it through this with time please share.


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## kletendre826

Josh Goodman said:


> Again really appreciate all of you coming forward sharing your sucess stories. I am happy to say I am 4 months in and while its not a huge improvement, it certainly is significant in that I'm feeling around 20-30% better than when this nightmare first started and am hopeful this improvement will continue. I have a couple questions if anyone would like to chime in. What probiatic has helped you? Do you take any natural supplements that have helped (like peppermint oil, aloe vera, etc)? If you are on one, what type of anti depressent has helped? Is there is any other medicine that has helped you? And have you tried things like yoga or accupuncture and have they helped? I am entirely constipated post ibs and its just the constant dull and achey pain in my lower stomach that really bothers. If anyone has had anything similiar and found a remedy or just made it through this with time please share.


Hi John, you can read more about my story in some of my posts just above. Basically, I am nearing 16 months in from getting sick, and it was absolutely terrible everyday. What worked for me: digestive advantage intensive bowel support 1 per day, florastor 1 per day, 1 tablespoon of citrucel (for fiber) per day, and amitripltyline (anti-depressant) 25 mg per day (but I am now only on 10 mg per day). The thing that helped the quickest and the most was the amitriptyline. I was really leery about taking it because I didn't want to be on an anti-depressant. However, out of desperation I did it and I noticed a difference right away the next morning. I am looking to get off it completely soon, but it was such a saver for me. On that low a dose it didn't help any anxiety or depression, but it slowed gut function and that made all the difference for me. But I was more IBS-D.


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## garibaldi

I've had stomach issues for the past couple of months. Antacids usually help me get through the problems. But I've noticed that when I started drinking probiotics (Yakult), my stomach settled.

Here's an (old) article in Science Daily about Yakult

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080910090238.htm


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## risingstars

Posting an update to my weird IBS-PI-A symptoms.

I have found significant relief from align and digestive enzymes.

Align is a fairly cheap probiotic on the market, meant to be taken once a day. It is generally recommended that those taking probiotics take it on an empty stomach 30 minutes before eating (i take it right as I wake up). I have also tried VSL#3, with some mild success from that.

Here's the crazy thing, 24 hours after taking align, my stool consistency was normal for a week. It was almost unbelievable. Albeit some of the effects wore off, I am able to maintain significantly less bloating, less constipation, and normal looking stool with a combination of digestive enzymes(now foods super enzymes) and align.

Josh,

Give Align a try, it really worked for me. Also try digestive enzymes, such as the ones I mentioned above or betaine HCL. Personally, exercise, peppermint tea, and dietary changes really didn't work for me. There are some trigger foods I avoid (like spicy foods, which I used to love), so try to find yours. I'm also sure you read that anxiety can play a big role. There will be times where you will get better, only to feel like you regressed 2 weeks. Try your best to find support and stay reassured.

Klet,

Thanks for the updates. If you google around, you would be intersted in finding numerous studies linking IBS and serotonin, including studies that have shown moderate cures through SSRI's and such.


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## sp123

I'm pretty sure I have PI-IBS,but I'm not completely sure. In 2010 I was taking doxycycline for 2 weeks and I began throwing up after each dose and getting severe diarrhea, but no fever. I went to the doctor and he did a stool test and I tested - for C-diff. He did a colonoscopy and dx me with ulcerative colitis. I went on prednisone and had to go off because I got a fever immediately so then I just took asacol and it worked for awhile and then stopped working. I went to another GI doctor who then prescribed me colozal and I had blood tests done which showed that I was anemic. I did have bloody stools. The colozal worked tremendously well. In December 2012 I went to a 3rd GI doctor who said that he didn't believe I had ulcerative colitis. He thought I had infectious colitis. He did a colonoscopy and said that I had no ulcers. He said I probably had infectious colitis and developed IBS due to my nervous system being impacted.

I am at the point where I don't know what I have. My father also has IBS and so did his sister, so it is genetic. I think I have PI-IBS. Since the antibiotic experience I always have IBS-D symptoms during my period. They also increase when I am stressed. I noticed that combination of certain foods will trigger it. If I combine dairy, caffeine, alcohol, artificial sweetners I will definitely have a flare up. Florastor and Kombucha have worked in the past for me, but not significantly. Hyoscyamine works for me but I have been getting some weird side effects (increased irritability), so I don't like taking it. Does anyone have any advice? I have a wonderful doctor in my home area but I don't have insurance out of state where I am living currently. I don't know if I should go the psychological route and see someone for stress management or go to another GI dr.


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## tweediepie7

Hi all,

Just posting an update as I have always found everyone else's updates really helpful and reassuring. I am now 2 months post infection of suspected giardia (which was believed to have been in my gut untreated for around 3 months with symptoms on & off - I was finally treated with the antibiotic Tinizadole)

The last time I wrote I was unable to return to work and was experiencing severe symptoms of PI-IBS including numerous D BMs per day, hot feverish spells, cramps, insomnia and exhaustion and serious anxiety/depression.

I am overjoyed to be able to say I have returned to work for the past 3 weeks now - a massive step for me! I am still experiencing the above but to a lesser degree. I do have flair ups fairly regularly (one every 1.5 weeks) where I feel as though I am back at square one and this has been lasting around 1 week where the frequent BMs return and my anxiety hits the roof causing insomnia which becomes a vicious cycle.

However I now have sleeping tablets for when this happens and I have seen a CBT therapist who has helped me try to control the anxious thoughts (although this doesn't always work).

On a good week my stool consistency resembles something more solid and normal and I will only have 2-3 BMs a day (2 BMs is normal for me). I have been taking probiotic acidophilus twice daily, which I think has helped.

At the moment I am just thankful that I am able to get back to work...even though it is VERY tough and I have to try to manage my symptoms at work where necessary. Recovery is frustratingly slow...and I am finding that the worst thing for me is keeping the anxiety at bay, I have resisted antidepressants so far, but have not ruled them out for the future, particularly as I have read that anxiety and depression has been shown to slow down the rate of recovery for people with PI-IBS. I am still a long way from the person I was before this started, but its encouraging to see the small but definite improvements. I just hope that I manage to uncover my old personality bit by bit with each month that passes.

Advice I have found useful (but hard to live by ALL the time) is try not to analyse your every BM and how you are feeling on a daily basis & just try to get on with living your life as far as possible....I.e. distraction and keeping busy & leading as normal a life as is possible for you - something you will have to push yourself to achieve.

My biggest ongoing anxiety is every time I get D or very loose stools, I instantly panic that the infection hasn't gone and/or is returning - does this thought cause anyone else serious anxiety?

Although improvements have been very small, they are definitely there- there was no way I could have been at work 2 months ago! I think of the numerous updates people have left on here about how everyone WILL IMPROVE and these really keep me going at tough times.

I hope my updates can help someone else & as time passes I will try to provide more.
Wishing everyone a speedy recovery.


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## rmiller1985

Hi Tweediepie7,

My IBS-D situation is very different from your IBS-PI situation, but I'd like to comment on your question about anxiety.

I've apparently had IBS-D for most of my life, but didn't really realize it because the symptoms were so mild. It was kicked into overdrive after my appendectomy a little over 2 years ago, and I've been battling it since. I've been on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for 3 months, and it has helped me tremendously. But it's a bit of a roller coaster, especially at the beginning of the diet, when there are major digestive changes. I'd go a day with a BM (very unusual for me, even back before the appendectomy), then have very urgent, watery diarrhea several times the next day, then go for a day or two with relatively normal BMs. Well, after doing well, when the watery diarrhea would happen I'd start thinking, "The normal stools yesterday didn't mean anything, they were just a random occurrence, I'm not actually getting any better." In my case, it wasn't so much anxiety creeping in as it was depression. But either way, I think it's very common for negative feelings to crop up pretty much immediately when a bad episode happens. Don't beat yourself up over it!

I think your advice about not obsessing over BMs is very helpful here. I also try to remember a fundamental Buddhist principle: nothing is permanent. How my body is acting right now is not how it will be acting an hour from now, or a day from now, or a week from now. Neither of those is always easy, but it helps when I can remember them.

Cheers,

Rich


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## HealthIsWealth

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum and wanted to share my IBS-PI story. I got an infection this April from eating homemade Kale chips from our garden in the backyard. I first got a bout of diarrhea that lasted for a week and then constipation episodes and then alternating between the two. I developed a fever, had anxiety attacks at night with heart palpitations, breathing difficulty, stomach pain and tension along with upper abdominal heat surges and my stomach would empty as soon as I ate. So I lost the desire to eat and started losing a lot of weight until I went to the doctor. He prescribed antibiotics for intestinal infection and also ulcer meds just to be sure. Well the antibiotics helped with the stomach issues and diarrhea episodes but I developed IBS I guess from all of the stress.

That was about 5-6 months ago and I have been improving slowly like you all and your stories are very encouraging. I am mainly IBS-PI-C now, except that I've developed food allergies and get diarrhea from dairy, wheat, nuts and sugary stuff. I had been doing 1-2 enemas a week in the past because my bowels took forever to have a movement. There is definitely a psychological component that I have found for myself because after my very first session of hypnotherapy a few weeks ago a lot of the the stomach tension and labored breathing subsided but is not completely gone.

I have gone on an elemental diet to try to gain back the 15 pounds that I lost and so far it is working very well. I also take Natren probiotics, digestive enzymes and wild oregano oil to fight off the bad bacteria in my gut and try to restore my system back to normal.

As for the anxiety issues I take Natural Calm magnesium supplement and Brain Pharma Happy Pills, which contain natural antidepressants like St. John's Wort, 5-HTP and SAMe. If you all don't want to take synthetic antidepressants you could try the natural ones. I usually didn't feel depressed, but I found out that antidepressants are usually also digestive aides because of the increase of serotonin in your gut so I figured that it was worth trying. Since I started taking these pills about a week ago I no longer have constipation and I am having 1-2 normal bowel movements a day. They are working very well and I haven't had to do any more enemas. Also I listen to meditation music at night which helps me to relax and to go to sleep faster.

Unlike most other IBS sufferers, my main battle is with constant breathing difficulty, especially after I eat or drink anything. I think it is caused by the stress and anxiety of poor digestion. I feel a lot better these days then I did a few months ago, but I know I am no where near 100%. I hope to be better in a few more months.


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## emlica

This is mainly a (very late!) reply to Tweediepie7, mainly to say thanks for your post as it really rings a bell with me! I'm not sure what I had, but I had a bug of some sort nearly 3 months ago now. I think, if I'm honest, that I probably had mild IBS before that anyway, but after the bug I was suffering with loose BMs (not really what I would diarrhoea, but definitely not right), lack of appetite, slight nausea, excess gas, and strange sort of twinge-like sensations in various bits of my gut. Obviously my symptoms were nowhere near as bad as yours, and I was only off work for the time I actually had the bug, but it is taking an age for my bowels to get back to normal and, as you were saying, the improvements are just so tiny it's really easy to worry that you're not actually getting better, and you have to really take a step back and compare it to how things were not just yesterday, but a month ago.

I'm struggling today because prior to this morning I'd had probably 10 days of almost normal bowel habits - which for me means a solid BM when I wake up and a second after breakfast. For the two months prior to that I'd been having 3 or 4, half of which were loose and the rest solid-ish, but not really properly formed. For the last 10 days I've had a good number of properly formed stools, and I was SO happy. OK, I had some gas still, but my appetite was back, the queasy sensation was gone. I was so relieved - I thought I was cured and it would just carry on being absolutely fine. But this morning I had a slightly loose second BM, I've had some gas and discomfort, and another solid-ish (but really not right) BM after lunch. And I've gone into panic mode worrying that it's all going to go downhill again. Your advice about not analysing every BM is really spot on and I must try and follow it!!


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## Josh Goodman

One question I have specifically for post infectios ibs would be, while we are going through the healing process does things like alcohol, caffeine, or even chocolate inhibit the healing process? Does it just maybe make you feel bad that day or does it actually affect your getting rid of this altogether as I'm sure that is all of our main goal. For instance if I had normal ibs, i still have a drink on occasion and just deal with the pain, but with post infectious ibs should I just totally abstain from it for the 6 months, 1yr, 2yrs I have it?


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## tweediepie7

Hi Everyone,

Josh - I would love to know the answer to your questions too - anyone able to help?

Kletendre - how are you getting on now?

Emlica - I totally understand and the panic is just awful, I do find it helpful hearing about others in similar situ.

An update from me; I am feeling better again compared with when I last posted, although I continue to have flair ups that send me into an orbit of panic.

Things I am finding helpful;

Amitriptyline 25mg (an antidepressant) - originally this helped immensely, slowing my stomach right down, 2 months later I feel it's effects have worn off slightly however, I also find it still helps a bit and it also helps with the associated anxiety so ill continue.

Florastor - definitely helps I take 1 cap in morning and 1 cap in eve, although it is on the pricey side.

By a whole mile I have found VSL#3 the most effective remedy. It is really pricey and I am struggling to finance it at £2 per day - however, that is how good it has been, I will pay whatever I have to to feel as good as I have done since starting VSL. I've been taking it for 2/3 weeks. After the 3rd day of taking a sachet I notice the improvements, fewer BMs, more solid & much less stomach noise and general grumbles, i have even eaten some processed foods without a flair up. When I first started taking it I did experience lots of wind, but that has significantly reduced now. In 3 weeks I have had my first flair up, I was having a flair up every week/every other week previously. The sachet does need to be kept in fridge which is a little inconvenient and contains the most amount of probiotics on the market. I mix the sachet in with juice each morning.

If VSL starts wearing off or causes any bad side effects ill update again.

I have found that my stomach now seems to be very sensitive to bacteria that it would previously handled in its stride, for example if a cup I drink from wasn't properly cleaned or if food was left out for a little too long (obviously I consciously avoid these - but sometimes when out or at work its hard to avoid).

Wishing everyone a speedy recovery, I regularly check in here to see how you guys are getting on.


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## sp123

It gets better!!! It has been 3 years since my symptoms first developed and now I have noticed a pattern. I used to get sick when I ate in general. Now I always get sick when I have my period or am stressed out. However, when I'm not stressed only combinations of certain foods bother me. Usually it is combos of 2-3 of the following 1. dairy 2. caffeine 3. artificial sweeteners 4. fatty food 5. alcohol I will develop bad symptoms. I get abdominal cramps and bloating with diarrhea. It is extremely painful. If I eat one of these I am fine, unless I am stressed out. Has anyone had a similar findings? My story is above. Coffee and creamer is the worst!!! When I do this I am cramping and in the bathroom the entire morning. Anyone else like me? P.S Florastor works great for me...just very expensive.


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## apiej

Hi all..

I know this post is from a while ago but I am hoping you are all still around to offer me some hope/ advice.

I got a bout of gastro at the end if Jan which I never quite got over. 2 weeks later it seemed like it came back suddenly and I was back to throwing up, nausious, not being able to eat with severe bright yellow diarhea. This last about another 2 weeks. I spent one night in the ER with severe tummy pain which they diognosed as a urine infection (which I knew it wasn't) and sent me home with some antibiotics. A couple days later I was back at my GP & I was sent to the GI. After hearing my story he said it was PI IBS and said it should get better on its own. That was a month ago now. I have since called the GI & he still said i should get better on my own and didnt need to come back in (youd think if he wasnt genuine he would want to make the money from another consult or more tests). I was feeling better with relatively normal BM until I ate some pea soup which brought everything back. Luckily it only lasted a couple days before I was feeling a bit better then I was feeling great for a few weeks and was even eating like I used to (including some small amounts of choc and spicy meat) then the other day I drank some Pepsi max and again I was back where I was. This time the pain wasn't quite as bad but I still was throwing up & had diarhea & couldnt eat.

Im feeling a bit better now but not where I was a few days ago. All I am taking for this is a probiotic which is specifically for the bowel and a multi vitamin. The other thing I've noticed is there flare Ups seem to happen a few days before the start of my cycle. Could that be related? I just want to be better and healthy again. I find the worst part for me is the insomnia that goes with it. I have sleeping tabs but they dont help much so I dont like to take them. I am usually the type of person falling asleep in front of the tv at 7pm then I will sleep til 6am. When I have these flare Ups I cant sleep at all. Im not stressed or anxious as such about it either which I also dont understand. It doesnt sound like i had it anywhere near as bad as some of you... Usually only having one or two soft - mud like BM a day (although when i was good it was one normal BM).

Hope you are all feeling better


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## tweediepie7

Hi everyone,

I am 1 year on from the infection and wanted to post an update.
I have battled/learnt to manage and get some control over the PI IBS in the past year.

Words can't describe how FANTASTIC it feels to be able to tell you all that IT GETS SO MUCH BETTER!!! I am 75% normal again. If you read my original post from a year ago, you will see that it was horrendous for the first 3-6 months and I couldn't even see a future.

I didn't think it would be possible to eat out in a restaurant ever again, and yet I have.....and I have also eaten pizza, lobster, prawns, mussels, beef, drank cocktails, wine....you name it I have given it a go. Yes the first time I ate all of those foods I was anxious and my stomach reacted with gurgles bloating & uncomfortableness with odd BMs to follow - but my stomach very quickly learnt how to process those foods again, and now when I eat them, there is very little discomfort.

From time to time I suffer with a feeling of pressure in my stomach (usually when I have eaten a new or risky food) after eating which causes me to need the toilet. But this now happens rarely instead of every time I eat - which is how it was a year ago.

I am not 100% but it has become manageable and I am back to feeling confident. The anxiety the PI IBS caused was as bad as the IBS and one would exacerbate the other. Therefore it was absolutely crucial to get the anxiety under control, which was tough and something I continue to work on.

2 things I continue to find amazingly helpful are - VSL#3 probiotic - I started out needing a sachet a day, now I only take 1 per week! This probiotic seemed to control the IBS with fewer BMs and gave me the predictability my anxiety needed. Life improved dramatically once I started this.

Amitriptiline 50mg - anti anxiety/depressant - yeah PI IBS made me super anxious which after months on end of feeling that way made me depressed. This drug has calmed my anxiety and also my stomach (it has a calming effect in the whole body) I started out on 25mg and I will be going back down to that amount in a few weeks.

THE MESSAGE IS THIS - KEEP STRONG IT WILL IMPROVE

keep busy and remember the saying 'this too shall pass' nothing stays the same forever, have faith.

I wish you all well and thank all of you who kept me going when it was really horrendous. Xx


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## zeroblue

tweediepie7 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I am 1 year on from the infection and wanted to post an update.
> I have battled/learnt to manage and get some control over the PI IBS in the past year.
> 
> Words can't describe how FANTASTIC it feels to be able to tell you all that IT GETS SO MUCH BETTER!!! I am 75% normal again. If you read my original post from a year ago, you will see that it was horrendous for the first 3-6 months and I couldn't even see a future.
> 
> I didn't think it would be possible to eat out in a restaurant ever again, and yet I have.....and I have also eaten pizza, lobster, prawns, mussels, beef, drank cocktails, wine....you name it I have given it a go. Yes the first time I ate all of those foods I was anxious and my stomach reacted with gurgles bloating & uncomfortableness with odd BMs to follow - but my stomach very quickly learnt how to process those foods again, and now when I eat them, there is very little discomfort.
> 
> From time to time I suffer with a feeling of pressure in my stomach (usually when I have eaten a new or risky food) after eating which causes me to need the toilet. But this now happens rarely instead of every time I eat - which is how it was a year ago.
> 
> I am not 100% but it has become manageable and I am back to feeling confident. The anxiety the PI IBS caused was as bad as the IBS and one would exacerbate the other. Therefore it was absolutely crucial to get the anxiety under control, which was tough and something I continue to work on.
> 
> 2 things I continue to find amazingly helpful are - VSL#3 probiotic - I started out needing a sachet a day, now I only take 1 per week! This probiotic seemed to control the IBS with fewer BMs and gave me the predictability my anxiety needed. Life improved dramatically once I started this.
> 
> Amitriptiline 50mg - anti anxiety/depressant - yeah PI IBS made me super anxious which after months on end of feeling that way made me depressed. This drug has calmed my anxiety and also my stomach (it has a calming effect in the whole body) I started out on 25mg and I will be going back down to that amount in a few weeks.
> 
> THE MESSAGE IS THIS - KEEP STRONG IT WILL IMPROVE
> 
> keep busy and remember the saying 'this too shall pass' nothing stays the same forever, have faith.
> 
> I wish you all well and thank all of you who kept me going when it was really horrendous. Xx


Thanks for the good news 

i'm at about 1.3 years since infection and i have improved also but not really as much as you 

i agree the anti depressant has helped a lot


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## noodlexyz

I have PI-IBS and am working on about 8 months of living with it. My symptoms are abdominal pain and lower back pain (left side at times, right at others) along with mixed stools, gas, ect. I think I got GI infection from either some food I ate or from a pool I swam in in Florida back in January. Since then my symptoms have been getting better, than worse, and now they have plateau'd to a moderate level of severity. My doctors have been less than helpful in recommending treatments to help my symptoms so I joined this forum to get more information and share my story with others.

I have found that what I eat has some effect on my symptoms, onions, some fruits, really fatty foods, and foods high in sugar make the symptoms worse. Gluten does not seem to change my symptoms nor does alcohol unless I over indulge in both. My wife is a chef and she loves food so sometimes I take one for the team and eat things that I know are going to cause a problem!

The worst part to me is the constant pain in my abdomen and lower back. I can deal with the gas and the mixed/irregular stools no problem.

Im hoping through this forum and over time I can get my symptoms under control so I can live as normally as possible! Im not hopeful that I will wake up one day and my symptoms will be gone, I just want to get better and get healthy enough to live!

-Ryan


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## Gail S.

I had a GI infection the end of April. None of the tests for giardia, etc. (most common pathogens) were positive, but gastro doc thinks I have post-infectious IBS. I lost about 20 lbs. in 6 weeks. Predominant symptom, aside from gurgling stomach and gas, was nausea, intractable nausea, which would bring on anxiety and panic attacks, as I had had c. diff. 20 years ago, and these symptoms were very similar. The nausea is awful! I was living on nothing but tea, toast, and chicken soup for 3 weeks, then added potatoes, chicken, and, gradually, other lean meats. The problem is, I can no longer eat things I used to eat. My gastro doc suggested FODMAP diet, but it calls for lots of things I can no longer eat. I'm lactose intolerant, for which I take Lactaid, but I'm also fructose intolerant, and some of my favorite vegetables (broccoli, asparagus, onions) are high in fructose. I'm having problems with the FODMAP diet without making lots of substitutions. I have a tendency toward constipation, for which I usually would take Miralax, which worked. Now I'm having problems finding a balance -- reduce my Miralax dosage and become constipated, but take the full dose and I get diarrhea! No happy medium. My doc also put me on Align, although I used to take some other probiotic that I thought worked better. I saw an acupuncturist for 6 treatments, and it seemed to help with the nausea. Acupuncturist also suggested Florastor, but I don't know if it's compatible with Align or whether it's overkill.

I was doing some research on how to alleviate symptoms, and ran across a product called Iberogast, which apparently has been used in Germany for 30 years or so. I figure I don't have much to lose, so I ordered some. It's a liquid that gets added to tea or juice or whatever you're drinking, has a not unpleasant taste (a little minty), and contains 9 herbs, one of which is peppermint, which I know is supposed to ease symptoms. I've only been on it for 2 days, but reviews I've read seem to think it really helps, sometimes in a matter of days, sometimes after several weeks.

I get dismayed at the thought that I will have to deal with severe dietary restrictions for the rest of my life. It's very disheartening. I will post and let all know whether the Iberogast works, but I'd also like to hear back about Florastor and whether it's ok to take along with Align or other probiotics.

Gail


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## mzaur

Thank you everyone for posting here and sharing your experiences. it's very uplifting to hear that some of you have gotten drastically better. Please continue to share your progress!

I'm about 6 weeks into my PI-IBS. I had two viral infections earlier this year, and 7 weeks ago I came down with a cold. Not sure why but I woke up a week later with diarrhea, extreme cramping/pain, dry mouth, gas, nervousness, clammy hands, and loss of appetite. I could barely eat for 4 weeks. It was horrible! My doc ran several stool tests/blood tests and couldn't find any sign of infection or parasite, so who knows if my IBS was delayed from the viral infections I had earlier this year, or if it was just a minor infection that was cleared out soon but the IBS stayed. Anyway, my symptoms have gotten way better. First 2 weeks were awful. Then the cramping died down a bit. Week 4 I got my appetite back. It seems like every two weeks I get slightly better, and I have days where I feel relatively normal, but I'm still not sleeping right and my gut nerves are still overly sensitive. I have no history of anxiety, am usually a sound sleeper, and never had any GI issues before, so this has been hard to get used to.

I'm currently taking Iberogast, oregano oil, probiotics, peppermint oil, slipper elm, acacia fiber, kefir (with lactaid), and just ordered L-glutamine. I have no idea what works or what doesn't, lol. I just keep hoping that I recover soon.

I hope you all get better asap. I noticed the best improvement from following the low FODMAP diet. I've also been going on A LOT of walks which really helped me to relax (because of the agitated nerves, I had a lot of restlessness). I also try to meditate every evening which I found helpful. In my situation for some reason my gut nerves are so sensitive, so even a little bit of anxiety which normally would not affect me now lingers and actually affects my intestines, so relaxation I found is very important


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## kletendre826

Hi All,

I have to say that in the first few months I was a mess. I struggled to go into work, could not sleep at night, and had a ton of anxiety and stress over the pain and worries of being sick. It wasn't until about 4 months did I start to really feel a bit better. I started taking probiotics, florastor and digestive advantage, which I think helped. My gastro. prescribed me amitriptlyine (an anti-depressant) at a low-dosage and that made the biggest difference. I recommend you try that if you are really struggling. It did not change my mood at such a low dosage, what it did was slowed down my intestines and greatly helped me sleep at night. I felt like I was able to get my life back when I started taking it. That is what worked for me.

I also tried to work on my mental state. At work, I tried to take on less and I really tried to manage my self-talk. I worked on my stress, and still do. I was in a post-master's program and I took a year off from it.

At this point I am almost 2 1/2 years into when I first got sick. I have to say I am pretty much 100% and back to feeling great and have for at least a year now.

Good luck to you. I hope you find comfort in that you are not alone and I understand where you are coming from.

Kyle


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## Gail S.

I suffered with PI-IBS for about 4 months, nausea was predominant symptom. Started out with a diarrheal infection, but I typically am IBS-C -- can go 10 days without a bm. Anyway, lost 20 lbs. in about 8 weeks due to overwhelming nausea. Took drugs for nausea but then couldn't function. Weight has now stabilized. I am also lactose and fructose intolerant, and when PI-IBS started, my system became hypersensitive to fructose. My gastro doc recommended the FODMAP diet, which I followed. It's an elimination diet and pretty hard to follow, but I bought a cookbook that had gut-friendly recipes in it.

Amazingly, while I was trying to find something (anything!) to help with the symptoms, I ran across a product called Iberogast. It's apparently been used in Germany for 30+ years and has had numerous studies done on it. It's 9 herbs in a liquid (a little alcohol in it too), but the herbs were specifically chosen for the beneficial effect on the gut. The dose is 20 drops taken 3x/day in any liquid. After 3 days, the cramping subsided, gas/bloating lessened, and my sensitivities greatly reduced. It can be bought on Amazon.

My doc also recommended Align probiotics, although I can't say they work any better than any other probiotics I've taken in the past.


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## mzaur

I started taking amitryptline 20mg at night and that really helped. It helped me sleep, increased my appetite, slowed down my digestion, and I pretty much have no cramping anymore. I actually felt normal for the longest time since this whole thing began 2 months ago. I felt pretty good for 2 weeks but then yesterday I had a flare up again. I honestly thought I was all better







The on and off nature of this illness is so annoying. I can tell that I'm gradually getting better but the fact that it resurfaces after a while makes it hard to predict when I'll be completely normal

Gail, I take Iberogast also. I think it does help. I don't really have cramps anymore. My issue now is that when I get a flare up, I feel all anxious and uncomfortable, sort of hot and feverish, and my stool comes out soft. I also lose my appetite for most of the day. Does anyone else get flare ups like this? I have no history of anxiety or anything, and IBS websites don't really mention these symptoms


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## CallieGirl

Joining in here. I had some type of mild gastroenteritis before Christmas and now have PI IBS according to the doctor. super annoyed. The first week was horrible, and each week has been a little better. Then I mistakenly ate sushi (didn't look it up) and set me back to the beginning. I am on month 3 of this. Doc said most patients get better in 3-6 months.

As far as treatment - I am doing the FODMAP diet, which has really worked well for me, and taking a probiotic. My main issues when it kicks in are burping, heartburn and nausea after eating, with a small amount of diarrhea if I veer off the diet. I do take Imodium if I have to - but it doesn't bother me the next day or anything. I probably take it once every 2 weeks.

I have to say this issue really is awful. Prior to this I was one of those people with an iron stomach - no issues, no heartburn, regular every day, etc. I can't believe this is happening to me!


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## mzaur

CallieGirl said:


> Joining in here. I had some type of mild gastroenteritis before Christmas and now have PI IBS according to the doctor. super annoyed. The first week was horrible, and each week has been a little better. Then I mistakenly ate sushi (didn't look it up) and set me back to the beginning. I am on month 3 of this. Doc said most patients get better in 3-6 months.
> 
> As far as treatment - I am doing the FODMAP diet, which has really worked well for me, and taking a probiotic. My main issues when it kicks in are burping, heartburn and nausea after eating, with a small amount of diarrhea if I veer off the diet. I do take Imodium if I have to - but it doesn't bother me the next day or anything. I probably take it once every 2 weeks.
> 
> I have to say this issue really is awful. Prior to this I was one of those people with an iron stomach - no issues, no heartburn, regular every day, etc. I can't believe this is happening to me!


So sorry to hear you got this too. Yeah, it is pretty awful, but I can tell you that it definitely gets better. The first few months were absolutely awful, but then it got more and more tolerable. I'm at 6 months now and I feel fairly normal most of the time. I still have flair ups every few weeks but they only last 3-4 hours.Also the flair-ups are way less intense now than they used to be. I'm hoping within a few months I'll be completely back to normal. I stopped worrying about my diet after the 2nd month. For me it wasn't diet related, and getting anxious over what I ate made things way worse. I find this is very much related to stress/anxiety. The less stressed/anxious I felt, the better I started feeling overall. So my best advice for you is to take up meditation, go for walks, and just work on staying as relaxed as possible. Don't ruminate about your illness. Instead focus on how you are feeling much better than you did before and how you will continue to feel better. You will get through this. It's only temporary, and it won't kill you. It's just very, very annoying. But you will be fine


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## CallieGirl

Interesting that stress bothers you. I am not stressed at all, just annoyed. I retired early, good life, so I don't think stress plays any role for me. I do think milk products are the worst for me. I knew our entire family had issue with them, but I would just have a little with no problem - now I don't dare - the diarrhea comes if I even have a small amount of half and half in my coffee or tea.

We have a trip to Europe scheduled in a little over a month. I plan to try to eat really well for the next few weeks and then test the waters so to speak with some foods like a small amount of wheat, or some beans (I probably miss beans the most).

Do you know what the issue is with all the sounds in my stomach after eating? Sounds like a hockey team in there - sort of embarrassing. Is it because the food is not digesting? Also the belching is so bad. I would not dare got out with friends if my stomach is active like that. I can't keep the sound in. Should I take GasX or one of those gas products. My doctor wasn't all that helpful (just the GP) as she felt it would go away over time.


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## WhaleDaughter

I'm new to this group, and also to PI-IBS-C. I had some piddling little virus last November that would seem to go away and then come back, so that I had 3 separate 24 hour "events" with a mild fever and slight loose stools, with progressively worse GI symptoms in between, including bad constipation and what was diagnosed as gastritis. I was going to the urgent care clinic, since I lacked a GP. I lost over 10 pounds in November, and I'm now down another 10. I finally saw a new GP in early December who seemed nice on the first visit. Then I got to the point where I couldn't eat meat without severe and immediate stomach pain and when I told her, she laughed and said "don't eat meat." Then I saw an GI doctor who did very little and said (I memorized it):

"You're young and healthy. You shouldn't be having these problems, if you still are in a month come back and see us."

That was mid-December, and I decided not to go back to either of those doctors. In February I went to a different GI office and was finally taken seriously. Like I shouldn't be having these problems so let's look into them and see if we can find a cause and a fix, rather than ignoring them and leaving me to suffer.

So I was scheduled for an upper endoscopy and colonoscopy, and during the wait time I was in the ER multiple times. I take Omeprazol twice a day, and after a particularly bad bout of upper abdominal pain following eating an ER doc gave me Sucralfate, which I took twice a day but now I'm down to just in the evening before dinner. I was also taking a daily dose of MiraLax.

My endoscopy and colonoscopy were clear, and my biopsies for H. pylori and celiac were negative (she was very sure there was an ulcer, but nope). So the diagnosis is PI-IBS-C. After my colonoscopy I started a low-FODMAP diet, and added Phillip's Colon Health probiotic daily. I'm in week 3 and the horribly painful bloating is gone, I'm down on the number of drugs I take to eat. I switched to Dulcolax stool softeners (because I got so constipated while on the Miralax I had to drink a whole bottle of magnesium citrate). My first challenge on the low-FODMAP diet is trying to get off of the stool softeners. I'm now 3 days off them and it's not going horribly. I've only had to use the mag cit once since starting the diet, and it was early in the first week (I think it was leftovers from before the diet).

The hardest thing for me is managing the stress, anxiety, and depression. I've suffered from depression for years and already take an antidepressant that usually works great. But I'm a PhD student in my final year and neck deep in my dissertation (I'm taking a 3 week trip next month across the country to collect my data). Dealing with this on top of that...it feels like I'm being punished for being sick.

I'm not 100% sold on the PI-IBS diagnosis, because I seem to have more stomach problems than can be attributed to problems in my colon, and they happen right after I eat (especially at night). My next test is a nuclear motility test, and I'm also concerned about functional gallbladder dysfunction. All of my blood work keeps coming back normal, and I've had enough abdominal X-rays that if there were stones they'd have seen them (also nothing showed up on an ultrasound). Also, PI-IBS-C is so uncommon I can barely find any literature on it. Does anyone here have experience with PI-IBS-C? They're going with it because I went from having a healthy BM everyday to constantly constipated almost overnight. It was like falling off a cliff.


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## kenvh

Hi

I have PI-IBS now for 5 months now. I can say its 20% better then it was first.

I have found that dairy is a major food trigger!

I also am gluten free now for 3 months.

I just skip the biggest triggers for the most people.

much fat and sugar is also a bad thing for the gut.

I feel like exercise can help a lot !

I dont have a lot stress about this or fear because I already had Interstitial cystitis for 2.5 years now.

Its a very bad disease, very painfull and gives much disconfort. Its inflammed bladder disease. (immune disease)

I lived with so much problems that I dont get too crazy about this IBS.

First I had 6 times Diarea a day.

Then some weeks later I had very loose soft stools.

Then 3 months into it i had 1 day of 7 almost normal stools.

The mornings give still the most urgency!

I go 2 times. First when i wakeup. then after breakfast again.

Then in evening also a little one sometimes.

The symptom i do most hate is the tenesmus (incomplete evacuation feeling)

The feeling u have to go, even if u dont.

I hope this PI-IBS can improve just like the most people say on this forum.

I really hope. I also had my bladder under perfect control with diet.. But since my gut is wasted.. the bladder is also reacting again.

I will keep doing my healthy diet as much as I can and hope for improvement.

diet:

mornings: 3 cooked banana + 2 cooked apples + cinnamon

meals midday and evening:

rice, patatoo cooked or mashed, rice noodle, all meats, fish, cooked veggies like carrots, zucchini, apple sauce and rice cakes.

I found that being gentle to the gut is essential ! listen to the body and give it what it wants.

If u react.. try another time.. if u keep reacting.. stop eating it for 2 years or so.

greets


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## rosierose

I just want to thank kletendre for starting this forum and for all the wonderful people (particularly the chemist, lyrical and tweediepie) who have contributed their 'success' stories. This forum has been like a lifeline for me over the past few months - and one that I keep on returning to in my darkest hours for reassurance and hope!

I came down with a gastro virus in June - it lasted a few days and then I thought I was fine. 10 days later, it came back again. And so this cycle continued.The major symptoms were diarrhoea, nausea, stomach pains - and gradually terrible exhaustion and anxiety. I had every test done under the sun for parasites and bacteria, I even had a gastroscopy and colonoscopy. Eventually the GI diagnosed me with PI-IBS-D. It is such a challenging condition - as you are constantly running to the toilet and also emotionally debilitating as you begin to feel so panic-stricken about leaving the house. During the worst times I felt I could only just get through the basics of the days (get my children dressed and fed) and everything else (work/friends/housework) had to fall by the wayside. I am at the 3.5 month mark and I have to say I still feel pretty average - the diarrhoea and nausea are still ever present and it remains a very challenging part of my life.

However, the things that I have found have triggered bad episodes are DIARY (every time, there is no cheating, I get terrible diarrhoea the next day every time i try to eat yoghurt or ice-cream), FRUCTOSE (especially honey, dried fruit, apples), baked glutinous goods, and anything with too much SUGAR or FAT. I follow the FODMAP diet, but I find that even things within that diet have had to be modified (ie. I can't eat nightshade vegetables or fruits like grapes).

I eat now a lot of oats and bananas and chicken and rice - with cooked zucchini and carrot. I eat rice cakes and Nairns oats cakes as a snack. I find this diet incredibly difficult to follow (it is so boring and restrictive), but if I follow it to the letter, I feel better within a week and the diarrhoea and nausea subside/become manageable, but if I fall off the wagon (even I just have a bite of my child's ice-cream a few days ago) I pay the price and am sick for 5-6 days as the gut appears to get irritated all over again and I feel back to square one. I also take probiotics, chinese herbs, slippery elm as supplements and I have started on an anti-depressant for sleep/anxiety/slowing the gut down.

I find this condition incredibly restrictive and demoralising - but I take heart that some people see an improvement around the 6 month mark and that by 12 months there has been a real improvement in quality of life. So thanks again for everyone who has shared their stories. I might post again in a few months if I too can contribute a hopeful story!


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## mzaur

rosierose said:


> I just want to thank kletendre for starting this forum and for all the wonderful people (particularly the chemist, lyrical and tweediepie) who have contributed their 'success' stories. This forum has been like a lifeline for me over the past few months - and one that I keep on returning to in my darkest hours for reassurance and hope!
> 
> I came down with a gastro virus in June - it lasted a few days and then I thought I was fine. 10 days later, it came back again. And so this cycle continued.The major symptoms were diarrhoea, nausea, stomach pains - and gradually terrible exhaustion and anxiety. I had every test done under the sun for parasites and bacteria, I even had a gastroscopy and colonoscopy. Eventually the GI diagnosed me with PI-IBS-D. It is such a challenging condition - as you are constantly running to the toilet and also emotionally debilitating as you begin to feel so panic-stricken about leaving the house. During the worst times I felt I could only just get through the basics of the days (get my children dressed and fed) and everything else (work/friends/housework) had to fall by the wayside. I am at the 3.5 month mark and I have to say I still feel pretty average - the diarrhoea and nausea are still ever present and it remains a very challenging part of my life.
> 
> However, the things that I have found have triggered bad episodes are DIARY (every time, there is no cheating, I get terrible diarrhoea the next day every time i try to eat yoghurt or ice-cream), FRUCTOSE (especially honey, dried fruit, apples), baked glutinous goods, and anything with too much SUGAR or FAT. I follow the FODMAP diet, but I find that even things within that diet have had to be modified (ie. I can't eat nightshade vegetables or fruits like grapes).
> 
> I eat now a lot of oats and bananas and chicken and rice - with cooked zucchini and carrot. I eat rice cakes and Nairns oats cakes as a snack. I find this diet incredibly difficult to follow (it is so boring and restrictive), but if I follow it to the letter, I feel better within a week and the diarrhoea and nausea subside/become manageable, but if I fall off the wagon (even I just have a bite of my child's ice-cream a few days ago) I pay the price and am sick for 5-6 days as the gut appears to get irritated all over again and I feel back to square one. I also take probiotics, chinese herbs, slippery elm as supplements and I have started on an anti-depressant for sleep/anxiety/slowing the gut down.
> 
> I find this condition incredibly restrictive and demoralising - but I take heart that some people see an improvement around the 6 month mark and that by 12 months there has been a real improvement in quality of life. So thanks again for everyone who has shared their stories. I might post again in a few months if I too can contribute a hopeful story!


Hey there,

Sorry to hear you're one of the lucky ones to get IBS! I can feel your pain.. It's good you found a diet that alleviates your symptoms. When I was at the 2-3 month mark, I noticed heavy foods like dairy, chocolate, etc, were affecting me. At around the 6 month mark I stopped caring about diet and learned to relax more about it once I noticed that it was more random for me. I'd get flareups even after eating light and healthy. But heavier foods did definitely make things worse at first. The only thing which I'm avoiding still is coffee because I have noticed my flareups increase when I drink coffee. I just drink green tea now.

I'm about 13 months in. I'm about 95% better. I still get a couple flareups per month, randomly, but they don't last long. I'm still on amitryptline 10mg but will stop it soon. No particuilar diet. I do take probiotics but not sure if they are doing anything. Work on that anxiety. It will really help you. Anxiety makes IBS so much worse which in turn makes the anxiety worse. I had a particularly stressful year even without the IBS, but once I began meditating and going on walks and really working on relaxing, it made a difference in terms of the IBS symptoms and the anxiety.

Hang in there. Things will get better. What you're feeling is only temporary.


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## rosierose

mzaur said:


> Hey there,
> 
> Sorry to hear you're one of the lucky ones to get IBS! I can feel your pain.. It's good you found a diet that alleviates your symptoms. When I was at the 2-3 month mark, I noticed heavy foods like dairy, chocolate, etc, were affecting me. At around the 6 month mark I stopped caring about diet and learned to relax more about it once I noticed that it was more random for me. I'd get flareups even after eating light and healthy. But heavier foods did definitely make things worse at first. The only thing which I'm avoiding still is coffee because I have noticed my flareups increase when I drink coffee. I just drink green tea now.
> 
> I'm about 13 months in. I'm about 95% better. I still get a couple flareups per month, randomly, but they don't last long. I'm still on amitryptline 10mg but will stop it soon. No particuilar diet. I do take probiotics but not sure if they are doing anything. Work on that anxiety. It will really help you. Anxiety makes IBS so much worse which in turn makes the anxiety worse. I had a particularly stressful year even without the IBS, but once I began meditating and going on walks and really working on relaxing, it made a difference in terms of the IBS symptoms and the anxiety.
> 
> Hang in there. Things will get better. What you're feeling is only temporary.


Thanks so much Mzaur - I really appreciate your reply - and I think you're right. Stress/anxiety play a HUGE role in this condition - if not one of the underlying causes. And I totally agree - learning relaxation techniques/gentle exercise is key to managing it. Thanks for the reassurance - I look forward to being on the other side of this.


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## kenvh

rosierose said:


> I just want to thank kletendre for starting this forum and for all the wonderful people (particularly the chemist, lyrical and tweediepie) who have contributed their 'success' stories. This forum has been like a lifeline for me over the past few months - and one that I keep on returning to in my darkest hours for reassurance and hope!
> 
> I came down with a gastro virus in June - it lasted a few days and then I thought I was fine. 10 days later, it came back again. And so this cycle continued.The major symptoms were diarrhoea, nausea, stomach pains - and gradually terrible exhaustion and anxiety. I had every test done under the sun for parasites and bacteria, I even had a gastroscopy and colonoscopy. Eventually the GI diagnosed me with PI-IBS-D. It is such a challenging condition - as you are constantly running to the toilet and also emotionally debilitating as you begin to feel so panic-stricken about leaving the house. During the worst times I felt I could only just get through the basics of the days (get my children dressed and fed) and everything else (work/friends/housework) had to fall by the wayside. I am at the 3.5 month mark and I have to say I still feel pretty average - the diarrhoea and nausea are still ever present and it remains a very challenging part of my life.
> 
> However, the things that I have found have triggered bad episodes are DIARY (every time, there is no cheating, I get terrible diarrhoea the next day every time i try to eat yoghurt or ice-cream), FRUCTOSE (especially honey, dried fruit, apples), baked glutinous goods, and anything with too much SUGAR or FAT. I follow the FODMAP diet, but I find that even things within that diet have had to be modified (ie. I can't eat nightshade vegetables or fruits like grapes).
> 
> I eat now a lot of oats and bananas and chicken and rice - with cooked zucchini and carrot. I eat rice cakes and Nairns oats cakes as a snack. I find this diet incredibly difficult to follow (it is so boring and restrictive), but if I follow it to the letter, I feel better within a week and the diarrhoea and nausea subside/become manageable, but if I fall off the wagon (even I just have a bite of my child's ice-cream a few days ago) I pay the price and am sick for 5-6 days as the gut appears to get irritated all over again and I feel back to square one. I also take probiotics, chinese herbs, slippery elm as supplements and I have started on an anti-depressant for sleep/anxiety/slowing the gut down.
> 
> I find this condition incredibly restrictive and demoralising - but I take heart that some people see an improvement around the 6 month mark and that by 12 months there has been a real improvement in quality of life. So thanks again for everyone who has shared their stories. I might post again in a few months if I too can contribute a hopeful story!


Hey rosierose..

Im at 6 months at PI IBS-D now.

Im litterly in the same boat as u are.

I follow FODMAP too and have gas, diarea and disconfort.

I must say.. u are good on track as a treatment. I like some things what u are saying like the slippery elm.

What I notice is that drinking LEMON JUICE water helps with FAT foods.

1 time a week i take a big cheat. Firday evening I eat lots of french fries with mayonaisse.

Normally i pay the price.. but with this filtering lemon juice.. damn, the next day is always a good day!

Firday lemon juice and fries.. next day.. not a single bowel movement and almost no urgency!

The things that are helping me:

LOW FODMAP

ginger tea everyday!

lemon juice! puts more alkaline acids in Gi tract.. foods do digest easier this way.

sport & rest

renew life Ultimate flora 50 billion probiotic (iherb site)

pepermind oil capsules

well.. I have 3 good days a week normally and 4 more bad. But it has been worse in the beginning.

Now I have 1 day of 7 a pretty almost normal stool.

The rest of the days are little pieces and chuncks and loose texture.

and 1 day of 7 its totally "D".

so im not even close to healed.

So, u are not alone in this









The fodmap diet is restricted, but u get used to it.

The only doubt I have: DO WE HAVE SIBO??


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## goldcamj

I just joined to add my story to the thread.

I got sick at the end of August 2015 with abdominal pains, bloating, cramping, and frequent, loose stools. There was occasional diarrhea, but mostly just softer stools. The bloating and pain in the belly button area was the main issue. After a week, I finally went to a doctor, who suggested that it was probably viral gastroenteritis. I had a stool culture test run, but no bacteria were found (at this point).

After not quite two weeks, the issues seemed to fade away, but then five days later, the cramping, bloating, and loose stools returned. Eventually, after about 4 weeks, my stress levels grew so high that I decided to just go to the ER. Blood tests for liver and pancreas functions came back normal, and a CT of my abdomen also showed nothing abnormal.

I few days later, I was finally able get in to see a gastroenterologist. Based on my symptoms and test results, he was fairly sure it was PI-IBS at this point. He recommended cutting dairy, alcohol, and caffeine from my diet (which I promptly) did. I also cut glutten (although the doc didn't think I needed to do that yet), and I started on a probiotic (doc recommeded that). He think any further testing (colonoscopy) was needed.

No long after the GI-doc visit, my symptoms seemed to be getting better. I'm sure that I was less stressed (since the test/CT results ruled out serious things like pancreatic cancer, etc.). I still had occasional cramping (like a pinch or spasm) in the areas near the path of the colon, but mostly I was feeling much more optimistic.

Now, in mid-Oct 2015, my cramping has increased again, and my stools are looser (I'm sure the two are connected). I've recently been stressing about a sick pet, so I'd be willing to guess that stress has re-activated the IBS symptoms (they never fully went away, but they are stronger now). I mostly have the pinching/spasming sensations in the area across the mid-abdomen (~ transverse colon), although sometimes there are on the sides (mostly ride side, near ascending colon).

That's my story for now. I'm not in misery like some people....just occasional discomfort. It's mostly the stress of "what is happening to me", "why is this coming back", and "what if something more serious is wrong" that bothers me.

Thanks for all your stories in this thread. It's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one with this.


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## jab0066

Hello all, I missed this post when I started a new one recently about my symptoms. My body somehow fought off a C Diff infection and now my doc believes I have PI-IBS. My main symptoms is lower back pain, stomach gas/ gurgles, stomach pain. This all started in July. I am now about 40% better, I would say. At first I could barely focus from the brain fog and just lack of energy. I also lost a ton of weight, but now its coming back. But, everyday, I deal with this urgency in m rectum. It feels warm after eat especially. I try not to worry, but I keep thinking its something worse, like the C Diff coming back or IBD. I tried cutting out dairy, gluten, coffee, alcohol and greasy foods. Nothing has helped ease symptoms, so I decided to enjoy my normal diet as I need something to be happy about lol.

Justin


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## Enviuos

So happy I found this thread. I've had watery diarrhoea every day for just over 2 weeks, stomache pains, cramps, wind, loss of appetite and a gurggling sensation in my stomache. I've probably spent 2 much time on goggle and all seems to point toward ibs-pi. I suffered with a severe anxiety disorder and depression a couple years ago which took a while to get over. 
This illness along with all the other stress ive been under lately has fetched all the anxiety and depression back. Iv feared I could have diarrhoea like this forever but after read so many of your post I feel so much better. I'm guessing I've jumped the gun a little. After all if you can cope all these years then I can at least wait for a few test results. And even if my fears are true from what you say it only gets better


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## rosierose

I just wanted to check back in with my six month update with PI-IBS. I can say now it does get better and life does improve, but it is very slow going and there are still set-backs and it still needs to be managed with diet, rest and a positive attitude. I have relaxed my diet a bit now (I can eat fairly normally, although I still don't eat dairy as that continues to make me very sick - even yoghurt, which is so frustrating, and I try to avoid too much sugar, gluten or saturated fats as that can still make me feel nauseas) so I can eat salads and fruit, although I still tend to stick to my fodmap diet. I also need much more sleep than I used to and I also try and manage my anxiety with breathing, yoga, slow walks and occasional swims. What I still finding frustrating at this point is the lack of energy. I am so much more fatigued than I used to be and have some dizzy spells and brain fog (again had never experienced that apart from being pregnant). I thus think I am still very much negotiating the healing process and am hoping that it is just a case of more time, more relaxation and more mindful eating/resting. This has certainly been one of the most challenging health periods for me and I wish everyone else dealing with thus much patience and positivity - I think it is the only tools which can get us though. Things do get better - the terrible nausea and anxiety do gradually recede - but it does take months and lots of deep breathing. Wishing everyone the best in their journey to heal!!


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## rockford12s

rosierose said:


> I just wanted to check back in with my six month update with PI-IBS. I can say now it does get better and life does improve, but it is very slow going and there are still set-backs and it still needs to be managed with diet, rest and a positive attitude. I have relaxed my diet a bit now (I can eat fairly normally, although I still don't eat dairy as that continues to make me very sick - even yoghurt, which is so frustrating, and I try to avoid too much sugar, gluten or saturated fats as that can still make me feel nauseas) so I can eat salads and fruit, although I still tend to stick to my fodmap diet. I also need much more sleep than I used to and I also try and manage my anxiety with breathing, yoga, slow walks and occasional swims. What I still finding frustrating at this point is the lack of energy. I am so much more fatigued than I used to be and have some dizzy spells and brain fog (again had never experienced that apart from being pregnant). I thus think I am still very much negotiating the healing process and am hoping that it is just a case of more time, more relaxation and more mindful eating/resting. This has certainly been one of the most challenging health periods for me and I wish everyone else dealing with thus much patience and positivity - I think it is the only tools which can get us though. Things do get better - the terrible nausea and anxiety do gradually recede - but it does take months and lots of deep breathing. Wishing everyone the best in their journey to heal!!


I can totally related to your situation Rosierose. Im about 5 months in since I got food poisoning which led to my pi-ibs. I agree that it has gotten better since I began taking probiotics (culturelle) and following a better diet. I am still avoiding dairy as well, but may test it out again in a month or so. I can say that since I've begun resting more, changing diet, and taking a daily probiotic my symptoms have improved. I went from constant bloating, gas, discomfort pain and diarrhea every day to occasional gas and bloating (significantly less), however stools have been small, soft/sometimes watery but without the D-type urgency.

I too feel as though my system is battling to get the bad bacteria out and replenished with the good bacteria. I am relatively young (mid-20s) so am hoping that this process goes sooner rather than later. It's undoubtedly a tough thing to get through while trying to maintain a normal social life...but reading other success stories here and posting updates is certainly encouraging. One of the most important things is to try and stay positive!


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## mzaur

I'm about 1.5 years since symptoms started and am feeling great lately. I would say the last 6 months have been fairly symptom free except for some flairups here or there which go away quickly (few hours). It's been a case of gradual improvement for me where every 6-8 weeks I'd notice a big improvement. The first 3 months were the worst, but after that it's been uphill.

It's definitely tough but if you are having bothersome symptoms try and get a prescription for amitryptline (elavil) from your primary care provider or gastroenterologist. I'm still on 10mg nightly but will be getting off soon. There is evidence out there that amitriptyline can help heal GI nerves but you should be on it for about 1-2 years. I have no side effects at this low of a dose, and it helps me sleep much better.

Also, I think meditation is important for calming down the mind and body. Check out the Calm app for learning to meditate

Wish you all a speedy recovery with this annoying illness. It will definitely get better with time!


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## goldcamj

Update on me (from a few posts back):

I had PI-IBS for about 2 months, starting in late Aug 2015. By the end of October, it had pretty much gone away, and I went back to a "normal" diet. Everything was fine for about 2 months (I felt like I was "cured"), and then at Christmas everyone in my household came down with some sort of virus (presumably), which had fever, pains, chills, and either frequent diareaha or very loose stools (sounds similar to norovirus). While I seemed to get better after a few days, sure enough the PI-IBS symptoms stared to return: cramping, discomfort, bloating, loose stools. I'm 2.5 weeks in since the last infection, and I'm still not normal. This time, I'm less stressed about, since I'm pretty confident that it's PI-IBS again; also, the symptoms seem to be milder this time around (maybe it's because I'm less stressed about it). It's just frustrating to have had put up with it for 2 months, to have had felt like it's gone, and then for it to re-occur. I'm back on probiotics, as I read a paper that indicated that norovirus infections affect bacterial populations in the gut (I don't know for sure that I had norovirus, but the symptoms point to a viral infection, and a norovirus is probably the most common). I'm also cutting dairy out again (in the period where I felt fine, I ate dairy without problems). Today, I've made through half the day without really any discomforts, but I have had a loose bowel movement. I'll report back when things change (hopefully for the better).


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## ibshelp87

Hello everyone,

Here is my story: Last April I had food poisoning and picked up an infection. This significantly changed my life. For a week I was throwing up and had lots of gas pain, heartburn etc. I thought it would go away as it usually does with a virus but the significant symptoms never really left me. After two weeks, the symptoms subsided and I started eating like I normally did. A few days later the symptoms returned but this time I would have lots of bloating, burps, heartburn and gas after eating. I decided to eat less spicy food and less coffee. The symptoms remained and got worse. At first this was just annoying since bloating and burping does not hurt as much. I decided to try the Low Fodmap diet but the symptoms did not go away. At this point I had not cut alcohol out of my diet and went away on a weekend getaway where I drank with friends at the end of July. After the drinking, everything stopped working completely and I started having colon problems. I would either have diarhea or severe constipation and have severe gas pain in my lower abdomen. At this point I had lost ten pounds since getting my infection.

My gastro doctor put me on a cipro and flagil and did a catscan on me in August of last year. They found non-cancerous lymph nodes around my colon so my doctor thought it showed that I may have had a virus but he was not sure why it would still be in my system so many months later. Nevertheless I took two antibiotics at the same time. I actually felt better after I stopped taking them for a few weeks! I started eating more normal food and having regular nutritious meals. Then in mid-september I went to a wedding and drank and everything went downhill from there. I started having severe constipation problems on top of heartburn, bloating, gas spams and lower belly pain. I was put on xifaxim which only made my constipation worse.

I also began to notice in October that whenever I did not have a full bm in the morning my stomach would hurt from literally everything i ate that same day. Eventually I was let go in December from my job because I was so sick and could not function or go a day with severe pain. Since I started having colon problems, my quality of life has significantly decreased. This January I decided to go to a nutritionist/homeopath to figure out what I can or can not eat. I have seen at least 8 GI doctors and they have not helped me at all, they have put me on countless antibiotics which only made me worse. My nutritionist told me that I have candida overgrowth amongst other things. She gave me many supplements such as L-Glutamine and probiotics and omega-3, coconut oil, etc. So far I have not seen an improvement in my symptoms from her supplements. The soup she recommended I eat six times a day did help in that it was in very small portions.

Right now I am gluten-free, diary-free and trying to be sugar-free. However if I feel constipated or do not have a complete bowel movement in the morning, my stomach hurts from even the small-size soup portion. I now weigh less than 100 pounds and have lost over 25 pounds. I am trying to eat at least six times a day. I have always had a sensitive stomach but never anywhere close to this. I just want to figure out what the next step for me is. I would like to figure out a path where I can stop the inflammation in my colon. I have tried many probiotics but none of them have had a significant impact on me. VSL3 was completely bull and I would really appreciate some suggestions from you guys. I am also thinking of taking an anti-depressants from the SSRI group since it helps with constipation. Please let me know what I can do because I am out of work and desperate. I would like my life back so I can at least get back to work. I have lost nearly a year to this.


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## rosierose

Oh your poor thing. This is such a hard condition. I'm sorry I don't have any great words of wisdom - as I'm in much the same situation - only I got sick in July - so am just coming 8 months. I too am dairy, gluten and sugar free and although I think this this helps deter acute flare-ups, by no means have i had the sense that my stomach has been healed by dietary measures alone. I think one needs to take a wholistic approach - get nine hours sleep, have naps during the day, start doing yoga and meditation - and if need be, also go and see a therapist so you can have someone to talk to about this that isn't a family member or a friend. Try to so the things you you love and enjoy - even when you feel crappy. I too feel as though my life has been on hold the past 8 months - I can't work properly, I can't parent properly, I can't socialise or exercise the way I used to. It literally is taking one day at a time and some days, I just can't do much. But let's hope life is long and that this phase is one of the hard times, but that it doesn't last forever and that eventually our digestive systems start to heal and feel better. I wish you all the best on this very trying and sometimes very lonely journey.


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## rockford12s

rosierose said:


> Oh your poor thing. This is such a hard condition. I'm sorry I don't have any great words of wisdom - as I'm in much the same situation - only I got sick in July - so am just coming 8 months. I too am dairy, gluten and sugar free and although I think this this helps deter acute flare-ups, by no means have i had the sense that my stomach has been healed by dietary measures alone. I think one needs to take a wholistic approach - get nine hours sleep, have naps during the day, start doing yoga and meditation - and if need be, also go and see a therapist so you can have someone to talk to about this that isn't a family member or a friend. Try to so the things you you love and enjoy - even when you feel crappy. I too feel as though my life has been on hold the past 8 months - I can't work properly, I can't parent properly, I can't socialise or exercise the way I used to. It literally is taking one day at a time and some days, I just can't do much. But let's hope life is long and that this phase is one of the hard times, but that it doesn't last forever and that eventually our digestive systems start to heal and feel better. I wish you all the best on this very trying and sometimes very lonely journey.


Preach Rosie.

I am dealing with a gut that has not healed yet from food poisoning 5 months back. Though my biggest symptom is gas and overall seems more mild than most IBS cases, I hope you all stay positive. Keep hope that this will eventually pass and you will feel normal again


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## Sunnie

Hi! Brand new to the group. 64 years old. Had food poisoning or 24 hr. stomach virus on 1/5/16. Got over it, but ever since, stomach discomfort, and off and on diarrhea. Went as long as 10 days without symptoms, thought I was back to normal, had Super Bowl junk food and a couple of glasses of wine, and have been in misery since. If I eat anything besides steam white rice, bananas, and bland meat, I get badbad diarrhea. Even well steam carrots (even 3 tiny baby carrot pieces) or half a dry baked potato sets me off. I've been on rice, bananas, and meat for 2 weeks and am worried about nutrition.

I have been primal/paleo for 3 years, and don't like having to eat rice.

I have been having some success with probiotics, rotating a Lactobacillus Acidophullus one with Align. One day on either and it helps. 2nd day in a row of either, and I get weird gut pains in the morning, but feel pretty decent by late afternoon-evening...unless I try eating something outside of rice/bananas/bland meat.

I saw my doctor today, and she agrees it is probably PI-IBS. She is having me provide stool samples to rule out parasites though. I can't see a gastroenterologist until March 8.

I have a history of uric acid kidney stones, so this much diarrhea (and prep for a colonoscopy) almost guarantees stones soon, a whole other issue. I can exist without Imodium if I stick to the rice/bananas/bland meat diet, but if I try something more nutritious, the diarrhea is bad enough to require Imodium. I'm filling an anti-spasmodic Rx tomorrow (Levbid).

My main question is, how long can one subsist on basically the BRAT diet? I'd try low FODMAP diet, but much on that has already set me off in the past month; I don't think my gut is ready for even that yet.

Help?


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## rockford12s

Sunnie said:


> Hi! Brand new to the group. 64 years old. Had food poisoning or 24 hr. stomach virus on 1/5/16. Got over it, but ever since, stomach discomfort, and off and on diarrhea. Went as long as 10 days without symptoms, thought I was back to normal, had Super Bowl junk food and a couple of glasses of wine, and have been in misery since. If I eat anything besides steam white rice, bananas, and bland meat, I get badbad diarrhea. Even well steam carrots (even 3 tiny baby carrot pieces) or half a dry baked potato sets me off. I've been on rice, bananas, and meat for 2 weeks and am worried about nutrition.
> 
> I have been primal/paleo for 3 years, and don't like having to eat rice.
> 
> I have been having some success with probiotics, rotating a Lactobacillus Acidophullus one with Align. One day on either and it helps. 2nd day in a row of either, and I get weird gut pains in the morning, but feel pretty decent by late afternoon-evening...unless I try eating something outside of rice/bananas/bland meat.
> 
> I saw my doctor today, and she agrees it is probably PI-IBS. She is having me provide stool samples to rule out parasites though. I can't see a gastroenterologist until March 8.
> 
> I have a history of uric acid kidney stones, so this much diarrhea (and prep for a colonoscopy) almost guarantees stones soon, a whole other issue. I can exist without Imodium if I stick to the rice/bananas/bland meat diet, but if I try something more nutritious, the diarrhea is bad enough to require Imodium. I'm filling an anti-spasmodic Rx tomorrow (Levbid).
> 
> My main question is, how long can one subsist on basically the BRAT diet? I'd try low FODMAP diet, but much on that has already set me off in the past month; I don't think my gut is ready for even that yet.
> 
> Help?


Hi Sunnie,

You're story sounds a lot like mine. I got food poisoning in Sept last year. Got diarrhea 3x the next day and then on and off diarrhea about 2-3 times per week. After a week or two passed I felt normal, but that didnt last long. After about a month I got a lot of stomach symptoms..bloating, rumbling, achiness, cramps and gas. Stool was not normal at all. Either diarrhea, or just short nothings. I went on the BRAT diet just like you, and can say that the BRAT diet has been my food intake for about 70% of the time i was diagnosed with PI IBS, and its been nearly 4-5 months. I went on a probiotic just like you (currently about 2 months in on it)..and I have definitely shown improvements. The time between my diarrhea attacks have been extending gradually. Went from 2-3x week, to 1x week, to 1x every two weeks, and currently has been close to 3 weeks now since I had D. My stools have actually been improving in shape and solidity as of late.

Im not sure if its the probiotic pills thats starting to kick in now, but I've also started drinking Kombucha the past couple weeks and feel like that may be playing a role as well. You should look into it. I feel like its been helping me and I only had a couple of bottles in addition to my probiotic pill. Its either that, or time that has been helping me get over this but I can say that I have seen at least a 65% improvement in my gut health since thanksgiving. The only major symptom that remains for me now is gas. I tend to get excessive gas after mostly all of my meals. I hope this is just a by product of all the bad bacteria finally getting fleshed out, but who knows!

All i can say is that all PI-IBS sufferers should stay as positive as possible, minimize stress, and enjoy life. This is a very annoying thing to deal with but IT WILL GET BETTER. You just have to believe it yourself.

I will try to keep this thread updated with my progress as I know reading other's stories help the situation. It definitely helped me keep my head up at times when i felt hopeless.


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## Sunnie

Thank you so much for responding and sharing. It is very helpful to know you aren't alone, not that I would wish this on anyone. I'm trying to stay calm, but each episode sets me off emotionally. Thank God my husband is such a solid rock for me.


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## rosierose

Hi Sunnie,

Sorry you're going through this hell - and it is hell - constant diarrhea, nausea and its attendant anxiety - is a horrible condition. You will gradually be able to tolerate more foods - but the first 3 months are the worst - I lived on oats and banana, rice and chicken for a good 4 months. Any kind of insoluble fiber (many of them thought 'safe' on the fodmap diet) would set me off. I found if I peeled, grated and cooked carrot and zucchini until they were basically like baby food and had small portions with my rice and chicken, I was able to tolerate them every second night after about 4 months. I gradually worked up to green beans and pumpkin and potato and sometimes I can even eat a bland green salad. This is a very slow process. My general practitioner and gastroenteroligst were of no help - so don't be too dismayed or disappointed if they can't help you once inflammatory disease, SIBO or parasites are ruled out. I think sometimes you have to take the drugs to be able to get through the day some days - immodium has been a life saver for me - both physically and psychologically. I make my own kefir water, make my own gelatine gummies and take a whole of different herbs - but sometimes, all these measures don't really help. I got a lot better between 4-6 months and noticed I could expand my diet. Unfortunately I got really sick again around the 7 month mark, which was really demoralising and, noticing that the symptoms were worst before during and after my period, I have now started on a synthetic progesterone drug, which already has provided some relief. I never thought I would find relief from a hormone but I had read on several sights that some women got relief from going back on BC. I hope you get some great advice from the specialists and hang in there- you're in the worst bit and it DOES get better, even if those improvements are incremental. Best wishes,


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## Sunnie

thanks so much, Rosie. Misery really does love company, but I'm so sorry you have suffered so much, so long.

I have a new patient appointment with a Functional Medicine MD on Thursday. I am much more inclined to go the more holistic, modern medicine path than Big Pharma old-school medical path. Fingers crossed.

And parasites have been ruled out.  We'll see what the new doc suggests.


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## rockford12s

Hi all,

Just wanted to come back and give an update since my last post. It has currently been nearly 9 months since I got food poisoning which led to my post-infectious IBS. I can confidently say that I feel 65-70% better. The first few months were hell. Diarrhea, Bloating, Gas, Weight Loss, etc. You name it, I likely experienced it. But after a couple months on probiotics and time passing, I do feel much better. I have slowly unrestricted my diet and I am eating what I want again, but on the healthier side.

The biggest issue that remains from my ibs is gas. I usually have pretty bad smelling gas occasionally throughout the day but gets worse towards night time, right after dinner. I assume that it is likely due to build up of everything I ate that day and my stomach being full. And I almost always wake up in the morning with a bit of an urge to have a bowel movement (which alternates between very soft or a bit more solid -- still all formed for the most part). Strangely enough, my stools are more formed after a night of drinking....I just dont get it









Curious if anyone else is experiencing the same with gas or has any recommendations to help it. I have tried Gas-X and Beano but neither seem to be too effective. I think I might go back on a probiotic soon (I stopped Culturelle about a month ago). I heard Align was good so I might try it out to see if it helps me feel better over + hopefully helps with the gas.

Ill try to come back with an update again soon. Hoping I can be closer to 100% for the summertime! Would love to hear your updates as well.


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## rosierose

That's great news, Rockford - so glad you're noticing improvement. I'm at the 10 month mark and am also noticing a gradual improvement too - again being able to eat a bit more broadly after my set-back at the 7 month mark. But I am now on a strict dairy/gluten/sugar/saturated fat-free diet. Although this is pretty boring, I've lost weight, my skin is clear and I no longer have those over powering cravings, so I actually think that this whole horrible experience has forced me to be a healthier person. I think taking up yoga and meditation have also helped.

Re the horrible gas - have you tried apple cider vinegar? This has been a life saver for me. I take a table spoon in warm water 15 minutes before each meal and it really helps with the digestion - I don't have that horrible nausea/bloating/pain after I've eaten any more - so heartily recommend it. Here's to continual progress and improvement!!


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## rockford12s

Hey Rosie, great to hear you are doing better. I agree 100% on this terrible experience turning me into a healthier person. About three months ago I told myself "hey if im forced to eat a restricted diet, I might as well hit the gym and make it worth it" so I've been going to the gym and replacing the weight lost with some muscle which im pretty happy about. I had lost roughly 15lbs since this all started, but have gained 5-7lbs back since. Slowly making progress!

Also, no -- I haven't tried apple cider vinegar, but will definitely look into it - thanks. I've actually begun taking this lesser-known probiotic that has a bunch of different strains in it. Im only on day 3 of it and feel an immense difference. But we all know how probiotics go, feel great for 1-2 weeks then back to normal. We'll see how this goes though.


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## Mo pi-ibs

Hi 
I'd like to share my story i had stomach infection bacteria took 4 courses of antibiotics to get rid of it few weeks later it developed to ibs i have been on this for 14 months i have done all tests and scans and all came back negative tried all types of diets nothing seemed to help. My syptoms is abdominal pain and excessive wind anxiety,depression,sleep disturp. What helped me is probiotics and kefir and fermeneted vegs. I would say it does get better slightly tried amitriptyline 10 mg id does help alot but it's said that it is masking the syptoms but does not treat but it will distract you of thinking about this illness all the time i am about 60 percent better . If anyone has got similar situation and has got better pls post your story it does motivate many people and make them stronger and give them hope .
Mo


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## rosierose

Thanks Mo Pi-IBS for sharing your story. It is my one year anniversary with Pi-IBS. I agree it does get better but that it is such a slow, often torturous process, which involves an array of interventions including diet, drugs, probiotics, rest, relaxation exercise and lots of positive thinking, and even therapy! I'm still not completely better. Every few weeks I still have attack but that is such an improvement on when I had acute D each and every day. I hope everyone is slowly healing and not letting this get them down - it is as much a psychological recovery, as it is a physical one.


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## rockford12s

Hi all,

Its been a couple months since my last update. I was actually on a good streak until this week where I got D twice a few days apart. I couldn't exactly link it to a specific food but it was disheartening. Granted I have loosened my diet severely and eat most of what I want to eat so it may have built up. My current constant symptoms are usually gas around night time after dinner and my stools are still very soft.

Im hoping for the day that they become solid again







. Everything else is bearable. From time to time I get some stomach pain but nothing like I used to. I will continue to take probiotics and I just started up drinking Kombucha again. Hopefully that helps. My 1 year anniversary from when I got food poisoning is coming up in September. Im hoping I will feel better but Im glad to say that I feel 80% better, with the occasional flare up here and there. Seems to be getting better, but I havent seen any progress in my stools getting harder :-/

Anybody going through the same?


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## TO68

Hello. I have recently been diagnosed with PI-IBS. I am so glad to find this page and to read what previous members have written. I will go ahead and tell my story:

I am from Ohio but married a Canadian so I now live in Canada. I went back to the US to work a short term job contract in healthcare in Feb of this year. The job was in my home town so I was really happy to be back where I grew up for a while. I stayed with my mom for part of the time and in a long term hotel for a bit too. At the very end of March, I got some sort of diarrheal infection lasting 24 hours. The first syptom was really putrid gas and so much of it. Then a couple hours later was diarrhea, but not watery, more like little piles if ribbons that smelled "sick". Sorry for the graphics By noon the next day it was like a fog cleared and I was fine and spent the next week feeling totally normal and going to work and working out. I am very active and lead a very healthy lifestyle with no smoking, no excessive alcohol, pescetarian type diet with recent addition of turkey, My only vice is sugar, and I had been consuming quite a bit of it previous to getting sick. I am 45 years old and did not have any sort of chronic digestive issues, ate whatever with no repercussions. I was called "cast iron gut" by my mom. I even took probiotics for health at times over the years. So after the week passes, on the same night a week later, my mom and I both get sick. My symptoms were exactly the same, same putrid gas, same BM, lots of abdominal pain. My mom threw up all night and had liquid diarrhea so her symptoms are slightly different. We were both extremely ill for 2 weeks. I took one day off work and then went back in. I drank Ensure for 4 days and was super fatigued. I slept a lot. The diarrhea would come in spurts starting really early in the morning waking me up at 4:30AM or so and having like 4 BM before work. Occasionally a BM at work, then I would come home and fall asleep and wake up to have 4 or so BM until 10-11PM. This was 2 weeks. My mom got better in about 3 weeks, her family doc said it was most likely a bad stomach virus which there were some going around. I improved slightly and the # of BM reduced but the look of them stayed the same. I eventually stopped passing much gas and would get extremely bloated to the point of nausea. I would start to feel better but then realize that I was still sick. My Canadian travel insurance had run out and the short term US policy I had purchased would not cover my condition because it listed it as "pre-existing". I finally went to an Urgent Care after being sick for 6 weeks and the first guy I saw said "you have IBS" and I was dumbfounded. I looked at him and said my mom and are are very sick she got better I still have it. He sent me out the door with Bentyl which I took as prescribed for 3 days. I returned to the clinic in more pain than I was in the day I got the bentyl and saw another dr, they rotate at this pace so you never get the same one twice. The second one blasted me with the Broad spectrum antibiotic called Flagyl. I had the generic form. He and I both discussed that I may have Giardia as I had been hit in the face with dirty river water and that maybe I had given it to my mom. Most likely it was probably a bacterial infection although I did not know they could last 6 weeks. He offered to do no testing because it was "difficult" and expsensive. By day 4 on this drug, my BM changed to much more runny but much less frequent. I completely lost my appetite and went back to the dr, this new one described the side effects of flagyl which I was experiencing. I should add that I never really had urgency during my sickness, just huge pain in the abdomen all the time and I could only tell I needed to have a BM by the feeling of fullness one usually gets in their rectum. So after the Flagyl I had moved into a long term hotel by now. I went back for a 4th time to the dr because I had a night of watery diarrhea that kept me from sleeping. Not sure if it was the drug leaving my system but it happened a day after stopping the pills. This Dr. decided to run 2 O&P tests and a bacterial test all of which were negative and not a surprise since I had just taken 10 days of 3X500mg of Flagyl. 2 weeks after the antibiotic I was gradually starting to wake up and actually be awake for a while before needing to have a BM. My BM were very mushy though. Someone on one of the sites I read coined the term "mud butt" and that was my norm. I was also staying pretty bloated, looking less bloated than before but still slightly early pregnant. Then about a month in I started to get more formed stools that would just fall apart when I flushed the toilet and occasionally one that did not. Once I got back to Canada I started seeing my family Dr/GP who referred me to a GI. I was getting woke up I the middle of the night by pain that eventually turned into burning pain. I was checked for gallbladder which was negative and some bloodwork revealed malabsorption. The GI finally agreed to do an endoscopy revealing "mild acid reflux". That mild acid reflux disturbed no less than 3 months of my sleep making me feel pretty strung out not to mention afraid since I had no idea what was wrong. So I am at about 3 months PI-IBS. I finished the flagyl around mid May 2016 which seemed to end my original infection so that is what I am considering the "onset" of my PI -IBS. The GI officially diagnosed me with PI-IBS about a month ago which inspired me to read and find out all I could about it. He has not been very helpful so far but I have a follow up with him regarding my scope late Sept. Maybe he will have something useful to say. So far he has told me that the gut gets very disrupted sometimes during infection and that it takes time to get it rebalanced. Here in Canada you sort of go back and forth between specialist and family dr, my family doc is who read the endoscopy report and told me about the reflux. I have read online that many people with IBS have acid reflux due to the increased abdominal pressure. I was extremely bloated. Since my return to Canada and trying to get help I have had some small improvements including decreased bloating. I started on Align probiotic as suggested by my GP/family doc and it seemed to help. I was also put on a medication called Dicetel with no explanation of what it does and no dosage suggestion. Unfortunately the day I went to the pharmacy a fill in pharmacist was there so I was given very little information, take as symptomatic. I have since learned a bit more about the drug and have found it helpful. It does seem to help with firming up the BM a bit, reducing urges, overall I am choosing to stay on it for now. I was taking too much and getting somewhat constipated and having BM that were actually hard to pass and made a lot of noise hitting the water. In a way that was welcome. I dropped my dose and now have mostly formed but soft "shaggy" looking poop 2/3 of the time mixed with what I will simply call variety for the rest of the time. For the most part I have my BM in the morning after I get up, a pattern that was normal for me before all of this. I may have a 2nd one in the morning as well, also previously normal. Very occasionally I may have a BM not in that schedule, but that has not happened much in the past month. I have lost about 30 pounds, I did have some extra weight to spare but really do not wish to lose more weight at this time. I am very fatigued and lucky to have a supportive spouse who is super understanding and is allowing me to stay home. I am in the process of trying to get a naturopath to help me with diet and overall health which I think has taken a hit going through all of this. Before this situation, I was not a very anxious person, but I have noticed that my anxiety had become super intense. The last week or so I have been working on dialing that down. I think I am fortunate to at least have a mostly somewhat regular BM schedule, but I really attribute that to the drug I am taking. For the couple of months before I got back, my body did seem to be trying to get back to the morning norm as far as timing went. My bloating has greatly reduced but I find that I do not pass much gas. I am able to before my morning BM and only occasionally during the day. Sometimes after food I can tell I need to pass gas and I try to do a yoga pose called "wind relieving pose" to help it along. It usually works. I plan to ask the GI about the trapped wind. This has been quite an ordeal and right now I am working on wrapping my head around the diagnoses and trying to be proactive about enlisting some medical folks who can actually help me. The reflux is much better since I have been informed about it and am now avoiding things I was eating that make it flare up. I also am on 300mg of Zantac right now daily. I want off of it ASAP because taking it makes me more susceptible to getting another infection. I don't have a lot of pain, sometimes right before a BM there is cramping that is short lived and disappears after the BM. I sometimes feel pressure from trapped wind. My story is long but I wanted to give you as much detail as I could. Looking forward to connecting with people on here to see how their journey unfolds. It seems that many people can and do recover from this. I have read studies that say about 50% do, and other studies that suggest symptoms at least decrease. It seems to take a couple of years. Trying to stay positive.


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## TO68

Sunnie said:


> Hi! Brand new to the group. 64 years old. Had food poisoning or 24 hr. stomach virus on 1/5/16. Got over it, but ever since, stomach discomfort, and off and on diarrhea. Went as long as 10 days without symptoms, thought I was back to normal, had Super Bowl junk food and a couple of glasses of wine, and have been in misery since. If I eat anything besides steam white rice, bananas, and bland meat, I get badbad diarrhea. Even well steam carrots (even 3 tiny baby carrot pieces) or half a dry baked potato sets me off. I've been on rice, bananas, and meat for 2 weeks and am worried about nutrition.
> 
> I have been primal/paleo for 3 years, and don't like having to eat rice.
> 
> I have been having some success with probiotics, rotating a Lactobacillus Acidophullus one with Align. One day on either and it helps. 2nd day in a row of either, and I get weird gut pains in the morning, but feel pretty decent by late afternoon-evening...unless I try eating something outside of rice/bananas/bland meat.
> 
> I saw my doctor today, and she agrees it is probably PI-IBS. She is having me provide stool samples to rule out parasites though. I can't see a gastroenterologist until March 8.
> 
> I have a history of uric acid kidney stones, so this much diarrhea (and prep for a colonoscopy) almost guarantees stones soon, a whole other issue. I can exist without Imodium if I stick to the rice/bananas/bland meat diet, but if I try something more nutritious, the diarrhea is bad enough to require Imodium. I'm filling an anti-spasmodic Rx tomorrow (Levbid).
> 
> My main question is, how long can one subsist on basically the BRAT diet? I'd try low FODMAP diet, but much on that has already set me off in the past month; I don't think my gut is ready for even that yet.
> 
> Help?





Sunnie said:


> Hi! Brand new to the group. 64 years old. Had food poisoning or 24 hr. stomach virus on 1/5/16. Got over it, but ever since, stomach discomfort, and off and on diarrhea. Went as long as 10 days without symptoms, thought I was back to normal, had Super Bowl junk food and a couple of glasses of wine, and have been in misery since. If I eat anything besides steam white rice, bananas, and bland meat, I get badbad diarrhea. Even well steam carrots (even 3 tiny baby carrot pieces) or half a dry baked potato sets me off. I've been on rice, bananas, and meat for 2 weeks and am worried about nutrition.
> 
> I have been primal/paleo for 3 years, and don't like having to eat rice.
> 
> I have been having some success with probiotics, rotating a Lactobacillus Acidophullus one with Align. One day on either and it helps. 2nd day in a row of either, and I get weird gut pains in the morning, but feel pretty decent by late afternoon-evening...unless I try eating something outside of rice/bananas/bland meat.
> 
> I saw my doctor today, and she agrees it is probably PI-IBS. She is having me provide stool samples to rule out parasites though.  I can't see a gastroenterologist until March 8.
> 
> I have a history of uric acid kidney stones, so this much diarrhea (and prep for a colonoscopy) almost guarantees stones soon, a whole other issue. I can exist without Imodium if I stick to the rice/bananas/bland meat diet, but if I try something more nutritious, the diarrhea is bad enough to require Imodium. I'm filling an anti-spasmodic Rx tomorrow (Levbid).
> 
> My main question is, how long can one subsist on basically the BRAT diet? I'd try low FODMAP diet, but much on that has already set me off in the past month; I don't think my gut is ready for even that yet.
> 
> Help?


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## TO68

Hi Sunnie,

I have found that the antispasmotic drugs can be helpful. I am currently taking dicetel with pretty good results. I seem to have a regular bowel timing while on it. I had to experiment with the dosage though and ended up starting too high. My guts felt sort of paralyzed and I had almost mild constipation happening. BM that were hard to pass, having tohave 3 small ones in a row to get empty, ect. I had no idea that it was from the dicetel and only figured it out by dropping the dose myself. I thought my hard poop was from the IBS disorder process. Now that I am on a lower does, the stools are looser but I have the timing that I need to function. Wondering if your drug helped your symptoms at all?

TO68


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## TO68

Shout out to Rosierose, MO PI IBS, Rockford12s, Mzaur, Sunnie, and all. How are you all doing? Inquiring minds want to know. I am waiting for my GI appointment later this month to try and get some information from my DR about recovery from PI-IBS. I know my dc treats 500-1000 pts per year in a big city hospital, I am sure he has some experience treating pts like us so I will post any words of wisdom he might have. Wishing everyone positivity on their healing journey of this tough condition. I personally am looking forward to the day I can have PB again(it currently hurts my reflux)as well as maybe the option to regularly eat like 24 foods instead of the dozen or so I am currently eating. My stamina is very slowly and gradually improving. That is the one positive for me right now at a week shy of 4 months into this. Take care everyone, I hope to see you all posting again when you can

TO68


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## TO68

4 month update after GI visit today:

Just wanted to post an update. While my GI will never win a "most helpful" award, he does treat 500-1000 pts per year. When I asked him if he treated PI-IBS much he answered "everyday". He has seen people recover so yes it is possible. Unfortunately for me, my mom has IBS and my grandfather on her side had it so we are not sure if I will recover. My GI did say that sometimes IBS in general recovers, goes into long remissions, or fades until it is a minor nuisance. Some could have really disruptive symptoms for life though. I took in an article by Robin C. Spiller, if you have not done so Google him. He is an expert on functional disorders and has done a 5 year study on PI-IBS showing 2 out of 3 recover in 3-5 years which is 67%. One of the first studies done in WW2 showed 77% recovered in 2 years which Spiller references in his study.

How am I doing? To be honest better. My stamina and appetite have both improved and my reflux pain has greatly decreased. I no longer get woke up in the middle of the night every night in pain. In fact, I don't get woke up from it at all anymore but my sleep is more irregular than it was before PI-IBS. I have heard this is common. My sleep is getting better though, I never used to wake up in the middle of the night but now I do. But I fall back asleep quickly and am more rested overall. I am just now decreasing my reflux meds to 225 mg instead of 300 mg. per day. I have adopted the low FODMAP diet for now and am adding in foods but I am not real strict about it, I add 2 foods per week instead of one. I am mostly sugar free right now and eat very little processed foods at this time. I don't eat out currently but my spouse and I never did go out much for food. My bloating is still there but very decreased. I have been on probiotics since June, I take align. I am going to add a pearl one in the evening this week. My abdominal pain is very decreased. I don't seem to have consistent pain before a BM which some people have but I do have abdominal pain and occasional pain/gas right before BMs. I am on a motility drug called Dicetel. It slows digestion down so I have pretty much one BM in the morning sometimes 2 and that is it. The BM are mostly formed but very soft and shaggy looking with occasionally one that is just mushy. I am really thankful for the regularity the Dicetel is providing. I take a pretty low dose of 2X50mg /day.

I can honestly say that I am much better than I was 2-3 months ago. I am not "normal" by any means but I am for sure improved. I just started going back to the gym this week as well. Again, not doing what I was before but at least able to do some weights and be on the elliptical some. Great for endorphins and well being. I had a good yoga and meditation practice before all of this and I am finding both useful for coping with PI-IBS. I was always a laid back not anxious person but I noticed that I had become very anxious early on and no wonder with all the unexplained pain, fatigue, diarrhea, and general disrupted normalcy of life. I had to consciously work on reducing anxiety to get back to feeling more like "me" and I made the time and decision to do so. I would tell everyone that working on stress and anxiety are really important. So do it!

All the posts on here talking about getting better are true. I wish everyone improvements on their journey. 4 Months in and I am at least improved and moving forward. I am not getting worse.

take good care everyone. I look forward to hearing from some of you in the future.

TO68


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## rockford12s

Hi T068,

Great to hear that you are doing better. It's tough I know. Here is a quick update from me:

It has officially been a little over a year since I got food poisoning and the onset of my PI-IBS symptoms began. If I had to put a percentage on it, I'd say I'm 70-80% better. Some days are better than others.

At first, I was constantly dealing with pain, bloating, gurgling, gas, and frequent diarrhea. Also was a point early on when my BM's were small strands of nothing. Since then I've tried multiple probiotics, kefir, BRAT diets, and I have seen improvement over the months. At my current state, I don't have pain or much bloating, and I dont get diarrhea (or at least the urge) very often. I have also recently found that coffee w/ cream definitely increases my liklihood of having D.

When I do go to the bathroom (typically as soon as I wake up) my BM's are soft --definitely not solid - but not watery either. Some BM's are def worse after I eat thing like, say, a full medium pizza to myself :-X. Reason Im eating that stuff is because I've lost weight and Im trying to gain some of it back.

Post BM are not easy to clean either like most of you all. Another issue I deal with is that I experience significant gas when I lay down to go to bed. I assume this is from all the food build up from my meals during the day because its usually the only time I experience gas.

If anyone has suggestions on ways to help with gas at night or ways to solidify stool -- please let me know. I am still taking a probiotic, but will probably try Align soon as I havent tried that one yet. I also have been considering trying L-Glutamine to help repair lining of my gut. Not sure how effective it is, but may be worth a try.

Good luck to everyone who is fighting this shitty (pun intended) infection.


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## TO68

Hi Rockford12s

So nice to hear from you! As far as firming up BMs goes, I am guessing that a motility drug might help with that but you are pretty far along and seem to be doing well with bowel timing. I sort of credit the motility drug for helping my BM look more normal. You seem to not have lots of diarrhea anymore. Try align for sure, it is pricey compared to others but you can get it pretty reasonable on Amazon. Don't buy more than a box at a time though. They have a tendency to send you a abox just about to expire. That is what I got the last time i ordered one. I use it daily and plan to stay on it for months. I am now adding in a Pearl type probiotic at night with last night being my first double dose. My plan is to alternate the evening probiotic for variety and just keep Align my morning constant. I think time is the main thing that will firm up you BM. The gas is a sign that your body may not be digesting something all the way. I am for sure no expert. But you could try a FODMAP type appraoch. I am not doing a strict FODMAP, but I way limited my diet to some basic stuff: steel cut oats, bananas, kiwi, brown rice, meat, carrots and zucchini. I am building from there and plan to eliminate anything that causes pain or gas or any other symptom that seems bad. I too am struggling with weight loss (for like the forst time in my life...LOL) and wish to gain a little. The food I am eating does not help much with weight gain. I have the double whammy of reflux so I have to be careful about fat, which could cause lots of burning pain for me so right now it is hard for me to get any extra calories. So that is what I would try, eliminate some foods or start with a really basic diet that your body con recognize and then build from there. I personally am not eating hardly any processed food right now. Just stuff my body can try to digest easy and rebuild with. I want to start back on dairy again in a couple of weeks. I was on it off and on but in pain a lot previously. It seems many of us have pain but it may or may mot be related to food. And in your case, coffee and cream is bad but cheese on a pizza seems ok. I know someone on one of the sites I read said that 2 triggers together will cause problems for her, so the coffee= caffeine and IBS trigger and cream = also trigger together might just be too much for you now. Maybe try soy milk if that does not bother you? And try coffee and cream again in a month and see what happens. If it still bothers you continue to avoid it for another month then try again one day when near a toilet Patience seems to be key. I am planning to try broccoli tonight for dinner as my new food for the week. I found a big list online, if you Google Monash university Low FODNAP list you may find it too, it is 19 pages long and details foods that can be problematic for IBS people in terms of digestibility. Like everything with IBS, no 2 people are alike so just use the list as a guide. So glad you are doing better in spite of soupy poop. There are worse things for sure.

Nice hearing from you Rockford

TO68


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## TO68

Also Rockford, try not to eat close to bedtime. That may help with the gas at night. Eat your last meal 3 hours or so before bed and resist snacking before bed. I walk a bit after dinner to just help things along. See if that could help your gas. I am guessing that over the counter gas products will not help your issues, I know when I was having painful gas build up I did not bother with them. Diet seems to be key. You need to find some higher calorie foods that your body does not react to.

TO68


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## TO68

Hey Rockford12s

Did you try Align yet? I am still on it, have been since june. I think it helps. As long as you have no bad effects when you try it, just commit to taking it for a few months and see what you think. Hope you are doing ok.

Would love to hear updates from folks. Will be posting my 6 month update soon.

TO68


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## rockford12s

TO68 said:


> Hey Rockford12s
> 
> Did you try Align yet? I am still on it, have been since june. I think it helps. As long as you have no bad effects when you try it, just commit to taking it for a few months and see what you think. Hope you are doing ok.
> 
> Would love to hear updates from folks. Will be posting my 6 month update soon.
> 
> TO68


I havent tried Align yet, but im going to start next week. The past week has been a bad one. Diarrhea twice this week when I have gone weeks without it before. I really am not sure what triggers it. I think its if i eat alot of high carb foods/a lot of food, my stomach just doesn't digest it well. Im not sure. Very frustrating.

Hopefully Align helps. Not sure what else there is to do. Might visit the doc again but they arent very helpful with this.


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## TO68

Hey Rockford12s

I am having a set back too. I started eating a lot more types of food in the last 2 weeks. I went out to eat 2X with no repercussions. I guess things built up or maybe something inflamed me again. But I was progressing really well and now for the past 5 days or so I have had mushy BM in the morning 1-3X with gurgling, pain, pressure. Not much urgency though. Unpleasant for sure. During this episode I have had some abdominal pain return too. I used to have it at higher levels and for large parts of the day, right now it is off and on and especially a bit after eating, unpleasant but I am more able to cope at least this go round. It had mostly left for the past few weeks. The set back/flare up seems to be winding down at this point, went back to bland and limited diet and upped my motility drug. I had worked down to just 1 pill/day which is 50mg, now today back up 100. I am still on Align and plan to stay on it. I think it does help. I guess the probiotics don't actually stay in your body long, like 2 weeks, but they somehow help your natural biome repopulate as well as help your immunity. It is a low dose of 1 billion, so good for daily dose. I take a second probiotic at night, I recently changed that up and am stopping it to see if that is contributing to the flare up or not. Sometimes too much probiotic can cause loose BM. When you say you had diarrhea 2X do you mean multiple trips to toilet for 2 days or really loose type BM when you have one? Like I have had really mushy Bm this past 5 days but only one day of 3X, not running to toilet all day but still a set back since BMs had been formed for weeks. I agree that the drs are not at all helpful. The GIs have the most knowledge about this but all they want to do is run tests, it seems they could care less about helping people actually manage their illness. Not sure if you deal with a GP or "family doc", in Canada it is family doctor. Mine has been somewhat helpful, she is more than willing to help me manage but readily admits that she has never treated someone like me with PI-IBS. But my GI has treated hundreds of PI-IBS folks. I think because I refused colonoscopy he no longer want to deal with me. I refused because he readily admitted that blasting my body with 3 days of laxatives for the prep could indeed set me back and change my gut biome. Not all Gis require 3 day prep and why would I want a set back when he is pretty sure of my diagnoses? Oh well. You may be suggested to manage diarrhea with something like Imodium. I like the dicetel that I am on. You could ask about motility drugs if you see your Dr. The one I am on can be taken daily or sporadically as needed. I find it helpful and am hoping I can just bump it up for what I am dealing with right now and back it down when I am through it. I think finding a few foods you know that are not a problem is key and use them when you have a set back. A high calorie food is also key so you can keep from losing weight. My go to high calorie food now that I can eat fat again is walnuts. 1/4 =250 calories. I don't eat them all at once but throughout the day to keep my calorie intake up. Really helping during this flare. I also find bananas helpful, good for diarrhea. Give them a try, I eat 2 a day sometimes. They should help firm up stool and replenish electrolytes if you are going to toilet a lot.

Take care and give that align a try, just start it and stay on it for a while and see what you think.


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## rosierose

Recovery is definitely not a linear process with this PI-IBS. I'm coming up to 18 months post initial infection. I was doing so much better then I changed probiotics and within a week I was back to nausea/diarrhea. I was so demoralised. I'd forgotten how hideous it is to be so sick in the morning and how tired and depleted you can get. I went back on my BioCeuticals 45 probiotic and feel a lot better now. So yes, I think good quality probiotics play a huge role in managing this condition. Hope everyone is doing ok.


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## TO68

RosieRose,

So glad you chimed in. I also had just switched my probiotic and around that time is when my set back happened. I had gone out to eat 2X for the first time in months, and had not immediate repercussions. Then I unrestricted my diet at home adding in some higher FODMAP stuff and some processed foods but not a ton of those. Then I noticed things gradually changed for the worse. I take Align in the morning and plan to stay on that one, but I have tried 2 different ones for the evening. I have stopped this second one and plan to stay off of it. I am gathering from reading many posts that the recovery is indeed not linear. But from some I have seen that the flares get either shorter or father between or both. Here's hoping. I know probiotics don't seem to help some folks while they do others. I do seem to be getting positive results with Align. I noticed right away back when I first started taking it. I just decided to keep taking id daily for many months to see what happens. Been on it since June.

TO68


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## rosierose

It's interesting, isn't how the flare up is not usually the result of one lapse but an accumulation. LIke you, TO68, I had eaten out a couple of nights and hadn't noticed anything detrimental. As a result I started eating some lollies and chocolate (I think you keeping on thinking 'I'm cured! Yay - I can eat whatever I want and not suffer') but then after a week or so of eating this way, you get sick. It's so frustrating, but it's important to remember to try and stick to the right diet, even when you're feeling better! I think you can get away with the odd meal out or a few drink now and again but it can't be a daily event or you start to suffer. I take heart in the fact that I was well for a few months before getting sick again in the last few weeks, I think the periods of wellness definitely do extend and the period of sickness get farer and fewer between.


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## TO68

You hit the nail on the head Rosierose. I had been getting better and better with decreased symptoms across the board. I had lost a ton of weight and was often hungry and my stamina was just coming back. I started to feel really good. And yes, after eating out and having no issues that night or the next day, I just kept on adding back in foods because I was so hungry and just sick of having to be so vigilant. I did have some snack foods as well as some processed foods, all of which I had been previously avoiding. I also made home cooked food with some high FODMAP ingredients. Then I noticed some pressure in my gut for a few days, nothing too scary. Then I had pain, gurgling, noise, all before morning BM which became very squishy again. Had a day of pain and gurgling and 3 BM that were more loose than lately all in the morning. Then a lousy day where I was woke up at 4AM with pain and gurgling with the need to have a BM that was mudbutt like. Good times! I went back to the higher dose of my motility drug after that. This instance is not all that bad, but the affects of losing sleep sucks and then the anxiety of experiencing the set back starts which can get away from you if you don't consider it and reel it in. I find it to be an emotional process. Almost like mild post traumatic stress syndrome. Like Oh no, I have to go through this again. But things are at least different and somewhat milder than what I had before. The pain prior to BM is somewhat recent, that was not happening so much in the beginning for me. But my sleep is ok again, the morning is becoming less intense for BM. The motility drugs are working. I guess what I learned is what you said. I have to stay vigilant but can maybe cut loose a day at a time for now. Not 2 weeks of living large!


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## TO68

Hello everyone,

6 Month update:

Between 4-5 months I notced many positive changes. Starting to feel better, able to eat more, BM formed daily, many positives. Then I hit a flare or set back right before month 6. Symptoms are not great but manageable. I am not sure what brought on the set back but I did go out to eat a couple of times with no immediate repercussions and I also changed one of the daily probiotics I take. The my symptoms started happening.

Positves: reflux is pretty much gone. Minor symptoms like belching here and there. No meds needed, no burning, no getting woke up every night anymore. Glad for this because it was a nuisance for sure. No more high pain levels. I used to have high levels of burning pain that would last for 5 hours or more at a time, that is gone. Thank God!

Abdominal pain overall decreased. Very few episodes of pain after eating anymore. Stl happnes now and then but no longer what it used to be. Sometimes I would have pain for a few hours at a time after eating. Burning, nausea, just pain. It sucked.

Bloating= much better. Still happens at times after eating but not in pain from it. Also not as big looking. Trapped wind is decreased at this time. Starting to have gas more regularly but this is not totally normal yet.

Diet- This varies. I am not committed to full FODMAP but I have a printout of the chart and reference it. I have added back in many known trigger foods including dairy and small amounts of wheat. I am not wheat free but wheat reduced. I make efforts to buy spelt sour dough bread and I bake all my own muffins and cookies without wheat at this time. Not sure if this helps or not. Sometimes I get slight burning after eating wheat crackers as a snack, I see this as my body just is not ready for wheat all the time yet. Otherwise I just eat healthy. I stopped all processed food for a while and found this helpful. Now I eat a little of it daily, might as well try to get my body used to it again. I have read many diet theories about IBS. Some people say paleo is good, FODMAP, ect. I do eat grains by choice as I am very active. So I use steel cut oats, rice, rice noodles, and quinoa. I mostly eat low FODMAP veggies with small amounts of higher ones here and there. I eat small amounts of sugar daily in the form of dark chocolate. I eat fruit sugar too.

Sleep- my sleep has greatly improved this past few months, it was horrible in the beginning and I felt vet strung out. My stamina is also much better allowing me to go back to being active and going to the gym, riding my bike, ect. It is really helpful to try to get active again. During the first 2 months of my PI-IBS I was literally just walking like a block at a time to build up my stamina because it was so low. I find exercise and physical activity to be key because it reduces stress, makes you sleep better, increases endorphins, so many positives. Try to get active in any capacity, it helps.

Flare up- started a couple of weeks ago. Was not good for a few days then doable. Got woke up once at 4AM or so to have runny mushy BM, not ideal. I went from having large formed soft BM daily and predictably in the morning to mudbutt stool needing 1-3X for empty of colon. Makes the mornings not as efficient and I have to get up extra early to make sure my colon is done before work or leaving the home. But once I am done, that is it for the day. I have the classic IBS pain of discomfort before BM that is relieved mostly with BM. There is some lingering pain for up to 30 minutes afterwards but I notice by midmorning I feel fine. I don't really have urgency, it is more of an unpleasant pain instead of a normal feeling of fullness to signal the need to have BM. At this point I have upped my motility drug (Dicetel) again and am on 150mg/day after enjoying being on only 50 mg/day and dreaming of not taking meds at all in the future. At this point my BM are starting to be formed daily again but they are not one large piece and as stated I have to go 1-3 X each morning. Not ideal but livable for now.

Coffee and alcohol- I stopped both back in March when I got sick. I miss coffee a lot. I am fine with no alcohol but would not mind a drink here and there. Might try one for New year's Eve but would really like a decaf coffee new year's Day!

Probiotics- I use Align daily. I had decent results with pearl brand women's yeast control probiotic but ran out, want to get back on those for my night dose. I take Align first thing in the morning, keep it with water on the night stand. Seems to be helping overall I think.

For the most part I can sum up by saying that overall, I do feel better across the board. When I look back to the first 3 months of PI-IBS, I realize that this month 6 is indeed improved compared to month 1-3. Not great, but improved in terms of function and what I am dealing with. Even my current set back is better than month 1-3 in terms of function and amount of discomfort.

Living everyday focusing on what I can do for the day. Trying to make good diet choices and keep stress levels down. Have family doc visit next month for overall health physical and IBS management. GI doc out of picture unless I want a colonoscopy. My family doc encouraged me to not work with NP or dietician due to cost. She is not against working with either, just thinks my situation does not need them and knows my finances are not great right now.

Wishing everyone one on here positive change and recovery from this condition.

I will post a 9 month update in the future and check in now and then to see if anyone else is posting. Take care!

TO68


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## TO68

Hi everyone!

*9 month update:*

I was in a flare during my 6 month update. That has calmed down but I am still on 100 mg dicetel daily. I had dropped to 50 prior to my flare.

Overall, I am better. I look back to my first 3 months and now see how bad they were compared to how I feel now. I was in constant pain, eating was hell and so much so that I basically quit eating much and lost 40 pounds. My energy was so low that it was a struggle to do basic things. My life became very altered much like many other folks' lives on here. If you have PI-IBS, be prepared to be derailed from your life for a bit. But it does get better with time. I had to quit my full time job and change my plans for contract work and instead now work in retail until next fall when I take another full time contract. At least it is cash flow but not my normal job. I had to be close to my Drs though while we were figuring things out.

It took about 3 months to get a diagnoses and to begin trying to take care of myself. My family Dr. put me on Align probiotics and a motility drug called dicetel. I am still using both today. This was stressful to say the least as I had no idea what was wrong. I was in pain, bloating really bad, had trapped wind, and very mushy unformed BMs with urgency sometimes.

Here are some of the things I have done to manage and improve my condition:

*Probiotics:* My family dr put me on align right away. I had a history of using probiotics for health so I easily accepted her suggestion. I have been on Align for about 6 months now and feel that it has helped. I recently read that one of the ways it helps is that it is a strain that does occur naturally in the body and it feeds on things in the gut that the bad bugs also like and need. So it basically provides competition for the food sources of the bad bacteria and helps to starve them off. I noticed short term firmer BMs right when I started taking it but then I went back to mush. I took the fact that the short term affect was at least positive and my condition did not worsen with the align so I stayed on it. I also use something called BioK that is a yogurt type probiotic, it is expensive so I only take a couple of tablespoons a day. I tried here and there early on and got belly gurgles but no issues other than that but the gurgles made me cautious. I am still using BioK but now take it daily when I find it on sale. I also take a yeast balance pearl probiotic at night 1 billion count and I recently started drinking kombucha since Rockford 12s was giving it a go. I get epic belching with it....LOL....and even had some stomach gurgles and rumbles from it initially. But oddly enough, I had a total log BM the next day the first time I drank it. Now I keep a couple bottles around when I find it on sale and I still get an occasional log from it!

*Motility drugs:* My family dr prescribed one called dicetel. I have read that the average dose is 150 mg/day. I have had 50-200 during my usage and am finding that 100 is where I need to be right now. It does not make things perfect but it does help regulate the digestive process and early on I think it really helped to keep me from having worse BMs and diarrhea. It caused me to back up at times and my bowel timing was off. I would have Bms daily but they seemed small and then one day have 2 or 3 like my colon finally would empty out. It seemed like my colon would just not keep track of the contents well or something. But that may have simply had to do with my condition and not really the dicetel. Side effects include being tried and having headaches. I still get tired from it now and then but I never get headaches anymore from it. Early on I was on zantac for my stomach pain and acid reflux, I was on it for about 3 months or so and am now totally off of it and have been for several months.

*GI Dr.:* Mine was not the most helpful. He just wanted to do a bunch of scopes. I did submit to an upper scope(endoscope) as I had terrible stomach pain and upper back pain, esp at night. It showed mild acid reflux and the dr made an offhand comment that he was still not sure what was causing my pain which suggested that the mild reflux he saw was not enough to cause the pain levels I was describing. I refused the colonoscopy because when I researched it online, it became clear that it could upset my bacterial balance even more. The Dr confirmed this and then promptly asked when I planned to schedule mine. I refused and it was all downhill from there. Drs can use something called the Rome criteria to diagnose IBS so the colonoscopy is not absolutely needed. If I had done one, I could have gotten a cancer screen out of the way but I did not like the idea of being set back more from this disorder. Proceed with caution on this test because it can set you back a bit and make diarrhea really bad for some people for a few weeks. But the flip side is that for about 50% of the people it can make things better too. My family DR respected my decision to not want that lower scope but cautioned that if I was stil having trouble or getting worse that we would need to go through with it. I know some go ahead for piece of mind because this is such a bewildering process for people.

*Diet:* Drs are not helpful. My family dr just recommended to eat healthy and limit junk and processed food. I did this with pretty god discipline and am still somewhat careful. I used the FODMAP list but did not follow a strict elimination diet. I did just eat about a dozen foods for 2 weeks then gradually started trying new foods, one to two per week. Everything seemed to cause me pain, but after the reflux was found my family dr said to try a reflux diet. So that is why I only ate 12 foods for a couple weeks and really decreased fat intake too. I can honestly say that my stomach and back pain did start to recede during this time and completely left in about a month and a half. I kept losing weight on this diet though which was not ideal. Once I could tolerate fat again, I added walnuts to my diet for calories. Now I just eat them because I like them! The foods I focused on at first were simple things like steel cut oats, rice, quinoa, meat, carrots, zucchini, kiwi, and lots of bananas. I did not eat sugar for days at a time and ate very little of it for about 4 months. I consciously gave up coffee and alcohol because both caused extreme pain for me with even small sips and because they are both known to irritate the gut. I would take a sip of coffee or alcohol here and there only to have it burn immediately. I actually had my first bit of pain free coffee today at a funeral. It was about a third of a cup of decaf with cream and sugar. No pain and it tasted delicious. I plan to have some more when I go camping this summer. I have adjusted to life without coffee but I do miss it. I drank some ice wine on New year's eve. I felt it, there was a slight burn. But I also had Doritos at the party I was at.....LOL! I had no other issues from the night though, but felt that the pain from the small amount of ice wine should be take seriously so I have not had alcohol since. Maybe later this summer. 9 months in and I eat pretty well. I keep to a very basic diet with simple foods and lots of veggies. I allow myself to indulge but quickly go back to foods I know are ok for me. This seems to be working for now. I rolled off the rails at a funeral today and ate small sandwiches and cookies along with the coffee. I have had not signs of problems so far and will head back to bland first thing in the morning.

* Exercise and sleep:* This condition can harm your sleep and for many reasons. The stress of being sick and having this happen to you cause you to lose sleep. On top of that, when the gut gets all disrupted, your sleep suffers for chemical reasons. You also can become more anxious with this PI-IBS, I did. I also started to see how that was happening and learned form people on here that you do have to manage that. I am not very anxious now regarding my PI-IBS and when I do get anxious about life, it goes away when the situation causing it does. Anxiety robs you of sleep. I had lots of pain that ruined my sleep for about 4 months, I got woke up nightly at about 3 AM with high pain levels. It sucked. This all hurts your energy and on top of that, the lack of eating or diarrhea also affects your stamina. The you get tired and sit around which also affects your stamina. So I started to move, I was always super active so this was hard. But I started walking and I could only go about half a block or so then I would come back home and sit on the couch. Today, I bike commute to my retail job 40 minutes each way. It was hard at first but now I am back in condition to do this. This took months. I did finally start to go back to my gym. Getting active in any capacity is super helpful. It helps manage anxiety, it makes you physically tried, and all this improves your sleep. I can't stress how important it is to move. You do not have to run a marathon, but walk a little, do some yoga, ride a stationary bike while watching TV, join a cheap gym and walk 15 minutes on a treadmill. Whatever you can do.

*Flares:* I was getting better and better for 6 months and then had a flare or set back and can't say exactly why. It took the past 3 months to calm down. You just have to accept it and manage it when it happens. I get more symptomatic during my menstrual cycle but that has also calmed down.

* Weight Loss:* I lost about 40 pounds from this disorder. I have managed to gain back 5 # and now and working out at the gym to try and replace lost muscle. I am in the process of getting my annual check up which includes blood work and my appointment is next week or so. That will tell if I am deficient. Early on I had blood work done and some levels showed malabsorption. I know I felt like hell. My BMI is perfect though....LOL....and I am not kidding. They told me when they took my weight. Hoping blood work is all clear. Be prepared to lose weight if you have PI-IBS. You need to focus on foods that you can eat without repercussions and use those to keep yourself fed.

* Bloating:* I don't bloat as much as I did at first but I do sometimes get really big after eating. It goes away though, sometimes the same night but for sure by morning. I have no pain from it like I used to. I only notice it if I pass my hallway mirror or if I am wearing pants with a waistband. I don't bloat everyday and certainly not after each meal. I was also having really bad trapped wind the first 3 months. I now have more normal wind. Sometimes I have putrid gas though, esp during menstrual cycle. It is funny to manage that in retail. I have to fart and then walk away leaving putrid stench in store isles. Can be hilarious to see the fall out at times. Not so easy when running a cash register...LOL! But seriously, I will take putrid gas over not being able to fart, that is and was a lousy feeling.

Overall, I am better. Compared to the first 3 months, what my life is like now is much better. It is scary at first as you get used to your new and usually compromised norm. But be patient, listen to your body, don't push yourself, and things will improve.

Hope everyone is doing better with their PI-IBS.

TO68


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## rhondaj

My Story - definately sure I now have PI-IBS after semonella poisioning.

Last Late October I contracted the worst case of semonella - involving severe diarrea for over 7 days (no vomitting - apparently its better if you have that with it) for which I was given Flagyl which didn't stop the diarrea until I took Gastro stop. The diarrea stopped then but since then I have never had a normal bowel motion - well what I always had - to be quite descriptive - not a solid motion. I have gone through different motions along the way - lately more like pencils shape but feel like I'm passing something huge - now it is slowly getting a little more solid but never one solid piece, but still not normal. (By the way my stool sample did come back as semonella). I went back to the doctors after the results came back as semonella which was about 2 weeks after i'd initially had it and i had told him that I was still not going normally and he said I would probably have IBS. He said I could of gone on a tablet (to be approved by Canberra) called C Flox and that it might help but the side effect could be tendon damage - just what I didn't need - but he couldn't guarantee it would help at all. I did not take it.

Prior to getting this I was under enormous stress - my sister had just been diagnosed with cancer and my mother was ill. Apparently another reason why PI IBS has hit me hard - as anyone with stress prior to an outbreak is more affected.

My nerves have gone down hill as it's very upsetting being anxious to go to the toilet and hoping it will be as it used to be. I lost 9 lbs in the 2 weeks I suffered with the poisioning and of course worried about that. I have adjusted my diet somewhat - trying to keep away from diary, eating sourdough or gluten free bread - and not eating sweets as much. I make my own treats with all dried fruits coconut oil cacao and coconut and that helps with my sweet fix. Also have sea salt dark chocolate. I have not gained any of my weight back - another worry but then I guess I'm not eating quite as much.

I take a probiotic which helped a bit in the beginning - cut down my bloating alot but have recently had the bloating again - probably nerves not helping. As my stress levels are still high - I decided to go on anti depressants (which I'd tried twice - once during the poisioning (wrong wrong time) and when i thought i was getting over it (still couldn't take it) but now have persisted and even though getting nauseous and feeling shocking, I know for my own health sake I have to be in control of my nerves. You get to thinking you have cancer as this ibs makes you feel so tired and unwell. It's very emotionally draining.

So that is my story - I don't know if anyone can relate to the symptoms I am having - I'd love to hear if they do - if nothing but to make me feel I'm not alone with what's still happening to me.

I feel for anyone going through this. It's terrible. Cheers Rhonda (from Australia)


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## rosierose

rhondaj said:


> My Story - definately sure I now have PI-IBS after semonella poisioning.
> 
> Last Late October I contracted the worst case of semonella - involving severe diarrea for over 7 days (no vomitting - apparently its better if you have that with it) for which I was given Flagyl which didn't stop the diarrea until I took Gastro stop. The diarrea stopped then but since then I have never had a normal bowel motion - well what I always had - to be quite descriptive - not a solid motion. I have gone through different motions along the way - lately more like pencils shape but feel like I'm passing something huge - now it is slowly getting a little more solid but never one solid piece, but still not normal. (By the way my stool sample did come back as semonella). I went back to the doctors after the results came back as semonella which was about 2 weeks after i'd initially had it and i had told him that I was still not going normally and he said I would probably have IBS. He said I could of gone on a tablet (to be approved by Canberra) called C Flox and that it might help but the side effect could be tendon damage - just what I didn't need - but he couldn't guarantee it would help at all. I did not take it.
> 
> Prior to getting this I was under enormous stress - my sister had just been diagnosed with cancer and my mother was ill. Apparently another reason why PI IBS has hit me hard - as anyone with stress prior to an outbreak is more affected.
> 
> My nerves have gone down hill as it's very upsetting being anxious to go to the toilet and hoping it will be as it used to be. I lost 9 lbs in the 2 weeks I suffered with the poisioning and of course worried about that. I have adjusted my diet somewhat - trying to keep away from diary, eating sourdough or gluten free bread - and not eating sweets as much. I make my own treats with all dried fruits coconut oil cacao and coconut and that helps with my sweet fix. Also have sea salt dark chocolate. I have not gained any of my weight back - another worry but then I guess I'm not eating quite as much.
> 
> I take a probiotic which helped a bit in the beginning - cut down my bloating alot but have recently had the bloating again - probably nerves not helping. As my stress levels are still high - I decided to go on anti depressants (which I'd tried twice - once during the poisioning (wrong wrong time) and when i thought i was getting over it (still couldn't take it) but now have persisted and even though getting nauseous and feeling shocking, I know for my own health sake I have to be in control of my nerves. You get to thinking you have cancer as this ibs makes you feel so tired and unwell. It's very emotionally draining.
> 
> So that is my story - I don't know if anyone can relate to the symptoms I am having - I'd love to hear if they do - if nothing but to make me feel I'm not alone with what's still happening to me.
> 
> I feel for anyone going through this. It's terrible. Cheers Rhonda (from Australia)


Hey Rhondaj,

I'm sorry to hear you've gone through such hell - and it is hell. Just a note to say make sure you eliminate the dried fruit from your diet - these are high in fructose and fibre and really bad for guy motility/IBS/sensitive gut. While you're in the acute stage you need to make yourself starchy sweets - like gluten-frew banana bread or oat cakes - it's important not to sweeten things with honey or fructose based sweeters and only to use bananas and berries....ideally you want to try the fodmap diet. It isn't a magical cure but it does lesson the load on the gut. I developed acute PI-IBS after a bad case of gastro and am not almost at the 2 year point....it's a really long road but the sooner you eliminate dairy/wheat and high fructose items, the better. I think we are definitely more vulnerable to developing PI_IBS if we've under a period of acute stress before developing the gut infection. AnywayhHope you can get some relief soon and that you can find some useful remedies to help the healing process


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## TO68

Hi Rhonda J,

You are still pretty early on in your process. It will get better. I agree with RosieRose, watch the dried fruit. Look up a diet called FODMAP and do some reading. Start paying attention to what you are eating. You may even want to try a food journal for a while and log your reactions to things. It can make you more aware to what cause symptoms so you can live better. The beginning of this disorder for sure derails your life a bit. Go with it and try to not let that get to you. Just accept that you are not optimal and make whatever adjustments you can for now to cope. Decrease work hours if you can, eleimnate stress, even make financial changes to get through. Working on stress is super important. Like you and many others, I was under a tremendous amount of stress when this happened to me. I wonderd how I would stop the stress, but I did. I made major changes and had to do a lot of accepting in the interest of my health and healing. Keep your diet sumple right now and don;t push yourself. The fatigue you are feeling is REAL. While your gut is damaged by the bacteria you had, it will not absorb food properly which affects your levels of fatigue. This will slowly change as your gut heals. This is a complicated disorder involving damage to your gut biome, to your actual gut lining, and the nerves in your gut. Decrease foods that cause pain and try to watch your symptoms. Some foods would burn my stomach right as I ate the in the first 3 months. I am able to eat most of those foods now without that 9 months later. Thanks for sharing your story. I am on a medication called Dicetel that is a motility drug that seems to help me. Others have tried the antidepressants on here and have found them beneficial. I just went with what my family doctor gave me and have stayed on it with positive results. Give align a try if you are having luck with probiotics. They don't work for everyone but they may work for you. Don't know until you try.


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## rosierose

TO68 said:


> Hi Rhonda J,
> 
> You are still pretty early on in your process. It will get better. I agree with RosieRose, watch the dried fruit. Look up a diet called FODMAP and do some reading. Start paying attention to what you are eating. You may even want to try a food journal for a while and log your reactions to things. It can make you more aware to what cause symptoms so you can live better. The beginning of this disorder for sure derails your life a bit. Go with it and try to not let that get to you. Just accept that you are not optimal and make whatever adjustments you can for now to cope. Decrease work hours if you can, eleimnate stress, even make financial changes to get through. Working on stress is super important. Like you and many others, I was under a tremendous amount of stress when this happened to me. I wonderd how I would stop the stress, but I did. I made major changes and had to do a lot of accepting in the interest of my health and healing. Keep your diet sumple right now and don;t push yourself. The fatigue you are feeling is REAL. While your gut is damaged by the bacteria you had, it will not absorb food properly which affects your levels of fatigue. This will slowly change as your gut heals. This is a complicated disorder involving damage to your gut biome, to your actual gut lining, and the nerves in your gut. Decrease foods that cause pain and try to watch your symptoms. Some foods would burn my stomach right as I ate the in the first 3 months. I am able to eat most of those foods now without that 9 months later. Thanks for sharing your story. I am on a medication called Dicetel that is a motility drug that seems to help me. Others have tried the antidepressants on here and have found them beneficial. I just went with what my family doctor gave me and have stayed on it with positive results. Give align a try if you are having luck with probiotics. They don't work for everyone but they may work for you. Don't know until you try.


Hey TO68,

Lots of good advice there and glad you're feeling better at the 9th month mark. Yes, it's definitely about a holistic approach that takes into account diet, rest, lifestyle choices, work pressure and relaxation options. For me the real turning point was going on an anti-depressant which slowed my gut motility and has made life much more tolerable. Having said that, even the at the almost 2 year mark, I still have bad days and I don't think I'm ever going to be the same as I was...but I think the younger and fitter and healthier and less stressed you are prior to the initial attack/infection the better chance you have a making a full recovery. Hope you continue to feel better and improve.


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## TO68

HI Rosie Rose,

So nice to hear from you. I have tried to give as much detail as I can to people about my process in hopes that someone else may gain some insight from it. It has been very helpful to me to hear what other people are struggling with and what they have tried to help their cause. Even failures shared can help someone else. I am beyond thankful that i do indeed feel better, but also wonder if I will ever be normal again. My mom has IBS which I did not know until I got it. I always knew that she had digestive problems but she never told me about her diagnosis until I got mine. My Gi doc thinks this may be the beginning of my lifelong problems or that I may indeed heal up as some do with PI IBS. What I deal with now is manageable but I am on daily drugs and do watch my diet. All livable but not ideal. Having to always remember meds is a pain and worrying about food at times is also a pain. The recovery windows are long for this though. You are at 2 years. My GI suggested 1-5 years recovery and I have seen things online that say up to 8 years. Many articles suggest that IBS fades over time. There are people who have dibilitating symptoms for life though, that is no joke. But for many it seems the condition sort of peters out. Here's hoping for sure. For me one of the biggest changes that I have had to make is going back to being a full time meat eater. I was pechetarian with predominate vegetarian daily meals for over a decade. I loved living this life. Once I got sick though, my body could not tolerate much food let alone all the beans and grains that i usually ate. I am hoping to gradually, and I do mean gradually, shift back to my ways of diet. For now though I eat meat 1-2X per day, small serving sizes. A deck fo cards or less. Not where I want to be, but my body needs foods that are easily recognized. I used to eat about 25% of my foods processed. Like on Saturday nights my spouse and I would always make a frozen pizza and then health it up with a large salad. I also used veggie burgers and htings like that. I now use meat. We try to get the no chemical meat when we can but often get the stuff with hormones. This is not ideal for me but tolerable for now. Yes, you do have to be holistic for sure and really look at many aspects of your life. Diet is really key though. I am glad that you have had luck with the antidepressant route. It seems many people have gotten relief with that type of drug on here. I had no idea about it and was prescribed the dicetel by my family doc. It seems to help. Take care of yourself. So glad you are on here!

TO68


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## TO68

Rosie Rose,

I wonder about age too. I am 45 and feel that my health really took a hit from this in the beginning. I am recovering but slowly. I was SO fatigued at first. And I lost so much muscle, not a good thing to do in middle age. The one advantage to being older is that my coping skills are there and being married I have someone to help me. I also have a low key social life. I think the younger people for sure have the possibility of healing faster but have more worries about the disorder due to where they are in life with social issues, schooling, ect. It is hard on them for a different reason. I am not sure of your age but you make a good point bring that up. Take care!

TO68


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## Beatrix

When I've first read about "Enterosgel" - I thought that it is just another ad or something that will not work, as I only found positive feedbacks. One day I decided to try it as I had terrible stomach ache and diarrhea... for no reason at all (I was eating as usual) . It lasted for a week, but the stomach was ok. During this time, I took everything I could find - activated carbon, Linex, Immodium, some other type of tablets, about 4 different types, I don't remember the name already, but without any result. Completely exhausted I bought Enterosgel, and to my great surprise there was an effect on the second day!!! So it does work and I am the biggest fun of "Enterosgel" , and I'll recommend it to everybody


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## Beatrix

Hi, I'm new to this so not sure how it works.


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## TO68

Hi Beatrix,

Just hit reply and share your story or insights with us. The people on this forum all have PI-IBS and the original poster started the thread to find stories of recovery. So that is what we are all doing. Going through what has happened and sharing things that work and don't work as well as advice and symptoms. Welcome.

TO68


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## kat54

Thank you to the poster who suggested posting stories in order to encourage those of us with PI IBS. I, as many of you, caught a stomach bug 4 months ago, it seemed to be a nasty strain and lingered for weeks (although my husband had the 24 hour version!). My GP thought it was my anxiety that was delaying my recovery and although I am a bit of a worrier, I didn't think this was the case so started the FODMAP diet and within a week, I was feeling back to normal........ until yes, about a month later the stomach ache and bloating returned. It only lasted a couple of days but has since returned a couple more times. I ate some dried prunes in a yoghurt the night before my last attack as I had been feeling so good...so yes, dried fruits are a definite trigger in my case. I have been back on the FODMAP diet and again after about 5 days the abdominal discomfort and bloating eased. I feel encouraged by people on this thread and I agree that the time between episodes becomes longer and I think just reading about people going through the same has made me realise it's not all in my head as many would have you think! I try to remain positive that this will eventually ease as many studies have shown. My only issue with the FODMAP is that I am losing weight, I eat small meals about every 3 hours as a poster on here suggested. Does anyone have any ideas about high calorie 'safe' foods? Good luck to your all!


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## JeffR

kat54 said:


> Thank you to the poster who suggested posting stories in order to encourage those of us with PI IBS. I, as many of you, caught a stomach bug 4 months ago, it seemed to be a nasty strain and lingered for weeks (although my husband had the 24 hour version!). My GP thought it was my anxiety that was delaying my recovery and although I am a bit of a worrier, I didn't think this was the case so started the FODMAP diet and within a week, I was feeling back to normal........ until yes, about a month later the stomach ache and bloating returned. It only lasted a couple of days but has since returned a couple more times. I ate some dried prunes in a yoghurt the night before my last attack as I had been feeling so good...so yes, dried fruits are a definite trigger in my case. I have been back on the FODMAP diet and again after about 5 days the abdominal discomfort and bloating eased. I feel encouraged by people on this thread and I agree that the time between episodes becomes longer and I think just reading about people going through the same has made me realise it's not all in my head as many would have you think! I try to remain positive that this will eventually ease as many studies have shown. My only issue with the FODMAP is that I am losing weight, I eat small meals about every 3 hours as a poster on here suggested. Does anyone have any ideas about high calorie 'safe' foods? Good luck to your all!


Wow..so there IS such a thing as a "stomach virus that lasts weeks instead of 1-2 days".

I happened to experience exactly as you did -- 4 months ago caught a stomach virus that seemed to last a few days....and i felt better. A few days later it came back with a vengance, caused severe dehydration and rapid heart rate and forced me to the ER (they only found 2 things wrong....high blood pressure and fatty liver). They rehydrate me, prescribe blood pressure meds, and send me home. 4 days later, back to the ER for more severe dehydration (they then start telling me I have an anxiety problem). Well, only 2 days later my heart rate increases for an unknown reason once again, back to the ER, admitted to the hospital to finally get my heart checked. 12 different doctors look at it and tell me my heart is fine, so they send in a psychiatrist asking me why I am anxious, am I on drugs, etc (at that time I felt completely insulted and kept telling them that I am not anxious or upset, I just don't feel well). They then give me stress meds and change my blood pressure meds that did start calming the body down. Once they were satisfied they sent me home (thankfully I didn't need to go back).

After all that, I still had the diarrhea issue that never went away, and the bloating was coming back. A month after the virus I saw a GI doc, he gave me Xifaxan but that was after saying "omg I am extremely worried about your liver!" He orders liver tests, and is not too happy but says I can reverse it so I go on a diet, cut out soda completely and significantly cut down on sugars and included healthier foods in my diet. I feel better but still have bowel issues, he then says I have post infectious IBS and explained that it should not last forever (but this is crazy.....4 months after a stomach virus?) After my colonoscopy and endoscopy he confirmed that I truly have IBS and gave me Viberzi (which I stopped taking because that just masks the symptoms, plus I had spasms while on it).

But anyway, this kinda relieves me as I was thinking for a while that my fatty liver caused me to get really sick and everything (I'm sure it didn't help having the fatty liver). But I was completely normal before getting the virus.....although today, right now, except for my loose stools I feel tons better (actually even a little better than before getting the virus but still have the occasional flare-ups which seem to be getting less frequent, so hopefully that's a sign my IBS may be starting to go away).


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## kat54

I can relate to a lot of what you have said. I, too, didn't have any stomach issues before the dreaded bug. For approximately a month after I caught the virus, I seemed to be getting better and couple of times even thinking 'ok it's gone' only to feel again the awful nausea or yes frightening racing heart palpitations. I almost went to the ER myself after one of these episodes. It didn't help that i had a horrible allergic reaction to a nausea drug that the the doctor prescribed about 2 weeks after the onset, as I was just so sick of feeling so nauseous all the time. I went to work but felt awful, then like i said, I found the FODMAP. I had had blood tests which showed I had indeed had a stomach infection and a scan of stomach, liver, pancreas etc but all looked ok so doctor could only put down to anxiety the fact that I still had stomach discomfort and nausea, this I feel, added to my anxiety, I am sure! Not long after that, I spoke to somebody who said that that unless you did a very strict diet you were unlikely to shake off this particular strain of gastroenteritis. This is when I found the FODMAP online, thank goodness! After a slight flare-up this week, I feel good today, so am hopeful that if I stick to a sensible diet, my stomach will repair itself eventually.... As one poster said 'there are far worse things to have' so let's think positive!


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## TO68

Hi Kat 54,

I had the same problem you did with weight loss. I lost a ton of weight total with this PI-IBS. I had the added bonus of reflux with it. So I did follow the FODMAP diet but did not do a full elimination diet with structure and a dietician. I just got the charts and avoided high FODMAP foods and added 1-2 new foods a week. To be honest, most everyhting I ate caused pain but the more basic foods seemed to cause the least distress. I had to really limit fats, but they are the best foods to try and keep your weight up. If you fidn that you do not have trouble digesting fats, then use them to your advantage. Even with the bad reflux, I could get in a tsp of oil in my steel cut oats. 3 of those a day is a TBSP which is like 140 calories. Walnuts became my go to food for calories once the reflux let up. So that would be my suggestion. Try an oil, coconut, flax oil, or any oil you find on the FODMAP chart as coconut and flax may not be low FODMAP. Just go slow and try tsp here and there. Then do more at one time if you can. If you can tolerate nuts, they are good. If I recall, walnuts are low FODMAP but almonds and cashews are not. I found that I could eat most any nuts without issues once the reflux died down. Nuts have lots of caolires and many other health benefits as well. This is what worked for me.

I tried Ensure early on in my PI-IBS process and foudn that they did not work for me. I think it was the chemicals and high sugar content. Now I could drink them without too much trouble if I wanted to. You can try one and see what you think but I would guess that they might give you problems.

Take care,

TO68


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## TO68

Hi Everyone!

* 1 Year Update:*

It has been a year since my beginning of PI-IBS. I will start off by saying that today I am MUCH better. Do I still have IBS though? Yes. My symptoms have really dialed back and some of them have left altogether. I am posting this to let others know that it is possible to at least improve when you have this condition.

* Probiotics:*



I am still taking Align daily in the morning and have a several weeks supply from buying online. Plan to stay on a while longer. I take another probiotic at night called Pearls with a specific variety for women called yeast balance. I also eat yogurt, kombucha, bio K, and kefir whenever possible. All seem to help and I don't seem to be hindered by using probiotics, in fact I feel that they have helped a lot. The key is to stay on them for a longer term. Some folks may do well with using variety, I have stayed with Align for the long haul and found others to add to that. That has worked for me.

*Exercise:*

It took a few months to be able to tolerate much exercise but I stuck with just trying to move everyday no matter how lousy I felt. Some days early on it was just walking around the block and coming home to lay back on the couch. This PI-IBS can really affect your energy and health at first. But I noticed that any movement seemed to make me feel better mentally at least so I kept at it. Plus I was always a very active person, so I had the idea in mind that I needed to get back to that. Gradually I took on a part time job not in my field just to get money coming in and I bike commute to that job. It was hard at first, now I do that as well as head to the gym regularly and take yoga classes. I am in the process of regaining muscle that I lost due to this disorder. To date I gave gained back 10# of the 40 that I lost and I am rebuilding my muscle mass for sure. I look very healthy and I feel good most days. I can't encourage you enough to move a bit with this disorder. Even if you were not super active, walk to increase your stamina and to give yourself some time to heal and relax.

*Diet:*

I was a pechetarian before I got sick eating most vegetarian foods with fish 3X/week or so. I ate lots of ethnic foods, beans, grains, veggies, high fiber foods. Once I got sick, it just seemed no matter what I ate it hurt or caused horrible symptoms. So I dialed my diet way back and even went back to eating meat. I am still eating meat these days and hoping to slowly transition back to my previous lifestyle. Or at least eat vegetarian most of the time with an occasional meat meal. I focus on healthy whole foods with minimal processed stuff. I am able to eat some junk food, by choice I limit this. I eat chocolate and sugar, but pay attention to the grams trying to keep them low. Being so active I don't stress about that too much. But I do know that too much sugar can help bad stuff grow in the gut. I was always a smoothie drinker so I make those these days and I add a couple of supplements. One of them is chlorella which is a seaweed. I saw someone on another IBS site state that this really helped their gut biome. You have to start slow, I began with 1/8 tsp, and work up to tsp per day. I use about 1/2 tsp in my smoothies. I also use something called maca which helps with stamina, hormones, recovery from stress, ect. My gut tolerates both of these. I tried chlorella early on and had gut rumbles and gurgles, it seemed to upset me then but now I am fine with it. Be gradual with adding back things to your diet. I gave up coffee and alcohol because they both burnt like drinking gasoline early one. I had such severe reactions to them that I had no problem giving them up. I have had a decaf coffee a few times now and have not had issues. It is an envelope I don't push too much. I am camping next week and may try a beverage after a hike. I have switched to decaf teas if I want a warm morning drink. I had to change my habits on this one. But I have rolled with it and actually prefer my life without the caffeine. I do miss coffee as I love the flavor so I think I will just stay with decaf. I have managed to go out to eat a few times getting fish and chips and steak somewhere. No issues. Even with baked beans at the steak house. I did go out to an Indian buffet around the 9 month mark and the next day I have formed BMs but severe pain as the signal to have a BM. I had 2 of them and laid on the couch sore and very tired. I have not been back to the buffet since but plan to give it a go in a few more months. My spouse and I love that style of food and we live close to little India in our city so it would be nice to partake again but I am in no rush. Just focusing on healthy simple foods seems to be the best for me. I still check out FODMAPS especially if something bothers me just to reference things. But I no longer carry that chart to the grocery and last week I bought regular bread for the first time and ate it. I had been using the sour dough spelt, which I actually really like but it is pricey and can only be bought at certain places.

* Symptoms:*

I have formed Bms with good emptying. I typically go to the toilet in the morning these days and usually only once. Prior to PI-IBS I went 1-3X/day and I never stressed or worried about when it would occur. That was not the case with PI-IBS where I had really mushy poop and weird timing with various pains. The main thing I struggled with was having to get up super early to start the BMs because I would have to have 3-5 to get empty. That nonsense has stopped thank goodness. For a while I got lots of pain to signal the BMs, I still get pain for that occasionally but I would not describe it as severe. I don't really have diarrhea but soft formed poop that is often in one piece and sometimes a pile pf pieces, sorry for the graphics. Prior to this I had soft large "logs" so I think I am moving towards that. I never had the symptoms of having to run to the toilet after a meal, maybe a few times early on but not my norm during this and not happening today. I had severe pain after eating early on that my GI did an endoscope for. He said I had very mild acid reflux but that it may not be the cause of my pain. I don't think it was looking back but it took months for that pain to stop and it was very disruptive to my life and it was why I lost 40# because I just did not want to eat being in that pain. I don't really have pain anymore. Sometimes I will feel very tired after eating, but that is about it, maybe occasional slight discomfort. I still bloat here and there but that seems to be dialing down too. The main time I have to watch for symptoms is at my menstrual cycle. Last month I had a BM with urgency that was formed but had pain and urgency with it. I was near a toilet so it was ok. I get putrid gas during my cycle and at other times too. Not sure what causes it other than my body can't process something I ate? My BMs smell pretty bad too, not that any smell good but just something I have noticed. Maybe that will get better in time.

*Medications:*

I am currently not taking nay meds. I was on the motility drug dicetel and it did help me. I could tell that it seemed like time to quit so I had some time off work and gave it a go. I even made it through my menstrual cycle with just one urgent BM. No diarrhea. No increase in bad symptoms or anything with the absence of the drug. I know that particular drug is fast acting with a short time frame so you take it and it affects you for like 8 hrs. Not fast like Imodium though. So it can be used sporadically if I ever feel the need to go back on for short term, like during my cycle. I am glad to be off of all pills. I prefer a drug free existence but I am grateful for the help that the diesel gave me.

So that is it. I am not symptom free but have greatly reduced symptoms. I am off of drugs. I am careful about food but I don't worry much about it like I did early on. I eat mostly what I want but am careful about going overboard or eating out much. I don't do either often or in a row much. I have made peace with my coffee situation and even enjoy life without the caffeine rush. I will probably have decaf here and there for now. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask. I hope everyone is moving forward in their journey and trying things to make positive change.

Hang in there.

TO68


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## GBFreek

Been lurking for about 9 weeks - the duration of my so-called PI-IBS. Figured I'd chime in as others posts have been so helpful trying to wrap my mind around all this. My story:

My stats - 40 year old male, highly athletic, with absolutely no history of digestive problems

It all begin in early April 17' - took the family to Florida for spring break. This meant essentially everyday in pools, water parks, amusement parks, hot tubs at night, eating whatever whenever. Typical vacation, right? I remember we flew home on a Saturday and I was set to fly back out Monday morning for a business trip. All was well until about mid day when the unease I felt in my gut was quite pronounced - not painful by any means, just unease and discomfort, could feel the intestines gurgling. Low and behold, I had the worst 3-4 days of diarrhea and loose stools I have ever had. This lasted for about a week, with a gradual improvement 7 days later. Boom. I thought I had passed whatever bug I had, as for the next week, all was back to normal. Or so I thought.

By the following week some of the intestinal unease was back, as was loose stools - not diarrhea but loose, lighter colored stools. This would continue for the better portion of the next 4 weeks - with occasional days of normalcy. However, even on the normal days, the stools were never back to my normal stool - more formed, but still more loose and light than normal - my gas was also more foul than I ever remember.

This rotation of good days and bad days caused me to not go to the doctor, as when I good day came, I figured it was clearing. Fast forward to about the 6 week point, I finally go in for a checkup as the anxiety is getting to me, and interfering with quality of life and so on. After telling the doctor my story, he immediately suggests some sort of post infectious gastric condition. He orders complete bloodwork and a bunch of various stool tests (not too fun). Doctor says he sees it all the time - typically mild like my case - and that it can take weeks to months to clear. But wanted to make sure bloods were normal, and see if anything would show up in stool (which he doubted it would given I was 6-7 weeks out from the initial illness).

Bloodwork came back normal, as did all stool samples. I was actually hoping stool samples would show something as it would have eased my mind. Doctor says to be mindful of diet, seeing if any trigger foods are found, and to take a good multi-vitamin and probiotic.

Obviously, was hoping for more answers - which led me to endless hours of internet searching and self-diagnosis. My best guess is that I picked up a parasite (Giardia) or some sort of bacteria (Campylobactor) from my nightly hot tub adventures or days spent at water parks with the kids. However, its only me best guess from matching my experiences with the published literature on these conditions. But of course - always have the thought of something more sinister in the back of my head.

And I fully realize I have a mild case - as I never really had much pain, just discomfort and unease - and have certainly not been through the hell many of the people in these forums have been through. So, now 9 weeks or so out, I can say things are better than they were a month ago. My paler colored stools have returned to normal color, and I have formed stools more often than loose stools. I really have no pain. Much of the tiredness, bloating, and more frequent urination that seemed to be more consistent, or flare up, has subsided.

My biggest issue is simply the feeling of their always being some gas in my lower bowel, and sporadic feeling of unease down there. Kind of like the feeling you get when you have to go - but I know really don't have to. Whatever I have it is almost entirely focused in the very lower bowel now. Any upper bowel discomfort has vanished. Again, not pain, just not a normal feeling. And its almost always more prevalent a few hours AFTER I have a bowel movement - almost like the poop sitting in the lower bowel has a soothing effect (as odd as it sounds).

However, this past week, had one episode of diarrhea that came out of nowhere one day - first true diarrhea in over 7 weeks. I gorged on A LOT of watermelon one night (hadn't done that in years) and think that may have been the cause as two days later, normal stool was back. Either way, anxiety flooded back in.

Over the past 2 months I have tested everything under the sun to get back to 100% normal. Gluten free, Lacotse free, etc. - while they may have made a brief difference - they are not the cause for me. I actually feel best when I eat meat of some sort (lean beef, chicken) and eat "normal", Its like eating more substantial and having some fat in the diet is beneficial. IDK.

My routine now is as follows: Mulitvitamin daily, 10-15mg of L-Glutamine daily, and 2 tablets of IBGard. I stopped probiotics, as not sure I had much impact from them. I bought into the internet hype on Glutamine healing the bowels, so figured it was worth a shot, as its easy and cheap. Started IBGard a few days ago in hopes it would put my lower bowel unease to rest. We shall see. I also am back to running and weight lifting - which has been beneficial - mentally and physically. Outside of the stress release, firmly believe the impact of excercise is immense on digestion. I always remember in my younger years - if you were not feeling well, or were plugged up, a good run would put the bowels back on course.

A few oddities. I have slowly introduced foods back into my life after going Gluten free. I still don't touch pasta as in week 1 of my ordeal, that gave my explosive D like no other. However, things like pizza do not seem to bother me. I have actually had two occasions where I have had 2 beers (miller lite) and have felt fine (in some ways, even improved - possible it was the alcohol soothing me in some other way). I am convinced for me this has very little to do with sensitivity to a broad group of foods - its either entirely random (as it appears it is for most), or some crazy specific item I've yet to identify. End of day, it seems like the more I try to get back to normal, they better I get - versus being super restrictive.

I have lost about 6-8 pounds over the past 9 weeks - primarily due to simply eating better and not eating the extra junk/sweets/carbs I used to. That's really the primary difference in my diet - I am simply more careful and don't overload on gluten foods.

I will update my condition as I progress - as I have gotten so much out of every one else's stories. If this truly is PI-IBS from some sort of parasite or bacteria I picked up in a hot tub or water park - I'll never set foot in either again...

Best


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## TO68

Hey GBFreak!

Thanks for sharing your story. So sorry you have to deal with this. It sucks. It sounds like you are doing better. My first three months were pretty bad looking back. Everyone's symptoms are different. I did not have lots of explosive diarrhea or running to the toilet after each meal which are common symptoms. I did have LOTS of pain though and for sure BM changes. Really runny at first then big and squishy like barely held together. Weird timing sometimes with and sometimes without urgency. I tested positive for malabsorbtion and my energy levels were horrible. While I am not over it, I am doing so much better a little over a year later. Diet seems to be key as well as lifestyle changes. You are right to observe what you eat, but sometimes things can just seem random. From what most are saying on here, the flares get fewer and farther between and some recover completely. I am also in my 40's so things just don't heal as fast and possibly just will nver work as good again. But there is still room for improvement so I try to focus on that. I know my illness, whatever it was, was also up and down to the point that I also did not go to a DR until I had been sick for 6 weeks. So I really am not sure how long my initial sickness lasted because I would start to feel better only to feel lousy again. Now my "lousy days" sometimes include extra toilet trips, some pain but very low level and more of a dicomfort, and usually fatigue. Stress affects me more right now than it used to, hoping that will go back to normal eventually. I work pretty hard to stay pretty low stress too these days. Working out is a good idea, but be careful about heavy workouts if you are having quite a bit if diarrhea, you will not recover well from your workouts if your food does not absorb. Keeping a healthy low processed food style diet seems to help. Not eating out all the time is a good idea too. For me, I can't have coffee/caffeine or alcohol. I had one drink on my last camping trip after a long hike and I had repercussions the next day. 3 Bms with pain, that weird lack of emptying I was having at the start of this, general abdominal pain at a low level, and fatigue. By noon it was like a fog had lifted and I felt fine and ate whatever. Weird. Not worth a drink really so I guess I will abstain a bit longer. Caffeine/coffee just seems to cause extra BMs.

Keep us posted and let us know how you are doing.

Thanks and best to your recovery!

TO68


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## TO68

GBFreek,

Also, watermelon is high in FODMAP. Look up that diet chart with a Google search. The watermelon may have been your trigger to the diarrhea that came out of nowhere. Especially since you ate a large quantity.

TO68


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## kat54

Thank you TO68 for the dietary advice back in March. I am now 7 months post-stomach bug virus. I, too, am feeling a lot better. I did have another flare-up after my last posting in March, brought on by stress. It's a definite trigger for me and the lighter coloured BMs were back and the 'raw' feeling after. So.....I decided it was time to see a specialist, I had lost a lot of weight again and even though I knew it had all started with the stomach virus, I was getting worried it was still there. I had a colonoscopy which showed some colitis but everything else was OK. The doctor put me on 9 days of antibiotics and some other pills i take 3 times a day ( Otilionium bromide) before food. He didn't think food really made a difference apart from the obvious vegetables that could cause wind. I chose to go straight back on a strict low FODMAP diet, it had helped before and I think it did again then I gradually introduced other foods. I found writing down everything I ate in a diary and being able to refer back to it also helped. I agree, sometimes it's totally random what might affect you, food-wise. I still am very careful with gluten. If I am going to eat something high in FODMAPS then I don't eat much and I certainly wouldn't eat it the next day, that would be asking for trouble!

I have since had a bit of stress and could feel that 'feeling' starting but it wasn't quite as bad as the previous time and lasted just a few days. That is certainly encouraging! Staying as stress-free as possible is certainly the answer.... easier said than done! I stopped the 3 times a day pills yesterday and am crossing my fingers. I intend to continue to eat carefully but, in my case anyway, I feel it's only when I have a flare-up that I really need to watch my diet. I will be back on soon to hopefully report that the flare-ups are truly becoming less frequent. Good luck to all!


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## GBFreek

TO and Kat-

Thanks for looping back in with updates...seems we all have our unique traits/triggers. Good to see both of you are progressing in the right direction, as slow as it may seem.

What did the doctor say about your colitis...? Will it heal on its own in time?

I will continue to update periodically, as right now I am going through a great string of 4-5 days with minimal to no symptoms...so maybe like you all, flares are spacing out more and whatever the heck is going on in the gut is healing. In the back of my head, I always think if this was something more sinister, it wouldn't come and go like this. IDK

Happy healing!


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## kat54

GB, I agree..... I felt the same, thinking the symptoms surely wouldn't abate for days or weeks at a time if it was anything 'sinister'!

I asked the gastroenterologist whether a really bad scare I had had a 3 days before I caught the stomach virus could have contributed to the problems I have had since, he said it was probable and this combination could have caused the colitis OR it could have been there before but not caused symptoms. Anyway, he didn't seem overly concerned about the colitis and from what I heard in the doctor's waiting room, it certainly seems a lot of people are suffering with it (usually caused by stress!) The antibiotics he prescribed (Rifaximin, I think they were called) did seem to help and I know they are for IBS so although he didn't actually say I had PI IBS, I think that's what I have, mixed in with colitis!

May your 'good' days continue................try to think positive, it's difficult, I know!


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## TO68

Hi Kat54!

I am glad my dietary advice was useful. So glad if anything I share helps someone. When you say you have "colitis" does the DR just say that your colon is inflamed right now or do you actually have ulcerative colitis? I know the ulcerative condition causes bloody diarrhea and needs regular meds to manage. But if the DR just saw your colon inflamed during a scope then that could be a temporary condition. It seems PI-IBS in general causes inflammation of the entire digestive tract. I know my tract felt like someone poured gasoline down it at times depending on what I ate. Glad to hear that you are doing better. How are you finding the Rifaximin? I know some people get treated with this and it can help sort them out. Kills off certain bacteria. I have read on some forums that people with extreme cases of IBS or PI-IBS can often feel better while on this drug but may revert back to how they previously felt when off if it. Have you noticed any change at all? I was blasted with 10 days of a super high dose of Flagyl and feel that it most likely made my symptoms worse. I have spoken with numerous people about this drug and many have had GI problems afterwards, not all were lasting, but it messed them up for a while. That drug is used to treat many things. I have not read about Rifaximin doing that, but I suppose anything is possible since the gut is so complicated. Stress for sure affects this condition, while my symptoms are pretty mild these days compared to early on, I feel like stress brings on symptoms. I have noticed increased symptoms during my cycle, but even that has died down. The symptoms are less pronounced and much shorter in duration. I just finished working lots of hours this past 3 weeks with little time for decompression for me and I felt myself going through a light flare, that has totally left these past couple of days. Symptoms during the flare were looser morning BM, but still formed stool. Some fatigue, but still able to work and work out. Just an unstable or unpleasant feeling in the gut that would come and go, but extremely low level, just noticeable. I should start timing how long I have between flares.

Keep doing what you are doing and feel better.

GBFreek- Thanks so much for sharing. I am glad you are having a good spell for now. I think improvements are expected but that it will take time.

Take care all!

TO68


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## kat54

Hi TO68,

Firstly, I can relate to a lot of what you say.

I always felt discomfort under my ribs during flare-ups which was quite worrying in the beginning but as the doctor pointed out the colon is there so not surprising, i suppose! Now when I feel anxious, overtired or have overindulged, I feel almost a squeezing feeling under my ribs in that same spot but, like you, it does pass (with a few loose stools) so I am not complaining. I certainly was never in a huge amount of pain, a lot of discomfort... yes... and like you, an unpleasant unsettled feeling in my gut which made me feel miserable but I could still function. After my colonoscopy in March the doctor said it was colitis, not the ulcerative condition; he actually said it was nothing to worry about... so again, I feel it is mostly related to stress. The Rifaximin did seem to make a difference but about a week after feeling almost back to normal after taking them, I had some worries with my daughter and wham! back were the symptoms. This sort of confirmed my suspicions that my gut still needed time to heal and that trying to remain stress-free was the best medicine (if possible!).

I have heard a lot about Flagyl. Sorry it didn't help you.

It certainly is nice to share with people going through the same. Even family and friends, as sympathetic as they are, must find it hard to understand why we are still afflicted with symptoms so long after the original bug/infection, so I tend to just accept my strange gut rumblings and strange BMs to myself now 

Have a nice day!


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## ja11

Hi All,

I wanted to share my experience with PI-IBS-D. All started in early April while I was on vacation in Mexico with my family. I got some bacteria and ended up with D that lasted for 1-2 weeks. I was given a couple of antibiotics just in case with no effect. I went to my family doctor a few times and he had no idea what I had. After a few weeks and went to ER as I was getting quite weak (lost close to 30 pounds) and there I was told it just takes a little longer for some ppl to recover from a stomach bug. My main symptoms were/are loose stool or D, gas and bloating especially at night time which significantly interrupted my sleep.

Basically I had no idea what I had during the first 3 months until I was referred to a specialist who finally said I had PI-IBS (that was a month ago). He recommended that I make changes to my diet and follow low FODMAP and start taking probiotics which may help. He said it could take up to 2 or more to recover.

So it has been almost 4 1/2 months since I had my stomach infection and I must say that I did not have D in the last two weeks but still experiencing discomfort, gas and bloating. Last night I felt I should expand my diet and eat more salad and fruit and I had D this morning! Not too bad but it is depressing...

In terms of diet, I have not found any specific food that triggers my symptoms but I also don't eat much gluten, diary or drink coffee. I started taking Florastor (in the afternoon) in addition to another probiotic in the morning, L-Glutamine, multivitamins and MSM powder.

It will be good to hear from the PI-IBS crowd that wrote here 1-2 years ago.

Best to all of us!


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## TO68

Hey everyone! I am posting my *1 year and 3 month update*. Mostly just to check in and see how everyone is doing and hoping to hear back from others about their progress and coping strategies. I just got back from a 2 week camping trip and am happy to report that my diet has really expanded. I am now able to have decaf coffee in the mornings. I have it with sugar and cream or some syrup and cream. I am still not drinking alcohol, maybe a sip here and there if my spouse tries a new cider, but I have not had more than 2 drinks this past year due to previous negative reactions.

*Medications:* I was on the motility drug called Dicetel, and have been off of it for months. I have taken it sporadically during my menstrual cycle for 2-3 days at a time if a flare happens. This has only been needed a few times.

*Flare ups:* My flares during my cycle had been petering out as they were mostly putrid gas and an occasional BM with urgency. Previous to IBS I would just expect an extra BM or 2 for a couple of days during my cycle. Then right before my trip I had a 2 day flare that had 3-4 BM per day with some mild pain and gurgles in the gut. Went away abruptly on day 3. I have been having basically really decent formed soft log BMs that are more like what I used to have prior to PI-IBS. So when I have a flare it is pretty obvious with the BM changes as they become a little softer and harder to clean up after as well as multiple smaller trips to the toilet. I thought maybe the stress of getting ready for the trip as well as other life stresses may have cause this flare to be more pronounced. But I am starting to figure out that I am beginning peri menopause which will cause hormone changes that would possibly make my flares different or more intense. So I guess that is what is going on. I seem to be able to eat just about anything these days. My biggest happiness besides the addition of decaf coffee in my life is being able to eat salad again. I have no issues from it and clearly digest it just fine. In the beginning I gave up salads and a raw veggies because I could see in the toilet the next day undigested salad, ect. Sorry for the grossness, but that is how it was and I am happy to report, no longer is. My flare ups seem to be shorter right now but have the addition of the menopause effect going on so they may start to be more intense in spite of being short lived. I have pain and cramping before BM that goes away pretty quick but leaves me with some fatigue at times. No massive diarrhea or extreme urgency stuff. Disruptive but doable.

*DIET:* I eat pretty much whatever these days. I still have shied away from the Indian buffet that I used to enjoy, and the alcohol, and caffeinated coffee as they all caused me some negativity. Everything else is fair game. Having just got back from camping, my spouse and I relied more on processed food this trip than in previous ones. I survived and am now back home enjoying healthy foods again. It is good to know that my gut can handle that stuff but I much prefer a healthier diet and seem to be able to digest that food these days. Early on it is frustrating when even food you know is "good for you" will not respond well in your body. I have added back in wheat on a regular basis, but not in huge amounts. I still get spelt sour dough bread for most of my needs but will have baked goods with wheat at times.

*Probiotics and supplements:* I am still on Align. I also take pearls brand yeast balance for women in the evening. I drink kombucha and eat yogurt and BioK. I plan to keep this up a while as it seems to be helping. I take vitamins, using a multi right now, also zinc, D, and C. Zinc is supposed to be good for gut repair, so I have actually been on that a while. I typically take it in the winter to help with immunity but this is the first time I have taken it year round. If I am still doing well next summer maybe I will go back to my old ways. I know when the gut gets disrupted, so does your immune system. I figured the zinc would be helpful. I also use maca and chlorella for health reasons. I have some L-Glutamine to start trying, it is good for gut repair as many people on here have mentioned it, but it is also good for helping the body to absorb nutrients too so I guess I will give it a try in the future. I bought some early on but quickly discovered that my gut was too damaged to use that right away.

* Stamina and activity levels:* Doing well. I am back to living a very active life. My spouse and I hike whenever we can and did some really long and difficult hiking on our recent camping trip. I bike to work still here in TO and also for errands so I am on my bike almost daily. I go to yoga classes and work out at the gym. Things are going pretty well for me in this area. I would say I have gained back 10-12 pounds and have managed to replace some of my lost muscle but still have some room for improvement in that area. I sleep well, I guess I will see what menopause does to that. But for now I am well rested and have normal stamina levels. I feel during my flares the effects on stamina for sure. I get petered out at times even of it is for a short period of time.

Overall, I am doing better. I still have effects from my PI-IBS but I feel much improved overall. I agree with ja11, I would love to know how some of the older posters are doing? I can only guess they are doing better and feel no need to come back to the forum. I wish they would check in and give a quick update to let up know how they are.

Take care everyone.

TO68


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## GBFreek

Ja11-

While I certainly don't qualify as a long-timer on these boards, I started posting back in May after coming down with this around the same time you did (early April) following a spring break family trip to Florida. I'll spare the rehash of the detail (you can easily read a few pages back). I'm now at about the 4.5 month point and like many on here - I have improved. I almost hesitated to post as to not jinx myself...but I would guesstimate I am 75% back to normal. It has been slow, but gains have been made, with an occasional setback here or there.

*Medication/Supplements* - All I take is a multi-vitamin and a probiotic (Hyperbiotics Pro-15 brand - the max strength one). I chose that one solely based on Amazon reviews. I tinkered with supplements over the past few months - but have settled on this simple routine. Whether it is the cause for my improvements, rather than the simple passage of time, IDK. But with this probiotic, I certainly have less gas, and my stools have remained more formed. I have not had diarrhea in well over a month. I was never prescribed any medication from the doctor, nor have I been back since my original stool test/blood testing. Like yours, he said this could take months to resolve...I have not doubted what he said.

*Flare-Ups* - Its been over a month now, but the last one was completely out of the blue one morning, untraceable to any diet or event.

*Diet* - My biggest discovery after tinkering with diet over the past 4 months is whatever I had (parasite, virus, bacteria) appears to have lowered my tolerance for Lactose. I was always a big ice cream buy, had milk in the morning, maybe some cottage cheese and yogurt for lunch. At the 3-month point, I started to connect the dots that I felt worse, and had that intestinal unease, the day after I consumed large amounts of lactose. I steered clear of lactose (milk, yogurt, ice cream) for 2 weeks - and i noticed my stools were much less soft, and a good chunk of intestinal unease subsided. Is it completely gone? No, not yet. But my hope is that my continued consumption of high amounts of Lactose was further aggravating the inflammation, prolonging the healing. Again, its my 'google-diagnosis'. I still have milk on my cereal, and cheese, but plan to steer clear of Lactose for a while yet and slowly re-introduce. Surprisingly, this sort of lactose intolerance is common with PI-IBS.

I also have paid attention to FODMAP - in no way following closely, but certainly being aware of high-FODMAP foods and trying to minimize.

*Lifestyle* - I am working out 3-days a week, back to cranking out 20-mile bike rides, and consuming beer (albeit, 2-3 max). Spent 4 nights in Vegas, and managed to avoid any sort of flareup. In short, I feel I am progressing, but not home free. Part of what gets to me is that I am so aware/vigilant about my bowel movements and how a I feel/eat, that its preventing a full recovery. For example, prior to this PI-IBS, if I had a looser stool one day, I thought nothing of it. Or if I had an occasional stomach ache or pain, it was what it was. It was normal life. Now, I am likely over-analyzing every bowel movement, and item I eat. Its like 'normal' has now been redefined. Hard to put in words, but in some way I wonder if I felt the way I did today, 2 years ago, I would think I was fine. Now, I simply define it different. The one thing I do get on a random day which I don't recall every getting before PI-IBS, is some occasional muscle twitching in my arm or foot.

I will continue to post updates and god forbid, any set backs. Hope everyone does the same. Look on the bright side - most that have posted in this forum over the years have eventually gone away - likely indicating they improved and moved on.

Best-

GBFreek


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## TO68

Rosierose, Rockford12s, RhondaJ, and others, how are you doing? Thanks GBfreek, JA11, and Kat54 for joining in. Hoping everyone recovers and finds health and reduced stress.

TO68


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## ja11

Thanks for your updates TO68 and GBFreek!

At this point I am almost 5 months in since the nightmare started. I am happy to report that I have been experiencing less gas and bloating and my sleep has improved significantly. I also had a follow up appointment with my GI doctor earlier this week who conformed that good progress has been made in the last month and I should expect full recovery in a few months or may be a year (it's depressing to think that I could be dealing with this in a year or over a year time). I would guess I am 60-70% back to normal. And yes, it seems like there is a new normal and I am tying to analyze every BM (not fun)!

My doctor said I should avoid the following for at least a few more months before trying to re-introduce them one at the time:

- Lactose

- Coffee & Tea

- Gluten

In terms of medications, I have cut back and now take only Florastor, Align and multivitamins. Not sure if taking different powders was helping or making things worse...

I am also back at the gym 3-4 times a week but not back to playing sports (before I had this condition I would play basketball 1-2 times a week). I also managed to regain back close to 10 pounds (lost 25-30 in total).

Feel better everyone!

Ja11


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## TO68

Hey Ja11,

It is still pretty early for you but seems like you are doing pretty well and maybe have a decent GI doc. Mine was not very helpful and I learned about diet on here and by doing online research. When I drank coffee or alcohol very early on, it would burn immediately and was painful like gasoline. I drink decaf coffee daily now a bit over a year later with no issues. I think the time away from it and other gut irritants was needed. Getting active again was really helpful to me, glad you are back to the gym. I was also on a team, a rowing team, and I had to quit doing it and have been away from it for a year. I am ready to go back though physically. The issues I was having in the morning with having multiple BMs and lots of pain and some urgency prevented me from being able to join my team. My bowel timing is pretty good these days but that took time to happen. From my experience and from reading, early on it is best to try and just get the gut calmed down. If you can tolerate vitamins, then go for it. I could not for a while, at least 6 months. I stayed away from powders too. My gut was just so damaged it did not seem to help. Whenever I would try L Glutamine, my guts would gurgle and hurt, but most things I ate made them do that. L-Glutamine can cause D and other discomforts as well as heal the gut. It says so on the packaging, go figure. Try that later on maybe. If you take it with food, it decreases the gut healing properties.

Best,

TO68


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## HADA3583

I'm one month in to my PI-IBS nightmare, and have to say, this thread is the only thing that has given me hope thus far. I haven't been on anything long enough to recommend, but thank you all for sharing your story.


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## GBFreek

Hada3583, welcome to the unfortunate club, the club we are all trying to escape. Certainly post a brief bio of how you came down with this and your symptoms - misery loves company!

I am now pushing near the 7 month mark, again, all can read my story over the last few pages. I can say I continue to progress, but seem stuck at this 80-85% of normal point. Maybe thats as good as Ill get, IDK. If thats the case, Id be OK with it. I read some of these long term studies where sample sizes were 600+ of PI-IBS individuals and when followed up with 3 years late, the majority have some sort of lingering effect. Not life altering, but still lingering.

As for my specifics. True diarrhea has been non-existent for awhile. However, still have days of softer/misformed stools. The nasty death farts/gas for the most part have faded. I had a 2 week run where I had immaculate poops, likely the most pristine in my life. I figured I had it licked. While softer stools have returned since then, its certainly a more normal type of soft stool (if that makes sense).

I still seem to just feel whats happening in my gut more than before pi-ibs. I still have days where I get some intestinal unease, but nothing like the initial 3 months. I also get the occasional random, dull, ache in various spots of the gut. But again, not as bad as initially. Some bloating remains on some days. And most random, I still have days where Ill get a noticeable eye lid or elbow twitch.

I still stay away from Lactose, but have gone back to eating everything else in moderation. I take my probiotic, but am not religious about it, want to scale it back to every other day or every 3rd day shortly, as I have gotten to the point where my body will not have a bowel movement for two days on occasion (Ill take it). I figure too much probiotic may be working too well and constipating me at times. Who knows, as youll find out, a lot of trial and error as you progress through this.


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## ja11

Hey GBFreek,

I am exactly at the 7 month mark as well. Overall I am doing much better but still have bad days here and there. My GI doctor says I should expect full recovery (he sees a lot of pi-ibs cases) but let's wait and see. He also says it takes an average 2 years to fully recover. I have a follow up appointments in a few weeks to confirm progress.

I am also eating almost everything but avoiding milk, regular coffee and some high FODMAP foods. But I am happy to report that my diet has expended a lot in the last 1-2 months. I managed to regain 18 of the 30 pounds I lost in the first 2 months. Bottom line weight loss is no longer an issue.

In terms of symptoms, I have not had D for a few weeks. If I eat something that my gut does not like, I get loose/soft stool in addition to gas and some stomach gurgling. I take probiotics daily florastore and align and fiber supplement Metamucil (1 tbs).


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## TO68

Hey HADA3583,

Welcome! I am sorry to hear that you have to join us because that means you are probably not feeling too well and now having to manage PI-IBS. It is no picnic. You don't have to just recommend stuff or suggest anything. You can vent, describe symptoms, ask or give advice, ect. Most of us on here have done all of the above. I would suggest starting to look into something called FODMAP, do a Google search. You can download a nice big list from Monash University of FODMAP foods. I printed it out and used to take it to the grocery with me. It can hep you to figure out what your body can tolerate right now and what it can't. You may have also seen on here that many people are told by their drs or voluntarily give up wheat, dairy, alcohol, and caffeine. All can irritate the already irritated gut. This does not have to be forever, but may be for a few months to a year to see the gut calm down. I gave it all up for varying lengths of time and saw positive change. And to be honest, coffee and alcohol were like drinking gasoline for me so it was no problem to let them both go. Lots of us eat chicken, rice and a low fodmap veggie of choice, mine was carrots and green beans. Steel cut oats can help. Be patient and make allowances for yourself right now. You are in the worst and you will not feel well. Don't expect your life to be normal for a while, so you can't push yourself and may have to make life changes to get through this. Might have to cut work hours or type of work, make changes to reduce stress, make changes to live a quieter life(going out to eat can be really hard right now).

Take care,

TO68


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## HADA3583

Hi All, thank you for the support! Back story on my PI-IBS.. I've had manageable IBS for over 10 years. I knew my trigger foods and what to avoid. It was annoying, but never interfered in my life or prevented me from doing anything. Fast forward to September, when I went on a business trip overseas and picked-up some kind of gastrointestinal infection from the food or water. Not to be graphic- but green diarrhea, nausea, loss of appetite, misery for 2+ weeks. I took a course of Cipro and went to my GI when I got back. Stool tests for parasites, bacteria, C-Diff, Leukocytes, etc. came back negative. Abdominal CT scan is normal too, and an endoscopy last week came back ok. He thinks I have "Post-Infectious IBS on top of IBS."

I take Ultimate Flora Womens 90billion probiotic, and tried a month of Florastor which didn't do anything. I'll take Imodium when needed, and Pepto sometimes. My GI prescribed Ondansetron for nausea but it doesn't work, and Hyoscyamine takes the edge off of cramps sometimes, but I don't have much cramping. My main symptoms are loose stools, nausea, and loss of appetite. Since this all started, my stool has gotten more formed, but it's still loose. I've been trying to identify what foods I cannot tolerate now, and logged my diet for over a month, but I haven't much that consistently bothers me aside from garlic. Ironically, the times I've eaten normal, I've usually felt ok the next day. But, I'm usually scared to eat anything, and have been eating mostly rice, potatoes, cheddar cheese, gluten free bread, and seafood.

The biggest impact this has had on my life is the anxiety/depression it's triggered. As this condition continues, I'm spiraling into a deeper state of anxiety, in which I feel like I'm almost always in a state of panic. Life is so hard now, and I'm mourning the life I had prior to this. I have no appetite, and have to force myself to eat most of the time. I've lost 7-10 lbs. I'm petite, so I don't have extra weight to lose. I'm terrified of wasting away. My GP prescribed me an SSRI antidepressant to try, and it made me so violently ill that I didn't take a second pill. I'm calling her tomorrow too ask about trying a tricyclic antidepressant instead, as it seems like these have helped people with IBS-D. Since this all started from a work trip, my boss has been very understanding. But it's still stressful, and I've missed a lot of work. I've considered going on FMLA leave.

I'm so thankful for this thread and for everyone sharing their stories. I've never heard of Post-Infectious IBS before this happened to me, and find that most other people haven't either. No one understands why I'm "still sick", but I know this group does! Hoping to return with some good news, sooner rather than later )


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## ja11

Hi HADA3583,

Sorry to hear that you're going through the same nightmare. At this point, it's been 8 months since I had my stomach infection. In terms of previous issues, I think I had some degree of lactose intolerance but from what I read 70-80% of all people have it so it was not a big issue for me. After March this year, things have been different with PI-IBS-D but I saw gradual improvements over the months.

For over 4 months I lived on rice, chicken, bananas and gluten free bread. What saved me from losing even more weight (lost close to 30 pounds) was organic peanut butter and gluten free toast. As of today, I managed to regain 20+ pounds. I am happy to report that in the past two weeks my diet has expanded significantly and I started eating everything with no problems. I got to a point where I will even drink two decaf coffees with milk every day







. This was the case until a couple of days back when my loose stool and stomach rumbling returned. Kind of depressing because I thought I was cured.

I also remember in the first 2-3 months I struggled to go to work and was planning to take 4 months off work to try to recover. Anyway, I did not end up going on sick leave instead I took sick days here and there. I was simply not conformable to leave the house and anxiety played a key role in this. I am happy to report that this is no longer the case. My sleep has also improved significantly and I do not feel as tired as before.

Overall I feel much better in month 8 and if I have to live this way for the next year or so I will be ok. One this I am not sure is whether I will be back to the way I was before this started. Let's see...

You will feel better soon for sure!

Take care,

Ja11


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## TO68

HADA3583

Hey there, I hope htings are starting to calm down for you a little. I would suggest maybe trying Align probiotics, they helped me a lot. Probiotics don't help everyone, but they do help some people; Since you ahve had IBS for a decade, maybe you have tried probiotics before? Also, late in my PI-IBS my family dr. gave me some samples of a new medication/supplement called IBGuard. I have not tried them as my symptoms have way dialed down, but you might give them a go. They can be found in pharmacies and some department stores. Comes in a green box. You could probably get them from Amazon. Ginger or mint tea can be soothing if you have no appetite. I hope you are feeling better.

TO68


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## TO68

Hey everyone!

*I am writing in with my 1.5 year update:*

I am happy to report that I am doing really well. Yes I still have symptoms of PI-IBS but my life is 180 degrees opposite my start with this disorder. My life was really derailed for the first 3-6 months including causeing me to end a job contract I was on and to get a temporary retail job that I could handle with my energy levels. I was in pain all the time and had weird BMs with weird timing. My diet was extrmely limited which did end up helping me in many ways. Today I am not in pain and eat mostly what I want. My BMs have normal timing and are getting back to the consistancy I used to have at least part of the time.

* DIET:*

I eat just about anything these days. I have tried small and I mean very small amounts of alcohol a couple of times. It went ok but I can tell that I can't have much of it. So some wine now and again and the occasional bit of Kahlua, it is Kahlua and eggnog season after all! I have chosen to stay on decaffeinated coffee. I like my life better without caffeine so I guess one of the positives of going through this was breaking to caffeine cycle I was in. I only drank a cup per day but I could tell it interfered with my sleep. Otherwise no other food is off the table. If I plan to go out to eat or just try something different I time it with a day off or a later start time just in case. But I have not really had any issues from my trials. My spouse and I love the Indian buffet and I plan to give one a go this month and see how I do since I had some negative reactions in the past from them, mostly pain. I can eat processed foods and higher FODMAP foods. I did not eat apples for a year and now I eat them daily at times or at least a few per week. I am starting to eat more beans now and even some grains that I had been avoiding early on.

* STAMINA:*

I am back to full speed ahead workouts and pushing myself. I am gaining weight, about 15 of the 40 pounds I lost. I plan to try and stay about where I am as I was a little overweight when this all started. I am putting back on lost muscle. It has taken time but I am doing it. I am middle aged(47) so it is hard to lose so much muscle because it is really hard to get it back at this age but I am giving it a huge go.

* Flares:*

I used to be able to tell that I was in a flare. Now I just have an annoying symptom or two. Like 2 weeks ago I had a day of "death farts". Shout out and thanks to GBFreek for naming what I have been experiencing in such a way that I think we all get what that means. Not sure what caused the death farts, some food or the timing of my hormone cycle. Who knows? But they lasted an entire day then left. I was visiting friends at the time and we had considered going to a movie and I told them that would be bad for me and all involved due to death farts. My friends get it so we did a night hike and went to the movie 2 days later. For me that is not too disruptive but for younger people I could see where this would be a problem. My BMs are always in the morning and within 30 minutes or so of getting up. Consistency varies but at least half the time I have full empties with soft log type BMs, something I had prior to this. The other times I may have a lesser amount or a formed but messy consistency BM that is hard to clean up after. To be honest, the timing is the big thing for me. I just want to have the BM and be done for the day. So that is happening and I will just be glad about it. Prior to PI-IBS I had 1-3 BM/day with no stress about it, now I seem to mostly have just one. Once in a while I will have a second one later in the day. So far that has not been stressful. I used to have days of fatigue and just not feeling well. Those are mostly gone and when I do have them now, they actually take me a while to notice. Like late in a day I will notice I felt a little "off" and realize that it must have been a "flare day". I still get bloating too and I am not sure exactly what causes it. It does not last very long though. I always wake up with a flat stomach and see it ebb and flow throughout the day but some days not at all. Occasionally I get pretty big, but nothing like I used to have. I know early on I often looked early pregnant after meals. I still sometimes have pain and cramping to signal a BM. I can recall before all of this maybe having the urge to have a BM and simply being able to ignore it for a while if I needed to. Some days this is not possible because it is painful and feels like I really have to go, even though the BM is formed. Other times I have the pain but can indeed just breath and make my body wait. This happens monthly at this point, I have not paid attention to how much but it is there.

* SUPPLEMENTS:*

I am still taking Align and also Pearls brand women's yeast balance. I do Align in the morning and the other in the evening. I have been on Align since about month 4 and I have taken it with diligence daily. I started my second probiotic around month 6 or 8. I had taken that one prior to all of this just for health reasons in my 30's. The align has become a "Linus blanket" and I am now thinking that I should plan to drop down to every other day in the future. Maybe at the 2 year mark. I will wait and see how the BM s are going I guess. Other than the expense, about $350/yr, it is not that much of a big deal to take them. The good news is that probiotics also help with your immunity and general well being so I am not in a hurry I guess. I want to be sure I do not need antibiotics so I don't kill off all my bacteria in my gut so I want to not get sick at all. Seems to be working so far. I make an effort to eat and drink probiotic foods like kefir and kombucha, I like them and plan to continue. I also take supplements for stamina like Maca powder and I use chlorella in my smoothies. Mostly I just focus on eating really healthy with the enjoyment of some junk food here and there.

So at this point I am applying for contract work for the winter with full time hours and better pay. I have been at my retail job for about 15 months now and while I have been grateful to have a paycheck, it is not what I want to be doing. I took the job to be close to my doctor and to have money coming into my household and I figured it would help my stamina, which it did. I look forward to getting back into the work I love to do and the better pay. I am also training to try and get back into rowing. My bowel timing and other symptoms were so bad that I had to give it up but things are stabilizing for me so I can look into joining a rec team that practices in the evening to get back into the swing of things. Overall my life is going well and the effects of PI-IBS are diminished. I don't feel ruled by it but am I am still aware of it. It affects my life here and there but for the most part I am back to living a full life. Early on I never went anywhere without having some food packed for me because my diet was so limited and my symptoms uncomfortable and disruptive. Now I welcome the chance to have some food out when the opportunity arises. One day my spouse and i went downtown to a museum and spent hours walking around. We had packed a sack lunch for financial reasons but bought a sausage roll at a subway station that we ate with glee. I would not have even considered doing that 8-10 months ago. I still don't indulge many times in a row though and keep a baseline diet of whole foods prepared at home.

I feel more like me again.

Take care everyone! I hope we all keep moving forward.

TO68


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## VinnyB

I was not officially diagnosed with PI-IBS but I starting to think it's the case.

I always had a shitty digestive system (pun intended). Heartburn and constipation the majority of my life but better lately. I had diarhea when I was younger but not so often now. There is certain food that gives me instant diarrhea. When I eat chicken, I usally pass a lot of gas in the following hours...

Then I went to Mexico three months ago. Before that trip, I had the most perfect stools I never had for several months (drinking water, doing more sports, taking probitocs, etc.) One week after return, I had MAJOR gas problem with loose floaty stool and I'm not talking about the smell (that's is why I'm thinking of an infection).One week later, it's back to normal. Then I went to a restaurant and I ate something very greasy (and I'm not so sure it was that fresh). Next morning, loose stool and gas/bloating. Note that in trip, I drink way more alchool than I'm used to, I ate an enormous quantity of nachos, tacos and eveything mexican. I did an excursion and I ate with mayas in the jungle and finally, a wave crashed on my face while swimming with fishes and I swallowed a lot of sea water...So I suppose a lot of microorganisms and food that I'm not used to entered my system...

Again, maybe it's not related to my trip but it's funny it happened just after...

Since then, all my stools were not that great and several times a week, I could have the worst gas problem for 1-3 hours after eating. The only difference now it's there is no smell anymore. I did a stool analysis but everything was negative. I should have done it the first time when there was a bad smell. Feels like the infection was gone at that moment, if there was.

Now for the last week, my stool keeps getting better. I even did a couple of almost perfect stools. Gas still present but less often.

And then this weekend, I ate some spicy food. It's been two days and my stool are ok at first then mushy at the end. And my hole burns a little bit after and I feel mild pain at the lower part of my belly. Not precise pain but just general disconfort.

Now I'm waiting for a coloscopy "just to be sure there is nothing more" but my doctor thinks I may have IBS... She told me I have all the symptoms.

Note that I din't see any red or black in my stools. Also, I did a coloscopy three years ago for another problem but found nothing exept a very small polyp which was removed on the spot and I have small internal hemorrhoids. I don't know if they are still "small" three years later.

I also have an itchy hole but never told a doctor because ...well it's not fun to say.

And on top of that, I suffer from anxiety. I'm hypochondriac and I always think I'm gonna die from cancer when I have symptoms (so the last 3 months are very difficult for me).

what do you think ?


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## TO68

Hi Vinny,

It seems you are no stranger to gut problems. I think you may indeed be part of our club. But I can understand why you would go ahead with the colonoscopy. If your symptoms are not so bad now, or at least you think they are more improved, the colonoscopy will probably be ok. I have been warned by others that early on in PI-IBS when symptoms are the worst, for some people the prep for the colonoscopy can make them worse. And for some it helps clear them up. Probiotics worked for me and I see you mentioned using them. Give Align a try. Florastor is another one often suggested. Others on here have listed the brands they have used with good results as well. Pick one and use it for a few months. Check into the FODMAP diet too. It can help.

TO68


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## VinnyB

Hi TO68 !

I'll do the colonoscopy because my mom had a colon cancer (at 65 years old). I was due for a checkup next years but we'll do it now to be sure. I don't think I have one because I'm still young for this (35) and the fact that it happened right after my trip to Mexico and it was almost perfect just before....Also, I had to do a CT scan of my whole chest and belly last year (kidney stones...) and there was nothing (execept the stone of course and some internal hemorrhoids). Then I did my first colonoscopy 3 years ago for another problem and found nothing exept a very small polyp which was removed. So, colonoscopy three years ago and CT scan last years and no trace or cancer and I was told this type of cancer can take severals years to grow so...

IBS or simple unbalanded gut flora ? IDK...

About the probiotics, I was taking one at first with no improvement at all then I changed for another which has more bacteria strains (this one have bactarias found in the small intestine which the first one didn't have). After 4-5 days of this new one, I started having better stools (not perfect but way better). Is it related ? IDK but I continue to take them.


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## ashyam86343

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the issues you were facing and it was exactly same may be little over what you guys are having. I also had mouth issues related to my gut . Now i got cured.

I made lot of analysis with different forums and found the IBS is 90% is improper diet and candida over growth.

So guys to get cure, you dont need a medication, our body itself will make a cure only that we need to help by feeding easy digestable foods & more warm water. Warm water will spread the accumulated candida and dissolve.

Hada, Potato is not good for IBS, it produces bloating and gas, avoid. Yogurt and rice is good combination for lunch, i did for 2 months. Ginger juice, Garlic, turmeric & black pepper to be considered.

During the issue, i used to go toilet in morning 2-3 times and 5 times for the whole day. Now i am passing formed stool that too only once.

My advice to you all is to avoid anything cold, no alcohol, wheat, potato & non cooked items. Eat healthy boiled food & drink mostly warm water.

All the best guys.


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## JoeDirt

ashyam86343 said:


> Hi Guys,
> 
> Sorry for the issues you were facing and it was exactly same may be little over what you guys are having. I also had mouth issues related to my gut
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . Now i got cured.
> 
> I made lot of analysis with different forums and found the IBS is 90% is improper diet and candida over growth.
> 
> So guys to get cure, you dont need a medication, our body itself will make a cure only that we need to help by feeding easy digestable foods & more warm water. Warm water will spread the accumulated candida and dissolve.
> 
> Hada, Potato is not good for IBS, it produces bloating and gas, avoid. Yogurt and rice is good combination for lunch, i did for 2 months. Ginger juice, Garlic, turmeric & black pepper to be considered.
> 
> During the issue, i used to go toilet in morning 2-3 times and 5 times for the whole day. Now i am passing formed stool that too only once.
> 
> My advice to you all is to avoid anything cold, no alcohol, wheat, potato & non cooked items. Eat healthy boiled food & drink mostly warm water.
> 
> All the best guys.


May I ask, do you still have to keep up with your new diet? Or can you eat anything you want now?


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## ashyam86343

JoeDirt said:


> May I ask, do you still have to keep up with your new diet? Or can you eat anything you want now?


Hi Joedirt,

Now i am no more on diet.

I am eating like before but restricted myself like avoiding alcohol, non veg weekly twice only ( fish, Chicken & mutton only ). Frequently eating Ginger juice, turmeric milk, raw garlic and pepper.

Hope this helps.


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## JoeDirt

ashyam86343 said:


> Hi Joedirt,
> 
> Now i am no more on diet.
> 
> I am eating like before but restricted myself like avoiding alcohol, non veg weekly twice only ( fish, Chicken & mutton only ). Frequently eating Ginger juice, turmeric milk, raw garlic and pepper.
> 
> Hope this helps.


Well then it doesn't sound like you are cured. If you can't eat whatever you want without symptoms such as alcohol, pork/ beef or wheat, then how can you be cured?

Cured means you are 100 percent what you were before your IBS appeared in your life.

Because avoiding trigger foods is not a cure, nearly everyone who has IBS has different types of trigger foods that causes their symptoms. Some people can't consume any diary or else their IBS flares up, but I can do it just fine. My trigger foods are usually vegetables, if I eat them my IBS acts up worse. I don't believe avoiding foods is going to cure anybody, all it's doing is making it easier for IBS stomachs to work, because the foods are either their triggers/ or it's just doing a easier job digesting ( less stomach work, less symptoms).

What you are saying is pretty counterproductive telling people they don't need medication, and just stick to diet. Medication might not cure, but it would certainly help treat them as to lessen their symptoms and live their life. Though the only medication that has so far had success of curing IBS is FMT, but for most of the world it's only for C.Diff infections ( you can do it yourself, but the donor might not be as good as doctor's providing). By dismissing medication , you are giving them even less options, and diet hasn't been proven to cure anyone, only treat it.

Also I don't think improper diet and candida causes IBS at all ( candida has not been scientifically proven to exist, but a term mainly used by alternative practitioners) because only 10-15 percent of the world has IBS. That means the rest of the world who eat terrible fast food and drink alcohol all the time, have not developed IBS. That would indicate diet is not whats causing IBS ( if it was it would mean most of the world would have IBS) , but some other factor such as post infections/ excessive antibiotics...etc.

Also just out of curiosity, are you living in India or traveled there recently? Reason I ask is, many tourists who came back from India, reported they caught intestinal parasites, which usually give symptoms like IBS (diarrhea, stomach pain, gassy). Some studies have shown that parasites seem to also cause stomach inflammation, so avoiding certain inflammation foods like wheat, would perhaps lessen the symptoms.


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## TO68

Hey Joe Dirt and ashyam86343,

I was doing some reading on IBS as I sometimes do and found this website. Seems to relate to what both of you are saying. I think drs really don't understand IBS and most will admit this. My GI doc did. There are studies and whatnot, but really there is a lot about the gut medical professionals don't know. It seems diet is really key for IBS, but from what I have experienced and read, it can possibly cure you. My GI doc said that my gut was out of balance as can happen sometimes after an infection. He stressed that it takes a long time to calm down. Some of the studies I read online said 1-8 years to recover. And yeah, some people never do recover and may have mild to severe symptoms for life. I know I had to make major dietary changes at first and some foods that used to bother me, actually MOST food bothered me, do not anymore. I have noticed on this site and a couple of others I read that people have posted similar things, that they find they can retry foods here and there that cause them problems to find that one day they stop doing that. That they can eat the trigger food eventually with no issues. And yes, some could have a trigger food for life or many triggers for that matter. I can only speak for myself on this and can honestly say that my diet has been able to expand a lot and I have foods I can now eat that I could not before. Give this website a read. It is not a scientific website but offers some thoughts on this topic:

https://hollywoodhomestead.com/bad-diet-causes-ibs/

TO68


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## JoeDirt

@TO68

I don't know why you bother to even post that site despite knowing it's not scientific based. But I read it just to see what it could be, and while it seems to be harmless, I would take everything with a grain of salt, because the writer of the site is just some ex Hollywood assistant (not even in medical field), not somebody that people should be taking health advice from. Worse is that it tries to look credible by citing a bunch of blogs that are similar to itself.

While it is true that many GI doctors do not understand what IBS is or causes it. Researchers on the field are beginning to suspect that a imbalance of gut bacteria to be the cause. Perhaps a trauma to the digestive system such as a infection, caused the good bacteria to die off, but the bad ones flourish, it is not completely clear. What is clear is that some IBS sufferers have been cured from FMT ( as in 100 percent back to normal without restrictions), whether from a clinic, or DIY. But I would recommend consulting doctors first, to at least have them screen the donors.

A cure means what it means, make you 100 percent normal again, like 85 percent of the world. Meaning you should be able to eat as unhealthy as you want everyday and still be fine, like most of the world that eats horribly and have not developed IBS. I am not saying we should all eat unhealthy just because we could. I'm simply stating that most of the world have terrible diets and they do not develop IBS, only 10-15 percent do, meaning it should not be the diet that is causing IBS, only that is seems to be causing a issue after one has gotten IBS.

Nowadays, I'm quite skeptical whenever people tell me their food diet has cured them, mainly because they are still on the diet even though they claim to be cured. Most of the time it's the FODMAP diet, one of the main things GI doctors suggest to IBS sufferers. If they are still on the diet,it is not a cure, it is simply a treatment. If you have to keep taking something in order for the symptoms to be kept at bay, then it's a treatment, much like chemotherapy for cancer. It only treats, not cure.

The fact you still have some symptoms however minor they may be ( occasional pains, bloating..etc) and still be aware of them, makes me believe you are not cured.

Judging from your prior post, I lean more towards the probiotic to be the biggest reason why you feel so much better. The good bacteria is helping you digest food and basically taking some of the burden off of your own digestive systems. If you are also taking something extra that and not just relying on a food diet. Then already the food diet can't be the cure. Since probiotic is helping, then chances are that you're lacking good bacteria, and a fecal microbiota transplant would be the real cure for you.

The only thing I can say to you and ashyam is that if the food diet works for you, great. But you shouldn't tell others that a food diet is the cure, because it's misleading. It's a treatment not a cure, you guys are just adapting to your new life with IBS.


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## TO68

JoeDirt

I posted the article because it actually had some useful advice in it. Including the simple and logical response to why the FODMAP diet can help. When the gut biome gets disrupted, you lack the needed bacteria to digest certain foods/carbs/ect. The body responds with diarrhea or constipation or both. For some, the gut biome regenerates and eliminates these symptoms to allow them to resume their normal diet or at least to resume eating foods that used to give them symptoms. The diet is not the cure, time and the body regenerating is. There does not seem to be a cure for IBS because the medical establishment does not understand the condition enough to make one. If you want more scientific reading I would Google search Robin Spiller, a UK Dr. who seems to be dedicating his career to researching this disorder and conducts long term studies on it. Gut imbalance seems to be one of the reasons for IBS that I keep seeing online but there are also many other causes including damage to the GI nerves and gut walls. The IBS disorder is called a functional disorder as there are no structural reasons for the issue and the GI tract simply does not function correctly. But given the nature of the disorder some drs are studying the gut wall, nerves, and inflammation responses. With some recent studies Drs are starting to realize that they are having to admit that there is a physical basis at times for the IBS disorder. That being said I have no idea what type of damage my gut has. And yes, the probiotics do seem to be helping me a lot but there are many other variables to consider for my condition as I have implemented several changes to improve my condition. I have encouraged many on here to give probiotics a try but I have also stated that they simply don't work for everyone, most likely because each person has different damage and GI bacteria I guess. I have read a lot about those fecal transplants. I seem to see people stating that they were cured by them on websites similar to the one I posted. I have no reason to doubt them, but I know most GI docs don't do this type of treatment. I know mine would have laughed in my face. he was aware of FODMAP and he told me himself that drs really don't understand IBS and that if you find one who says they do, they are lying. He was not my favorite person but I think he was correct in some regards. Like a lot of GIs, they just want to do scopes and diagnose by elimination even though they can use the Rome criteria. I am not even sure where you would get a fecal transplant done but I think someone with severe symptoms not responding to anything else may be willing to give it a try. It seems reasonable that it could work since the transplant would help replenish lost bacteria for some. So far my understanding of IBS on scientific as well as non scientific sites is that it simply seems to resolve for some people and more so for the PI-IBS crowd. This article is a more scientific one:

http://www.ibs-treatment.com.au/sites/default/files/downloads/post_infectious_ibs.pdf

They mention diet but never say FODMAP. They never say "cure" but simply state that after a 5-6 year study that 65% of people "recovered". The Dr running the test never said that he "cured" these people. The fact that GI drs use this language tells me that there is no "cure" yet but that some of us can expect a future without this disorder as it may simply eventually resolve. Time seems to be key. The role of diet can for sure relieve symptoms. I think whether or not it cures is for sure debatable. W may found out some day that diet does cure. In the previous website I posted it seems to suggest that by limiting offensive foods, you reduce symptoms, but by reintroducing the foods, you allow the body to replenish lost bacteria to the gut biome.

It is possible that ashyam may be working with an ayurvedic dr. If so, they have a different sense of "cure". I am no expert but I think they look at the body as being out of balance and seek to bring it back in balance with diet and other non western non drug ways.

Cheers!

TO68


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## JoeDirt

The problem with the conventional approaches to IBS such as colonoscopy, endoscopy...etc, is that they only look for what's not suppose to be there, injuries/inflammations, growths...etc. It doesn't look for what's "suppose" to be there, such as beneficial bacteria and the like. There appears to be growing interest in gut bacteria since many pharmaceutical companies are researching it and one even partnered with OpenBiome trying to patent and get approval for FMT pills for mass production. But unfortunately they will need FDA approval before anything and that would take years.

I have been reading tons of scientific research on gut microbes ever since I've been diagnosed, that's why I bought up FMTs since it seems the be the only lead we have at the moment that seems to work I know in US. and Canada the only way to possibly get a FMT for anything other than C.Diff is to sign up for a clinical trial, though the wait might be months for even years, depending on your location.

There have been few cases of those who suffered from severe IBS - D, that have done a simple DIY FMT from either a friend or family donor and claim to be cured. I still urge those to have their donor, however healthy and close they might be, to get tested first before blindly attempting. In the U.S there is no law against doctors providing assistance ( such as screening donors) to patients who wish to do home FMTS, only that they cannot perform it themselves.

I'm not surprised or happy that the scientific article would not call it a cure, because in the medical world there is nothing for IBS that can be considered a cure, only treatments.

I'm not quite familiar with what a ayurvedic doctor is. But to me it appears to be like a type of alternative medicine, much like the herbalists from eastern Asia.


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## ja11

Hi all,

Just a quick update from me. It has been almost 9 months since I had my stomach infection in Mexico which led to my pi-ibs.

Well I am MUCH better these days and close to 100% (this has been the case in the last 4-5 weeks). No more diets and sleep is back to normal. I am drinking regular coffee with milk 2-3 time a day, eating gluten and fructose with no problem. I also managed to regain back the 30 pounds I lost between April-June.

The only thing that I continue to take is one Florastor every morning but planning on stoping it soon if I continue to feel good. Lets see ... keeping my fingers crossed.

As my GI doctor said, if you have a true pi-ibs you will be well again even though it takes an average 2 years to recover fully. I cant tell you how much good it feels to be able to eat whatever you want again &#128515;.

Feel better everybody.
Ja11


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## TO68

Ja11,

Wow! It sounds like you are doing great. I know at 9 months for me, things were better but certainly not %100 or even that close. Refresh my memory, after you were ill from your trip, were you treated at all with antibiotics? I am curious because I was blasted with a huge dose of them and I think that contributed to my condition. It did help to get rid of my original symptoms and I could tell a difference, but it was after the drugs that my BM became really runny and soft. Sometimes even puffy looking. Anyway, I am glad you are doing so much better. Do you have any flares at all?

TO68


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## TO68

JoeDirt,

Yeah, with CDiff there is a definite cause, a spore that multiplies and tales over in the colon causing horrible symptoms. Drs do a test on your stool and see the offending invader. So for sure not a "functional disorder" but an illness caused by a specific infectious agent. No one understands what bacteria or lack there of may be the cause of IBS. And bacteria is only part of the equation. Diet directly affects gut bacteria though, and gut bacteria we have gives a direct response to our diet. How ever you want to refer to diet with regards to IBS, it is key. I know early on when I severely restricted my diet, I continued to lose weight and had poor stamina, but my pain levels finally dropped at that time and in a major way. I was getting woke up every night at 3AM or so with horrible pain and I was in pain for hours at a time during the day as food passed through my system. It sucked. Once my pain dialed down with my boring and very limited diet, it never returned to the previous levels. I think the severely restricted diet reduced all gut irritants so my guts could heal a bit. I still had other symptoms and for sure was not out of the woods, but getting those pain levels down and eventually gone for good was a huge step forward. I am still absolutely symptomatic today, but my symptoms are very mild as I have tried to describe in my updates. From a Drs perspective I still have IBS but from my perspective I just have a minor nuisance in my life. Hope you are finding things that help and work for you.

To68


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## JeffR

I am now just over 1 year since having PI-IBS (confirmed by my GI doc after running several tests with negative results). Only 2 months ago I can truly say I am finally 99.9999999% normal! I also lost a lot of muscle, and this time last year I was very weak, almost felt like I was dying / wasting away. Very scary!

Today I am pretty much myself again! My muscle mass has been restored, but unfortunately so has my total body weight (I'll have to get back to the gym).

I still have no idea what caused my IBS for an entire year. All I can say is I had one of those stomach viruses, thought it would be done in 24-48 hours but came back hard and all the symptoms stayed for over a month at maximum severity.

I was like a lot on this board for a long time, thinking I will never beat this PI-IBS even after 2 separate rounds of Xifaxan. And everyone on this board understands what we are going through (if you try telling someone who has not been through this, which can also include doctors, the only thing they will tell you is "you're crazy").

This board gave me hope. So glad I found it as it was the only thing that convinced me this will not last forever, even if it lasts longer than we want.

Thanks again to all for the support! And to those that are still suffering.....it will get better.


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## TO68

Hey JeffR,

Thanks so much for your update. For me I really noticed starting to feel more normal at the 12 month to 1.5 year time. I am just a little past that now. I feel pretty normal but still have mild symptoms. I think my spouse and I will try one last food hurdle this weekend, the Indian buffet I am off work a few days so I will see how it goes. Seems you and a couple of others are doing really well just after a year. I would consider myself still having as mild symptoms that are a nuisance but certainly much improved overall and living a normal life. I sleep normal and eat mostly what I want. I never went back to caffeinated coffee that I had to give up and I am fine with that new lifestyle choice. I have managed a few drinks this holiday season with no issues and that was not the case at first. It was like drinking gasoline. So New years will be a little more fun

I am glad that you brought up the weight loss and how scary things are. Most websites I was reading early on stressed that IBS is not associated with weight loss. What a lie. I lost 40 pounds really fast. It is really crazy how it can be. It sucks that drs just look at you like you are some basket case. And so far you are the only one who has mentioned viberzi. I keep seeing ads for it. From what most people say on here, the drugs help somewhat. I know the one I was on was helpful but I was more than happy to stop taking it when the time came.

I am glad you are better.

Take care,

TO68


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## ashyam86343

JoeDirt said:


> Well then it doesn't sound like you are cured. If you can't eat whatever you want without symptoms such as alcohol, pork/ beef or wheat, then how can you be cured?
> 
> Cured means you are 100 percent what you were before your IBS appeared in your life.
> 
> Because avoiding trigger foods is not a cure, nearly everyone who has IBS has different types of trigger foods that causes their symptoms. Some people can't consume any diary or else their IBS flares up, but I can do it just fine. My trigger foods are usually vegetables, if I eat them my IBS acts up worse. I don't believe avoiding foods is going to cure anybody, all it's doing is making it easier for IBS stomachs to work, because the foods are either their triggers/ or it's just doing a easier job digesting ( less stomach work, less symptoms).
> 
> What you are saying is pretty counterproductive telling people they don't need medication, and just stick to diet. Medication might not cure, but it would certainly help treat them as to lessen their symptoms and live their life. Though the only medication that has so far had success of curing IBS is FMT, but for most of the world it's only for C.Diff infections ( you can do it yourself, but the donor might not be as good as doctor's providing). By dismissing medication , you are giving them even less options, and diet hasn't been proven to cure anyone, only treat it.
> 
> Also I don't think improper diet and candida causes IBS at all ( candida has not been scientifically proven to exist, but a term mainly used by alternative practitioners) because only 10-15 percent of the world has IBS. That means the rest of the world who eat terrible fast food and drink alcohol all the time, have not developed IBS. That would indicate diet is not whats causing IBS ( if it was it would mean most of the world would have IBS) , but some other factor such as post infections/ excessive antibiotics...etc.
> 
> Also just out of curiosity, are you living in India or traveled there recently? Reason I ask is, many tourists who came back from India, reported they caught intestinal parasites, which usually give symptoms like IBS (diarrhea, stomach pain, gassy). Some studies have shown that parasites seem to also cause stomach inflammation, so avoiding certain inflammation foods like wheat, would perhaps lessen the symptoms.


Hi Joe,

Sorry i did not switch on my pc for quite a while, seen all discussions.

Well i agree 100% cure = going back to normal food as before. But you should agree that 1. we are getting old as year passes and the same lifestyle will not match always, at some point we should avoid the bad stuff's to damage more. 2. Lifestyle changes , especially physical exercise / work changes & stress.

I feel both are influencing to IBS. To suit those we need to change our food habits and exercise, this both will help to get cured. I am purposely avoiding alcohol as i am getting addicted if i start .

Well i am from south part of india where we will use 99% rice made foods, than wheat.

Still i strongly feel incase of IBS there is something wrong in your lifestyle which needs to change especially on your food & physical movement. this will allow you to have perfect blood circulation & clear respiration passages.


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## HADA3583

Hi all,

Thanks again for your suggestions, and your words of encouragement. I'm now at month 3 of my post-infectious IBS nightmare. I'm happy to say that my digestive symptoms have taken a turn for the better over the past three weeks. Thanks to this thread, I bought some Align and have been taking one every night before bed. it has really made a difference. I've only had diarrhea a couple times since I've started it, and its calmed my stomach a lot in the morning. I'm actually having normal trips to the bathroom, when it comes to texture and frequency. I started reintroducing vegetables into my diet in small amounts. During a week off from work, I experimented even more, and successfully reintroduced some things that had made me sick earlier on in this ordeal, such as pasta and Chinese food. My reflux has faded a bit and hasn't been an everyday occurance lately. I was taking Gaviscon before bed to curb the acid related nausea I'd get the next day, but have almost completely stopped that too.

I continue to take Renew Life Ultimate Flora Women's 90billion probiotic along with the Align daily. I tried adding in Florastor again for a few days but I think it was too much for my system and it gave me diarrhea, so I stopped.

I tried a tri-cyclic antidepressant called pamelor, but had to quit after 5 days due to the side effects. It did have the great side effect of making my stool normal after less than 24 hours, but I couldn't deal with the sleep issues and rapid heart rate.

As promising as things have been with my digestive system lately, I'm struggling more and more with the anxiety and depressive episodes this whole thing has triggered. And my appetite is still pretty non-existent. It just feels like something is still very off inside me, if that makes sense. I'm getting tested for SIBO this week with my GI and going to see a functional/integrative medical doctor next week. I can't help but think there's something else going on inside me. I had and still have many symptoms of a parasite, or "leaky gut." This infection I had just seems to have thrown my body of whack in so many ways. I hope you all are still making progress in your recovery x


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## GBFreek

Approximate 10 month update:


Probably in the range of 90% back to normal (I'll take it if that's all I ever achieve given how miserable the first few months were)
Stool mostly normal and have actually skewed more towards being too firm (and only going once every two days). No diarrhea in months.
Bloating seems to be my only real lingering issue on some days.
My regimen is pretty basic now - one multivitamin a day, and one Align every other day. That's it. I switched over to Align from a more generic probiotic about 5 weeks ago based on such strong feedback on here, and I'd agree, its the best probiotic I have taken. Not sure if it is the cause of my occasional bloating, but its certainly helped climb the final hill of normalized stools. 
I still don't go crazy with Lactose - making sure I moderate my intake, but am back to eating a normal diet, and partaking in beer/alcohol w/ little concern.
Have put on the 10 pounds I lost (now I wish I hadn't)

Hope others are seeing progress as well...


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## ashyam86343

GBFreek said:


> Approximate 10 month update:
> 
> 
> Probably in the range of 90% back to normal (I'll take it if that's all I ever achieve given how miserable the first few months were)
> Stool mostly normal and have actually skewed more towards being too firm (and only going once every two days). No diarrhea in months.
> Bloating seems to be my only real lingering issue on some days.
> My regimen is pretty basic now - one multivitamin a day, and one Align every other day. That's it. I switched over to Align from a more generic probiotic about 5 weeks ago based on such strong feedback on here, and I'd agree, its the best probiotic I have taken. Not sure if it is the cause of my occasional bloating, but its certainly helped climb the final hill of normalized stools.
> I still don't go crazy with Lactose - making sure I moderate my intake, but am back to eating a normal diet, and partaking in beer/alcohol w/ little concern.
> Have put on the 10 pounds I lost (now I wish I hadn't)
> 
> Hope others are seeing progress as well...


Appreciate your update. Glad to hear your progress.


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## GBFreek

Providing my promised updates.

I am now nearing 12 months into this. I'll spare the details, as my backstory is a few pages back. In short, picked up something on Spring Break (April 2017). Went into a PI-IBS spiral for many months - like most, figured I was about to die given the sudden onset and never-ending symptoms. Well, I'm not dead, I'm still here, and while its hard to believe I'm still writing about this 12 months later, its absolutely improved and been a life-changing experience. I'd say I'm 85-90% back to normal. Seem to be stuck at that point, and really the last 10-15% is simply my anticipation that I will get 100% back to my previous bowel patterns over the first 40 years of my life. I realize that may not happen, my body may have reset to a new normal. Some highlights:


My protocol is pretty basic, still take a multi vitamin (GNC Mega Men) and Align probiotic. That's been unchanged that past 3 months.
I did request a ultrasound over the winter, as my bloating was my most persistent symptom remaining. Doctor agreed that it was the least invasive scan, given he didn't think I warranted anything further (CT, etc). Ultrasound was clear.
Over winter, I read Dr. Mark Pimentel's book (A New IBS solution) - a quick read, and led me to a follow the Cedar-Sinai diet plan - which is basically a much looser low-FODMAP diet (no restriction on basic breads, pastas). The gist is to simply remove some of the heavier fermenting foods. I am not endorsing it, but I really think this diet protocol has helped me maintain very low symptoms and nearly zero flare ups the past 3 months. In short, I stay away from lactose, carefully watch the quantity of raw veggies, try to avoid heavy fiber loaded products. Those three seem to be the ones that give me noticeable bloat/gas/discomfort. You can almost call it a medium-FODMAP diet. If you've got $10 bucks, its a quick 1/2 day read, and really educational given its based in pretty sound research. While I have not been tested, I'd surmise my lingering mild symptoms could be mild SIBO...
The one part that has always perplexed me over the past year is the random odd symptom that would shoot up and then disappear as quickly as it appeared, never to return. For example, at the 6 month point, I had a 4-5 week stretch where I had muscle twitching in my eye lid, elbow, and feet. It went away, but like most things, would get your mind going. I have also had weeks where I just would have more joint/muscle aches. Again, it would pop up for a couple weeks, and then fade. All of these items appear to tie back to PI-IBS according to some studies - in that the post infectious items can impact more than your gut.

So all in all, things have VASTLY improved. I am hoping on my next update I can get past the 85-90% range - but those in the onset of PI-IBS, know that there will be improvement - its just a slow recovery...


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## Iannash

« Well, I've heard numerous times that the prognosis for PI-IBS is that it usually resolves or at least decreases over time. For some lucky people it only lasts for a few months, for others it lasts for a few years.But either way, it's very common for PI-IBS to resolve over time or at least to fade.«

Im reading that kind of crap everywhere. Im 12 years in PI-IBS and it got worse with every year. Wonder who made up that lie but its ridiculous


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## GBFreek

lannash - that stinks, no other word for it. I fear while many of PI-IBS folks may recover, and symptoms fade, we never really get back to 100%. You clearly, are in the percentage that hasn't, and in some cases, trended the other way. I'm encouraged by my progress, and some of the other studies I read. But clearly, many studies also show what you have experienced - that its a permanent change.


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## ja11

Hi all,

This is my *1 year update*. Like some of you here I picked up some virus during a family vacation in the beginning of April 2017. Long story short, after three rounds of antibiotics, which I don't think I needed, I ended up with PI-IBS. The first few months were a total nightmare as you already know.

I started feeling much better after 9 months. So good that I forgot about low FODMAP diet and probiotics and went back to my old eating habits with drinking coffee a lot of coffee and eating pizza and pasta. But this is not to say that I am/was 100% symptoms free . Last week I decided that I will start taking Florastor probiotic again given that I've been stuck at 80-90% feeling better range for a few months now. Some highlights from me:


The most annoying symptom I have left is stomach rumbling which was much worse early on in the recovery when I was not even able to sleep properly. Today the worst moments for me are early in the morning when I wake up and my gut is making noises. This is also quite unpleasant when commuting.
While I am happy to report that for most of the time my stool is back to normal in some cases it is still on the softer end. I was having similar issues in previous years when I had too much lactose but it seems now that I am more sensitive to lactose and other stuff.
When I saw my GI doctor for the last time earlier this year, he confirmed progress but he also reminded me that the healing process takes more that a year on average (he said 2 in usually normal). So I am hoping that things will improve in the months to come. Let's see...

Feel better everyone!


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## Gretsky99

I just got diagnosed with Post Infectious Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Ran blood work, Ultrasounds, Endoscoypy and contrast CT Scan. All came back negative except for a few findings. Found inflammation in the lower Esophagus due to high acid from stomach and an infection in large intestine.

Apparently this all started in January when i contracted the stomach flu. Symptoms, diarrhea, cramps, Slightly elevated fever, Indigestion (No vomiting). Anyway, it lasted for about 2.5 weeks on a BRAT Diet. I felt fine after that point and when back to my normal diet. 2 weeks later out of the blue I got symptoms of Severe Abdominal cramping, pressure behind lower left rib cage, and felt like something was pressing up in to my chest when bending over. Anything I eat or drink would cause these symptoms.

I was originally prescribed prescription antiacid to help with the the inflammation of the esophagus. That helped with the pressure behind my rib cage, but cramping was terrible. After the CT scan they determined that found that residual infection in my intestine. It appears to be a resistant strain of the virus similar to the ecen and h1n3 types. so it was a result of the Stomach flu which I originally thought. The only treatment is time and to use the FODMAP diet. They did prescribed me a specific drug called xifaxan. https://www.xifaxan.com/%C2 She said its effective in 2 out of 3 persons to help with IBS symptoms. The downside is is typically not covered under medical insurance and is very expensive. a 30 day supply costs the pharmacy $2500.00 If your lucky you can get this covered and out pocket is only a few hundred, which is still nuts.

Anyway, i'm waiting for it to come in as its mail order only and i hope it will help lessen the time for recovery. I'll update and let you know how this drug does.


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## Gretsky99

So I started using this new drug. I have to say its been working.... only took it for 2 days before I started noticing some changes. While Im still staying away from triggers it seems like the abdomenal pain is much more manageable. I think I can further reduce it by eating small portions. But wow. What a difference.

Ill keep updated


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## kat54

Hi fellow PI IBS sufferers,

I am just checking in at the post 18 month stage. As you can see from my posts last year, I too suffered with what I believe has been IBS after a very nasty stomach infection following a virus. I agree with what someone else has written that I'm not sure our intestines actually ever go back to how they were before (I never had any issues prior to this). I might be wrong as I am about 90% back to normal and hoping one day for things to be how they used to be. I still suffer with some bloating which is uncomfortable and BMs which can change a lot when I have eaten something my gut does not agree with, or of course, if under stress. There are definite foods that 'bother' me but usually only if I eat too much of them or eat them 2 days running. I am happy to say that in general my bowels no longer dictate how my day is going to go which really was very much how it was. You all know the feeling.......that first BM was a definite indication of how you were going to feel for the rest of the day.

I can relate to one poster's comments about the horrible feeling under the rib cage. I think that's what used to distress me the most. My doctor said that was where the intestines were obviously!!! I can only presume that in a flare up they bloat thus cause so much pressure under the ribs. As most of you agree the FODMAP diet helped me enormously and on bad days I get out the basmati rice and can of tuna and that will be my lunch. It feels like it is never going to ease but I sincerely hope that it does for you all, good luck everyone!

'


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## GBFreek

Kat54 - thanks for the update. I'm about 6 months behind you (12 months post) - and I seem to be in your EXACT same boat. Bowels don't typically dictate my day anymore - I don't think I've had true D in many months. Like you, bloating is my primary leftover symptom, combined with no normal cadence in my bowel habits. In fact, if anything, I have swung too far. I can go 2.5 days without going, and the next day I go twice. Never is it like it was before all of this happened when I would go once a day, and it was consistent.

I try to stick by the FODMAP and Cedar Sinai diet. If you read Dr Pimentel's book (A New IBS Solution) - I am certain I have what he has been researching for years - PI-IBS that is followed by the development of SIBO. I have been less active on this forum as there are multiple Facebook groups with 35,000 active members for IBS and SIBO - really a great resource. However, in those groups, there are a lot of people with heavy symptoms.

End of day, my symptoms are mild (I guess), so I have not sought out a lot of additional testing. I have more good days than bad, and the bad are nowhere near a bad day form 10 months ago. A bad day now is mainly uncomfortable bloating (not pain) that feels like it pushes up into ribs/sternum. I watch my diet, be sure to work out every other day, get 7-8 hours of sleep, and take a probiotic. I've self educated a lot over the past year and may add a herbal prokinetic to help motility - as most research clearly leads to many PI-IBS folks having impaired motility.

Hoping someday to say I'm 100% symptom free - but I'll take 80% for now.


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## mbdavis1976

What kind of symptoms did you all have with your post infectious IBS? Ive had IBS-A for a while but recently had a viral stomach bug (a day of diarrhea and nausea) and since then have had a terrible flare of symptoms for about two weeks. Pretty much constant pain, gurgling,, bloating, nausea, heartburn, no appetite. Even lost a few pounds because I don't feel like eating. Also woke up in the middle of the night a few days ago with terrible cramps and had to have a BM and couldn't fall back asleep due to cramps. Not really having any more diarrhea, just alternating between hard and soft stools. My G.I. doctor did some stool studies and I didnt have any bacterial infections or parasites and my CBC was normal. I have colonoscopy scheduled for next week but Im having a lot of anxiety since these symptoms are so much worse than my usual IBS. Always worried about "the big C". Do my symptoms sound similar to a lot of yours as far as PI IBS?


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## Musgos

Hello i am Musgos a Gay Man 30 year old living in the U.S. undocumented ( visa expired and i stayed here :S)

0 History of digestive issues before infection

i am a suspected patient of PI-IBS however if i am then this is month #15 since i started having problems

*Before the Infection:*

before any of the problems started we discover around summer of 2016 that there is mold in the house, we have to live there while they repair, and realize that i am sick all the time, i paid a visit to the doctor sometime after summer and he said i was just having symptoms of depression because he could not figure it out why i was feeling sick and why i had so much fatigue

*My Infection:*

One day in Xmas of 2016 i was all the sudden feeling kind of tired and feeling achy body all of a sudden, then things started escalating to feeling like sh*t, then a few days a realize that there was a lof of mucus coming out of my anus when i was pooping, then noticed that my rectum had swollen and i pooped blood, at that point i checked on the mirror and there was 3 blisters on the very outside of my anus, like 2 inches outside, then i decided to call my doctor and explained the situation, he then said that i probably had a Initial Herpes Outbreak, which is a pretty serious infection, he then prescribed me Acyclovir, while feeling extremely ill i still have to poop and pee, i come to find out that i cant get my feces out since my rectum got so swollen, i had to push really hard to get them out, 21 days had passed and we were in January now, a lot of the symptoms had decreased or disappeared, but i noticed things are different now..

*Bowel Movement Changes:*

Now when bm time comes it doesn't come standard, there is an extreme urge to go to the bathroom and now my poop looks different, i mean weird, like with all sticky, floats most of the time, it can be constipation sometimes, looks undigested and very often is green, there is mucus along with the poop too, i call my doctor and he can't pinpoint what i have, however when i mention to him what about parasites? he says we should do stool tests, so i had to pay out of pocket like $575 in my city to get stool samples and they all came back negative, despite the fact that my results come back negative, he puts me on Flagyl just to make sure that we kill anything if there is anything leeching inside of me, i proceed to take the meds for 10 days and no results after finishing the course, i feel disapointed but then i felt like well i dont have parasites, i started researching and found out that flagyl does not kill all parasites, only certain groups, ok i wait on month with the same sh*tty symtoms and i then go on Albendazole, 10 days of albendazole and i get no results after finishing the course, and by the way that pill costs $500 / pills, i had my mom bring albendazol from mexico! i continue my life with the same mistery

*Attempt to Diagnose:*

i then go on with my life everyday with the same symptoms, which now i have severe anxiety, i go to another doctor and he suggests that i might have ulcerative colitis and orders 3 ova parasite stool tests and they all come back negative, then he said i should have a colonoscopy so we can see what's really going on in there, in the colonoscopy we find out that there are no signs of ulcerative colitis or chrons so no IBD, after tha visit i have a follow-up visit with a G.I. for the first time, he orders me a round of blood work to see if i have signs of iflammation or celliac, they both come back negative, the inflammation tests she says came back normal, she then says that i could have PI-IBS and that i should try the low FODMAPS diet

i think im gonna order a test to find out if i have SIBO

and another stool stample test to make sure there isnt any ocult blood in my stools

*Currently:*

Somewhere down the line i realize that some anxiety had decreased, i hate diets and have not tried the low FODMAPS diets, i am taking wellbutrin for depression, and along the way i have had 3 Urinary track infections (2017-2018), right now i am suposed to take antibiotics for 10 days to get rid of it, the 2nd time i had an UTI there was blood coming out of my pennis :'(

*Options:*

I have seriously thought about requesting Mesalamine and Amitrityline considering that PI-IBS is a low grade of inflammation that is not detectable by standard tests such as Calprotectin or any, if all i am doing right now is waiting for time to pass, at least doesnt have to be that miserable

*Other Problems:*

I am gay like i said before and i am a bottom which means i receive the dick in my anus, i really cant have sex right now because it doesn't feel that great, my rectum feels irritaded, and i also have 2-3 internal hemorrhoids ( i've been icing the sh*t ouf of the and they just dont go away) i develop around those days when i had the herpes

the fact that i can't take care of my boyfriend sexually completely makes me stress, we can do oral, and foreplay but i know he like to finish me

by having me laying on my stomach and penetrate me

i feel like maybe he is outhere boyfriend-shopping.. that is an added stress

the fact that i am undocumented stresses me too, i feel like i could be deported any day

the fact that my boyfriend wont stop drinking, he drinks everyday now stresses me

i dont know how can i avoid all this stress and anxiety triggers

i was given a Medical Plan called "MISP" which only allows you to go to a range of doctors within their network, which will only last until august then i am on my own pretty much..

all this time that has passed i should be reporting good news to say that i feel better, but i dont everyday is the same, everyday is bad symptoms that include:

Rectal Pain

Rectal Throbings

Tiredness

Fatigue

Joint Pain

Urge to Defecate

Feeling Sick After Defecating

Anxiety-Like feel after Defecating

a lot of Sighing after Defecating

Red Ayes ( they used to be really white )

Wanting to go to sleep early

Cramps? i really dont have those cramps everybody keep talking about

Bloating? ocasionally get bloated but it isnt a primary symptom now

One time i ejeculated and felt like my whole Large intestine had a contraction, i laid on the floor until it disapeared

i really dont have trouble falling sleep or staying asleep

Should i upload a pictures of my feces? it might help me identify other causes

if there is some poop experts outthere

do any of you have flare ups or is it permanent every day symptoms?

can any of you have anal sex? ( you being the receiver )

i am sorry if i was too graphic with the descriptions about gay sex, but.. get over it if you are a "traditional marriage only" supporter

you cant change the internet, and you cant change the fact that is 2018 and Gay marriage is recognized federally

so there is no shame in my game, if you dont like to hear it just dismiss my post, and i will dismiss your presence


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## Musgos

Iannash said:


> « Well, I've heard numerous times that the prognosis for PI-IBS is that it usually resolves or at least decreases over time. For some lucky people it only lasts for a few months, for others it lasts for a few years.But either way, it's very common for PI-IBS to resolve over time or at least to fade.«
> 
> Im reading that kind of crap everywhere. Im 12 years in PI-IBS and it got worse with every year. Wonder who made up that lie but its ridiculous


maybe you are not PI-IBS, maybe you just have standard IBS

what's your history? have you ever been normal.. these kind of messages discourage people with hope, at least give us some history behind your statement, thanks


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## Musgos

nobody posts anything no more, i am wondering if eating anything and not caring what goes inside your mouth would delay the recovery of a PI-IBS victim..

i am really interested to find out if anybody is having problems having anal sex ( men or women ) since there isn't any information out there..

i am also interested in finding out if any of you has tried mesalamine for PI-IBS, if anybody is reading this and has tried it please post something..

what's the real % of people who don't get better, it says on an article that at least 50% of the people don't but how are they making these estimates, we need more info

we also need to find out from the people who never got better what kind of behaviors they had as far as diet, lifestyle etc. so we can learn about what we should do..


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## TO68

* 2 Year Update:*

I am right around 2 years of PI-IBS and overall I am doing really well. Here are a few details:

* DIET:* I eat pretty much whatever I want. I am still shying away a bit from alcohol. Looking forward to some wine on the porch this summer here and there but no weekly drinking or anything regular. I was not much of a drinker before PI-IBS but would have one on a Friday night with my spouse a couple per month. Drinking decaf coffee with reckless abandon though. I have no desire to go back to caffeinated coffee. I eat junk food but not in huge quantities. I am not on the FODMAP diet at all but will not hesitate to reference it during a flare.

*FLARES:* I had one at the beginning of the year and one around March. The one in Jan was due to overindulgence at the new year including alcohol and caffeine on NYE and then a trip to the Indian Buffet within the week. The flare was just a noticeable change in BM appearance, mild symptoms like short lived low level pain after BMs, fatigue after eating. The flare seemed to last a few weeks, maybe 3. Before it I had been having nice soft log formed BMs at least 50% of the time or more like my norm before all of this PI-IBS. The second flare was during my menstrual cycle in March and it was 3 days of multiple morning trips to the toilet which seems to be one of the main ways my PI-IBS presents itself. Instead of getting up and just have a BM and getting on with my day, I may have 2-3 with some urgency or pain before the BM that resolves after the BM. I don't get diarrhea but will have formed BMs with urgency. That seems to be it for flares for the last 6 months. During my last menstrual cycle this May, I had about 4-5 days of increased gas with some of it being putrid and some just being extra air. I think that was the PI-IBS flare for the month. Noticeable but not really very disruptive.

* BMs:* My norm is having one BM in the morning within 30 minutes of waking up. They vary in appearance as opposed to my prior norm before with uniform soft log type. Now I get those at times but also just formed pieces or formed but sort of squishy. One positive change has been full empties these days. Larger quantity BM which is good. I do have some pain before them at times, but nothing severe and the pain resolves immediately or shortly after the BM. Basically instead of a mellow feeling if fullness telling me to have a BM, I will have discomfort but lower levels of it. It may feel uncomfortable to wait to have the BM but I can wait a bit if I need too.

*PROBIOTICS AND SUPPLEMENTS:* I have been taking align since month 4 of PI-IBS. I decided a few weeks ago to try every other day. I notice some changes but nothing negative. MY BMs did change a bit to more soft and less like what I wanted to move towards. But I get fuller empties when I have a BM so that is good. I take another probiotic called Pearls and I specifically use the women's yeast balance. I use it daily now and alternate the Align every other. I think Align can start to slow things down for some people. That is what I thought started to happen to me. I just felt like I needed less of its affects and sure enough after I backed off Align and continued with my other probiotic, I started having larger BMs which in turn reduced bloating and lessened putrid gas incidents. I think it was just time for me to reduce my use of Align. But it was a huge help to me throughout my PI-IBS and I can't recommend it enough to people who are struggling with Pain, diarrhea, gas, and bloating. It may or may not be good for constipation. Give it a try, you can get 2 week boxes of it to try out. I will continue with every other day for a while and see what happens. I still use probiotic foods in my diet weekly like yogurt, kefir, and kombucha. Right now I went off zinc and use a multivitamin, D3, and C. I also use chlorella and maca. Still have not added in L Glutamine and have a friend suggesting I try collagen powder.

* HEALTH AND STAMINA:* Full speed ahead. I feel really good. I have gained 15-18 pounds back of the 40 I lost. My clothing prior to this is too big still and I don't aspire to wear them again. I am 1-2 sizes smaller now and in excellent health. I have managed to regain my strength back and have I great stamina. Hard to believe given the first 3 months I was struggling to walk around the block or to stay awake after eating.

* SOME OBSERVATIONS:*

While some people have horrible symptoms for life, many with PI-IBS improve and some recover all the way. IBS in general can mellow.

Probiotics may not work for all but many have improvements with them. I certainly did and plan to keep them in my life in some capacity.

Your sleep may be affected at first. Mine was horrible but now I am back to completely normal in that category. I sleep like a rock.

In the beginning you may have really weird unrelated symptoms that actually are related to your guts. I had joint pain that would come and go literally overnight and sometimes that pain was severe. Muscle spasms which I think come from decreased magnesium or just electrolyte disruption. I have none of those symptoms now. I had upper and lower GI issues.

Anxiety and depression can appear for some during this ordeal or if you already had those things they may become worse for a while.

Overall I am still what you would say is symptomatic. I would say my symptoms are very mild even though they are still there. I am really happy with my BM timing. I have decided to not fret over the BM appearance so much. I notice it but focus on the fact that I have just a morning BM 90% of the time and that makes my life work well. I will see if I can tell any more positive changes in the next 6 months. Not sure if these quirks I still have are my new norm or if I am still evolving to some improved state.

Hope everyone is progressing. I read all of your posts and updates. So glad to hear others' experiences.

TO68


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## ja11

Hi Musgos,

Sorry to disappoint you but there is no fast or drastic change with PI-IBS even though you're eating low fodmap foods. The recovery process takes many months or as my GI specialist said 2 years on average. But the good news is that you will be well again! It did low fodmap diet for 4-5 months before I felt better and expended my diet. That said:

Got sick in late March 2017

Was diagnosed with PI-IBS and started low fodmaps diet in July 2017

Started including some high fodmap foods in November 2017

Started eating as before PI-IBS in January 2018

Last couple of months I have been feeling really well and I hope I get back to 100% soon. I think I am close to 90-95% now.

ja11


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## Musgos

ja11 said:


> Hi Musgos,
> 
> Sorry to disappoint you but there is no fast or drastic change with PI-IBS even though you're eating low fodmap foods. The recovery process takes many months or as my GI specialist said 2 years on average. But the good news is that you will be well again! It did low fodmap diet for 4-5 months before I felt better and expended my diet. That said:
> 
> Got sick in late March 2017
> 
> Was diagnosed with PI-IBS and started low fodmaps diet in July 2017
> 
> Started including some high fodmap foods in November 2017
> 
> Started eating as before PI-IBS in January 2018
> 
> Last couple of months I have been feeling really well and I hope I get back to 100% soon. I think I am close to 90-95% now.
> 
> ja11


was/is your PI-IBS permanent i mean like symptoms every day, or more like in flare ups?


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## TO68

Musgos,

Try Align Probiotic. You can try any probitic but Align is supposed to help people with IBS and especially IBS-D. You need to stay on it a while, like a few months. It is not cheap but you can buy a 2 week bix to try. If you have an increase in symptoms or increased D then it is not for you. Many people notice a small positive change when they start taking it. I have been on it for a little over 1.5 years and am now down to taking it every other day. It really helped me and my symptoms have greatly decreased since I was diagnosed. I went through Flagyl as well, I think that drug should be taken off the market. It made me as miserable as my condition if not worse. My BMs became less frequent but more runny after the drugs. I think when DRs issue antibiotics, they kill off all the good stuff in your GI tract too. Taking probiotics will help replenish that with time. The Align just helps the body rebuild its gut biome by supplementing helpful bacteria that starve off the bad ones that you have. Part of the IBS story is a gut biome that had become unbalanced. There is much more to IBS but this is something you can do to help, taking probiotics. Diet plays a role as well. Eating less sugar, chemicals, refined, and processed foods helps healthier bacteria to flourish. I know you said you don't like diets but I strongly suggest looking up FODMAP charts online and paying attention to what your diet is like and how your body is reacting. If you have a really bad day for symptoms, look at what you ate 1-2 days before. A food journal/list for a while will help. I did it at first and it was helpful.

Hope that helps. Stay positive.

TO68


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## HADA3583

Popping in at the 10 month mark with some advice - see a functional medical doctor if you're having trouble getting yourself back to normal. Conventional medicine diagnosed me with Post-Infectious IBS but turns out I had SIBO, Giardia, and intestinal yeast overgrowth. I didn't start improving until I started herbal supplements, diet change (no gluten or dairy), and specific probiotics. I've lost 10 pounds through this whole ordeal and am now borderline underweight, but digestively, I'm a million times better. Still working on some serious mood and nervous system issues that have come out of this, but I can't remember the last time I took immodium, pepto, gaviscon or any other stomach med. Don't just accept PI-IBS as a diagnosis if you're not improving. I was told by at least three doctors that I would just improve on my own, and I don't know where I'd be right now if I had listened. No doubt that some people will improve on their own, but listen to your own body and trust your instincts if you think there's more to your story, and especially if you're having non-GI symptoms as well.


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## GBFreek

Update at 16 Months:

Overall, my digestive issues continue to improve. I'd say I've been at the 80% back to normal phase for some time. Over the past few months, its seems to be stabilizing further. I continue w/ Align as my only real supplement. I'm back to eating almost anything - I can't prove the theory, but seems like once I got back to a more varied diet (some dairy, etc), it seemed to help. In some ways, its possible the restricting I was doing was doing more harm than good. IDK. I absolutely think the restricting helped at first (no dairy, moderate carbs, etc).

The one thing I still get more often that I don't recall having 16 months ago is more bloating and days where I get muscle aches, primarily neck/shoulders. I google the heck out of that stuff, and it all seems to jive with PI-IBS, that its all ancillary effects of the original virus/parasite/bacteria. Either way, the occasional flare up of muscle aches is a hell of a lot better than the rampant digestive issues of a year ago.

I will keep updating - good to see others that started posting around my time have seen some improvements as well.


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## Musgos

Update: my depression was worsening my Pi-IBS right now taking wellbutrin and it is better, the intesity of my symptoms were reduced by 60% more or less, and i was asking on an earlier post if there is anybody was experiencing pain in the rectum, well my pain in that area turned out to be pain coming from 3 internal hemorrhoids, 2 bad ones, 1 not as bad, will report what happens to my anal sex in case there is anybody out here wondering if there is discomfort while being penetrated.. i want to report if it some of it was associated with my IBS or if if it was just the stupid hemorrhoids.

i also would like to report that keffir is bad and oatmeal out of all those "certified" low fodmap foods, maybe the reaction to the foods that are known to cause problems to regular IBS patients dont affect Pi-IBS patients equally

i'd like to share that i've been a verbally and emotionally abused by one of my partners, in which i blame my self for sticking around hoping things will change.. i think all those emotional roller coasters play a role in developing Pi-IBS, i had the perfect combination in all aspects to get it unfortunately.

going on month #20 since infection, i wonder what's gonna happen in the following months, will continue to report.


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## TO68

*3 YEAR UPDATE;*

I am coming up on 3 years PI-IBS. I am doing well and continue to improve. It seems I still have this condition but with very mild symptoms. Flares are quiet and time between them gets longer. Symptoms are less.

*DIET:*

I eat what I want. I stopped drinking coffee while I was initially really ill 3 years ago. I decided to stay off it. I only drink decaf now and can happily have 1-3 cups/day. I managed to eat at an Indian buffet a month ago with no issues afterwards/next day. The one thing I can still tell that bothers me is alcohol. And it is not consistent. So I have a drink here and there very infrequently and I notice small symptoms. Sometimes slight pain and nausea, sometimes burning sensation. Sometimes BM will be small pieces next day after a drink.

*FLARES:*

Becoming less in duration and in frequency. Lately I have been having full BM with soft log texture. If I am having a flare I will have small pieces or maybe pain before the BM that quickly resolves after. I used to have really putrid gas referred to as "death farts" by another member. I have not had that for a long time. My symptoms would increase during my period but that is not happening much anymore either. Overall my symptoms are very mild and at the level of nuisance at this point. Noticeable but not very disruptive. It was not like that in the beginning for me.

*BMs:*

Normal most of the time. I started getting back to my norm prior to PI-IBS which was full empties with soft log type BM. I have that about 80% of the time now. Other times it is smaller pieces. I have good timing with BM in the morning sometimes right away and sometimes taking 30 minutes or longer. Sometimes I still have pain before BMs but not much urgency these days. I had a couple of runny poops here and there in the past year but no diarrhea or anything extreme.

*PROBIOTICS AND SUPPLEMENTS:*

I finally stopped taking Align. It just seemed like it was backing me up a little and slowing my BM down a bit. I went down to every other day and finally just stopped. I saw some changes at first when I stopped by my body seems to have gradually adjusted. I now take enzymatic therapy pearls women's yeast balance. They are not very expensive and can be bought on Amazon. I still use the supplements maca and chlorella but not daily. I started taking L glutamine and collagen here and there too. They all are positive for me and do not bother me. I take vitamins D3 every day and vary other types of supplements.

*HEALTH AND STAMINA:*
Full speed ahead. Until this past year when I got an IT band injury that stopped me from some of the exercise I was doing to stay in shape. Gained about 10 pounds over the winter and needed for the first time since my PI-IBS ordeal to lose some weight. To knock down the weight I decided to try intermittent fasting. I head about it from a book called "The Clever Gut Diet" which is not focused on weight loss dieting but eating to help your gut biome. Check it out. The same author also wrote a book about intermittent fasting which I am using as a bit of a guide. He thinks intermittent fasting is good for the gut and also good for IBS folks. I will say that my guts work perfectly fine during fasting. I use something called the 5:2 method where I eat 500-600 calories in a day for 2 days per week and then normal the rest of the week. My IT Band is finally letting up and I am dropping weight and getting back to being more active again. No complaints.

*OBSERVATIONS:*

I seem to be doing better and possibly still changing and moving to a better place. Don't know if I will be cured or if I will always have mild symptoms. I'm in a good place now at least.

Probiotics and diet worked for me. I really responded well to Align and was on it daily for about 1.5 years or so. I also downloaded the FODMAP list to my computer and even printed it out to take to the grocery with me early on. I still have it but don't use it much these days. I did not enlist a dietician when I was in really bad shape but did limit my diet and gradually add back in new things. If you are struggling, try align and FODMAP. You can speak to a naturopath, functional medicine dr, or a dietician. The GI docs wont do anything for you once they diagnose you. I opted to not have a colonoscopy for diagnosis. Drs can use something called the ROME criteria to diagnose PI-IBS. I did the upper scope because I had horrible reflux/stomach pain. My scope results were not consistent with the pain levels I was reporting. I read online of people really struggling having intense and increased diarrhea after the colonoscopy because of the prep laxatives. I talked to my GI dr about this and he agreed stating that sometimes the prep makes things worse and other times it can help people feel better. I decided to forego it and my family DR was ok with it as long as my symptoms subsided. Which they have.

I think many of us in the PI-IBS category can at least look forward to a mellowing of symptoms. I know for some this is not the case. If you are struggling now, be patient with your body and make the needed diet and supplement changes. Stamina and sleep can be really affected early on. Don't push yourself during this time and accept that you have to slow down and do less. It wont always be like that for many. You will start to see improvements.

Take care.

TO68


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## Cheryl Gardner

thechemist said:


> I made an account just to answer. I had a terrible stomach virus back in the beginning of March. Stomach pain, nausea and gas (particularly bad in the morning but persisting all day) and of course, nice loose stools. I barely ate anything for about a week. Went and saw two specialists, one suggested PI-IBS or gastroparesis and one thought it was an ulcer. Since an ulcer can be fixed with pills, I went with ulcer and took a PPI for about two months. It did little to nothing as these attacks kept hitting me... I would get maybe a week in between attacks of feeling pretty good before I was bedridden for another week. I also began taking VSL #3 while on the PPI which only made me feel marginally better. Now in disbelief about the ulcer, I gathered myself another few doctors (and several thousand dollars worth of bills) but everyone kept throwing me IBS and functional dyspepsia. We're about 3 months in now, and the time between the attacks / severity of the attacks was diminishing. Not a lot, but enough to notice. My attacks had shrunk down from a 1 week affair into a 4 or 5 day event. I was stressing out like crazy over what was wrong with me and eating made me anxious. A Dr. from UCLA put me on some tricyclic antidepressants but they just made me feel jittery and I stopped them, not like they helped the nausea or bloating anyway which were my MAIN symptoms.sorry about my scatterbrain recollection up to this point. Okay, so we're in July. At this point I had read every scholarly study on IBS I could get my hands on (did I mention I'm a Chemist and have access to a database of scholarly journals?) and considered myself a google certified PhD (at quite a cost... these boards can be REALLY REALLY SCARY AND DEPRESSING!!! of course what else do you have to do when you're sick? hah...) and I decided &*#% all this nonsense, lets see how I feel taking NOTHING. and you know what? I started to feel better FASTER. I had a craving for pizza for the first time in... forever... and you know what? I went and got some. IT WAS DELICIOUS. I was cautious about how much I ate, but I didn't suffer from it. I was amazed. Now at just over 6 months (since this started), I feel like I can honestly say I am at least 80% back to how it was before I got sick. I'm still cautious with portion size but Im trying to step it up (I lost 20 lbs from all this). I think I still get attacks, but now they only last for a few hours, maybe a day TOPS and at the worst, they just make me feel mildly nauseous with some bloating. Oh, and of course, still loose stool, every day in the morning with the urge... thought the urge is not as strong as before and some days are more solid than others... bordering on normalcy. I must say that while I improved slowly during the first 4 months, I really started to feel better during these last two months. I am eating pretty normally and enjoying a beer on occasion. I'm still waiting on test results (*no doctor ever suggested a parasite test so I INSISTED for my own piece of mind... though if I did have one its gotta be dead by now) but I'm inclined now to believe that I have been suffering from a transient form of post-viral IBS.Again, sorry about my hurried recollection here... it was all just such an unpleasant blur and I'm in a hurry to type this but MORE PI IBS PEOPLE NEED TO COME OUT OF THE WOODWORK TO LET OTHERS KNOW THAT THEY'RE GOING TO BE OKAY. Most people get better sooner. I've only realized in getting better how big a roll anxiety was playing. Its not something that's really noticeable but it DOES MAKE YOU FEEL WORSE. Thats probably why I felt better faster as I got better... just knowing for sure that you won't be miserable for the rest of your life is enough to make anyone feel 10x better.So, I guess all I'm really trying to say is: GIVE IT SOME TIME. YOU WILL BE WELL AGAIN. BE GOOD TO YOURSELF, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY AND DON'T FORCE ANYTHING. FOCUS ON BEING WELL RATHER THAN ON BEING SICK.IT DOESN'T LAST FOREVER.However, in the throws of my illness, I found ginger tea (especially with a chunk of fresh ginger in the bottom of the cup) particularly helpful for nausea and bad appetite and I found that avoiding sugar always led to me feeling better. I found that in the end, no food was particularly a "trigger" food even though I was skeptical of everything. Rediscovering the enjoyment of food helped me a lot in terms of my anxiety over eating. If you get a craving, by all means, you go get it. Just be careful about over-eating! Its a sure loser every time.I hope you find some of my mumbo-jumbo helpful. I'm hoping my loose stools go away this month. I probably post a "success" story thread when I get there / have more time to post.remember, you're so much better now than you were three months ago!best,-J


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## Cheryl Gardner

Thank you for sharing this. It has given me some hope!


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## tweediepie7

Hi everyone, I originally posted back in 2013/14 and in the spirit of giving people hope I thought I'd post an update again;
It's now 2019 and I can say that I think my recovery hit a ceiling about a year and a half after my illness, as I reached 90% full recovery back then. 
As previously stated I found VSL 3 to be the most effective treatment and I also used amitryptiline for the anxiety and insomnia I had as a result of the PS IBS.
For a few years after I used to get flair ups quite randomly perhaps 3 times a year where it would wake me up in the night after eating out earlier in the day. However I haven't had one of these now for a couple of years so I'm probably more like 99% recovered now.

The anxiety this causes is equally as distressing as the illness itself, and you should also be treated for this separately.

I still use VSL 3 now on the rare occasions that I eat something dodgy that gives me the runs and it works a treat.

Essentially though, everyone's digestive system is made up of different bacteria so it's a case of trial and error with remedies.
BUT whoever you are, YOU WILL GET BETTER......the reason people who posted ages ago no longer post on here is because THEY ARE BETTER and no longer need the support of this forum. 
This too shall pass xxx


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## Gatorbait

I have read this string and was diagnosed with pi-ibs as well. I have many soft stools / broken up / never a continuous log. Is this what you are experiencing or do you actually have watery diarrhea. I guess I am still struggling with what Ibs stools are supposed to look like.


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## TO68

Hi *********!

Great question. I think the main thing is that your stools become something different than your usual norm before diagnosis. For me it was soft logs and my stool varied during my PI-IBS early days. For some, they will have watery diarrhea. Maybe as there regular BM in the morning or possibly as an urgent need just after eating. The signal to have a BM can be affected with PI-IBS. This and the shape of stool really varies between people. For me, I would have pain before a BM and then my BM was shaped different for a long time. 3.5 years after diagnosis, I continue to improve and see signs of positive changes that are gradual. As for what you are describing, yes I did often have stools that were a pile of small pieces instead of one continuous log. I had other types too, but I did experience this kind. Looked like a pile of small ribbons or small logs at times.

Hope that helps,

TO68


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## Peony50

So yes, I too have been labeled PI irritable bowel--sucks--

Had a diverticulitis attack and took augmentin 3 years ago and got C-DIFF !!! OF course took more antibiotics for that---but my gastro system has never been the same...always an issue and discomfort. My upper stomach gurgles and growls constantly, and my colon aches. Gastro drs. did some testing like breath bacteria and some stool tests, which of course do not show anything...I have always taken probiotics, take Citrucel to try to normalize some BMs, but only helps sometimes, never know if getting D or C daily-----..Anyone tried the peppermint suggestions from Heather (IB site?)----I can't seem to do peppermint--gave me cramps----- but am totally confused what else to explore. Also tried some CBD oil---not sure if it helps or hurt

Always feels like there is something more wrong than the IBS label.---I am exhausted.


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## Peanut33

Hi All -

I stumbled upon this forum when doing research on...you guessed it...post-infectious IBS.

I got food poisoning back in Sept 2019 and after that just had a hard time getting back to my normal self. After a few visits to my primary doctor, she finally referred me to a GI specialist that diagnosed me with post-infectious IBS. Her initial recommendation was to start taking a probiotic (her initial recommendation for Florajen but that wasn't available at the store I went to) and a fiber supplement (Metamucil) I ended up buying Align, like I see most of you have also done. I will say that starting the probiotic and fiber did show some improvement right away, along with watching what I eat. I try to follow the FODMAP diet to the best of my ability as my gut heals. I have an appointment for a second opinion scheduled for later this week. It may be paranoia but I just need to reassurance that nothing else is wrong with me and this will get better.

I make a point to try to get some sort of activity each day, even just a walk around the block. I drink 75+oz of water each day, and make a point to meditate each morning for 5 minutes. Controlling my stress and the anxiety that there is something more wrong or I will never get better, is a big part of my recovery. When i feel a stomach ache coming on, I try to take a few deep breaths and think of a happy memory I have to divert my attention to something else. Doing these things on top of the probiotic, fiber and diet does seem to provide some relief to make it through my day.

I have to say, this is by far the worst and it breaks my heart for people folks who have dealt with this, or regular IBS long term. Most days, I just want to curl up and cry because i dont understand why my body cant recover. It effects so many parts of life.

I hope everyone has found some relief! Ill check back in after my second opinion appointment Hopefully I will have some solutions for us all!


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## kat54

Hello Peanut33 and all fellow PI-IBS sufferers,

As it is 3 years since I also experienced what you are going through, following a stomach virus resulting in an infection, I wanted to write another update. Firstly, I felt exactly the same as you....frustration, desperation, shame (what's the matter with me.....why has it not gone yet?) Looking back, I wish I had been kinder to myself and accepted myself instead of causing myself more unneeded anxiety. As I have written in previous posts, I really believe your stomach and gut change with PI-IBS. For example, I believe my gut is now more closely connected to my stress levels. Saying that, when I am not anxious about anything I feel very much back to normal. It is a bit scary when those familiar symptoms do return but they don't tend to last especially if I can remove the stressful circumstances (not always possible, of course!) For me, the first 7 or 8 months were the most distressing, then over the next few months 'attacks' became milder and shorter, giving me hope that things were finally improving. I believed as many of you do that it was never going to end and all I seemed to think about was what to eat or NOT eat or is it going to get worse or how will I feel tomorrow........

I hope for you all that this distressing syndrome improves and that members don't forget to share their positive recoveries for others to read.


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## Peanut33

Hey All -

I posted at the beginning of November, starting to share my experience with PI-IBS and at the time, I was headed to an appointment for a second opinion a few days after the first post and wanted to check back in.

The appointment went well and the second doctor confirmed the diagnosis of PI-IBS (which was reassuring that nothing else seems to be wrong) and he prescribed an antispasmatic to take prior to eating to help ease my stomach because I was getting such bad stomach aches after eating, therefore losing weight because I was fearful of eating. The antispasmatic was a real help - I recognize they may not work for everyone but they did allow me to eat more and expand my diet beyond rice, toast, bananas, etc. They may be worth trying folks! Anyway, the doctor advised me, that although the road feels long and is an uncomfortable ride, people with PI-IBS do tend to feel better overtime but every body is different. He said not to be surprised if im sensitive to lactose, even after PI-IBS symptoms have resolved. He recommended that I continue to take the probiotic (Align) and said that it can take sometime for the gut to balance back out because the bad bacteria has taken over.

Since the appointment, I have continued the probiotic (in the morning before eating anything) and the fiber supplement (2 capsules with my lunch) Last time I was at the store I choose to buy the "*5X stronger" version of Align and WOW did that make a difference* - I wish I would have bought it sooner. Within about a week I started to feel better, my bowel movements became more regular, my stomach was less gurgley, no painful stomach aches. I have been able to add some small portions of things I couldn't eat before into my diet, a cookie here and there, etc and have had very minor issues since. I still do get stomach aches on occasion but they are less severe, less uncomfortable and last a shorter amount of time, they are far less disruptive to my life. Im still careful about what I eat - I still dont feel brave enough to eat anything to wild...yet, as much as I would love a burger. I've been able to drink decaf coffee with dairy free creamer (YAY!) If you live somewhere that has an Aldi's grocery store, they have some great gluten free options for cheaper then most grocery stores. I haven't needed to take the antispasmatic in about two weeks, just the probiotic and fiber. Which is great progress in my opinion! I continue to push the water, aiming for 75oz+ more each day, I have a Fitbit step goal of 7,500 steps per day, i've kept up with the meditation. Life is starting to slowly get back to normal with makes me feel SO hopefully for other folks who are suffering with this. I know every body is different but id like to think that one positive story may make the difference for the next person. You will get through this, you will find a way to manage it and it will get better! Take care of yourself, don't be afraid to ask questions, get a second option, and dont be hard on yourself. Stress and anxiety are NOT IBS friendly - at all. Breath, count to 10 when you feel a stomach ache coming on, turn on the radio and enjoy a song, divert your attention else where.

Best wishes for everyone! Sending positive healing vibes your way!!


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## sooke

Hi There,

I just found this forum after a really bad bout of symptoms left me wondering if there are other's out there to talk to in hope of finding solutions. I acquired Giardia 15 months ago (Nov, 2018) now while presumably mushroom picking or fishing carelessly. It took 6 weeks from the onset of symptoms until lab reports led my doctor to Giardia. Until diagnosis of the Giardia infection the doctors assumed that I had diverticulitis and gave me Ciproflaxin and a heavy dose of Metrorinozol. Prolonged use of the Cipro and Metro totaled my insides but killed off the Giardia (January, 2019). Lab tests confirmed that the Giardia parasite had passed from my system by mid January 2018, and I went back to work still feeling really ill, but pressured by my employer. I made it back for 2 weeks before falling into a terrible cycle of abdominal pain, stool spray around the clock, bizarre constipation and bloating, ect... You all know how it goes.

The thing was, it took another 6 months of scopies and trial meds, and visits with specialists before they were able to tell me what my wife and I had already figured out... Post Infectious IBS.

Now, 15 months since the original Giardia infection I am still off work, in a lawsuit with my insurance provider over breach of contract (on their part), and heavily dealing with extreme symptoms with no end in sight. Luckily, I have access to a counselor through my employment because this has been a huge impact on my family and I psychologically. For me, the symptoms are constant and daily. Varying in range of discomfort from tolerable to full food poisoning-like symptoms. I have found Cholestid helpful as a diarhea suppressant. Ginger Gravol as a pocket remedy that helps sometimes. Metamucil (I use bulk Psyllium now since it is the same as Metamucil and 1/5th the price). Culturelle before finding Align 5x, and prefer Align 5x due to results. Mint Tea. And I gave up Alcohol and tobacco (about time anyway). Lifestyle modifications have helped to ease symptoms at times, but no matter what they are still always present to some degree right now. The bright side is that I'll either learn to live with it, or learn how to defeat it... so in the end it'll all work out. But Good Lord Post Infectious IBS is No Joke!

My intention in posting this is not to complain, only share my experience and ask for advice from anybody who might have some insight on what helped for them. As I understand we all will have varying degrees of symptoms and experiences. Cheers,

RJ


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## WillT

I had to create an account so I could give my story. I'm a 37 yo male.

I was told I had IBS almost 2 years ago. I believe it was PI IBS, but I can't remember exactly. My biggest symptoms were nausea and diarrhea. I tried Align and that gave me some relief, but I ended up seeing a naturopath - if you can see one yourself, please do. After very in depth tests, I was prescribed digestive enzymes, grapefruit seed extract, and a strict new diet. The diet was for no sugar, no yeast, no nuts, no dairy, no gluten, and no fruits (except berries and an occasional banana). It was hell for the first week without sugar, but I soldiered through it for almost 3 months. At this point, I considered myself cured and started reintroducing food, and kept sugars at a minimum... I've had very little discomfort since then.

Well fast forward to today and I have been overdoing a lot of sugar/gluten during covid. Last week I came down with a serious stomach bug and took metronadizole since our new kitchen had Giardia and I was sure I caught it. Stool samples came later and were clear, so my Dr suggested it's probably viral. The antibios played a real number on me and I wish I hadn't even started them before I knew. I probably made it worse. My naturopath previously said prolonged antibio use could contribute to IBS, and it made sense since I used to get tonsillitis sometimes MULTIPLE times a year in my teens and in early adulthood. So I feared the worst and 10 days later and I'm not better. Still nauseous and tired and having some headaches (dehydration?), and even though the explosive diarrhea stopped after 3 or 4 days, I'm still having loose stool. I lost at least 10 pounds, though my appetite is back now. I fear I'm back to how I felt years ago, and I'm depressed and anxious (which isn't helping). I'm also back on Align for 4 days now, though not much improvement. Again, I believe it's PI IBS.

I came here for reassurance from others on this horrible ailment. I keep telling myself I will get through this, but sometimes it's hard thinking it could be something else (blood tests outstanding). I got through IBS once and can do it again. If not just to complain a bit myself, I want people to know that you can heal yourself. This doesn't have to affect you forever. I hope things start to subside. And I hope all you people are finding the right treatment for you.


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## kat54

Hi WillT,

I feel for you and everyone else that is dealing with this distressing condition. My story started in November 2016 and I have posted a few times to update the fact that very gradually I got back to a sort of 'normal'.Saying that, recently out of the blue, I ate some beetroot, which I know can be a trigger for me but I have eaten it on occasion with a bit of discomfort the next day... anyway I felt awful







and for about 2 weeks my symptoms were similar to how I felt at the very beginning; it scared me a lot as it felt it just wasn't going to go. But, thankfully it *did. * It reminded me that, as I have said in a previous post, our guts are never the same after PI IBS and we do need to be careful with our diet but more importantly, we have to control our anxiety as I think this adds to the symptoms and prolongs them, which is only natural as we are feeling so awful, especially when you are losing weight and scared to eat the wrong thing. 'Easier said than done' as I am a massive worrier!







You were very unlucky getting a stomach virus, that is my biggest fear but you got through it the first time and you will again! This time, you know what it is and what to do to aid your recovery; that has to help! Good luck and do what you can to ease the anxiety


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## sjtoole

I suffered for over a decade with severe, debilitating bloating. (so bad that I had high blood pressure and chest pain.)

I tried every antibiotic and probiotic known to man, along with every FoDMap diet imaginable, and *nothing* helped.

I discovered by accident that antihistamines helped a bit, particularly Pepcid and Tagamet, but still had bad bloating.

*Bloating Issue Solved after 12 years of suffering: *I finally stumbled onto something that puts a serious dent in my severe bloating! *Non-prescription digestive enzymes*

While searching the keyword "bloating" on Amazon, I discovered that many people had great luck with non-prescription *digestive enzymes.*

There are many brands available on Amazon and at health/vitamin stores, and they all pretty much contain the same enzymes in different combinations. (Ex. Protease, Peptidase, Lipase, etc.)

I have had good luck with a brand called *HUM Flatter Me, available on Amazon.*

They are basically the same enzymes that your stomach and pancreas produce normally, and are relatively cheap.

I take them before and immediately after I eat a meal, and they DRASTICALLY reduce my bloating.

My H. Pylori infection may have damaged my stomach's ability to produce these enzymes. I am really disappointed that none of the GI specialists that I visited even suggested this as a possible treatment!

The anti-histamines still help, but not nearly as much as the digestive enzymes.

*If nothing is working for you, order Digestive Enzymes from Amazon or buy a bottle at your local nutrition /vitamin store and give them a try.*


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## Musgos

For anybody out there feeling hopeless, i thought i was gonna die my symptoms were so bad the first 3 months, then spent like 1 year a half of complete misery, after finding the right combination of meds, which i now take bupropion (antidepressant), Holigos, Antibiotics, meditation, staying away from major stress

now a little bit over 4 years i can honestly say i am back to normal, 99% and i am not just exaggerating, i have posted here a few times, but have not really posted much like in 3 years, i figure i would let much more time pass by so that i can have a good update

Before i couldn't do coffee, now i can and it wont affect me in any kind of way

Can eat garlic, onions and all those heavy foods that almost killed me

No more days of laying in bed doing nothing cause i dont feel good, all my days are good

No more uncomfortable anal sex because there used to feel irritated, now if feels normal

No more looking at menus all scared because everything used to make me feel sick

No more making plans and wondering if im gonna be feeling alright around that time, like a vacation

No more thoughts of suicide, yes that went thru my head at the very beginning

maybe im one of those lucky guys, i just hope most of you will get back to normal at some point, it's a horrible condition to live with, it's very crippling.

i may be one of those lucky guys as far as PI-IBS

but i've had a great deal of other problems, like it all happened that year, 2017 the worst year of my life so far lol

that year had episodes of vertigo, random urinary track infections, had hemorrhoidectomy (a very painful surgery) and it had to do

with my symptoms of IBS, all that constipation too much straining in the toilet, veins got swollen and became hemorrhoids, never

had these things cause i always had a regular BM, cyrcopharringeal spams in my throat, dealing with some mold in the house basically getting

like all the symptoms that come from breathing mold, horrible experience, and a bunch of other things, i am a lucky man to have overcome all of that

and i am very appreciative person of what i have now.


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## Positiveside

Musgos said:


> For anybody out there feeling hopeless, i thought i was gonna die my symptoms were so bad the first 3 months, then spent like 1 year a half of complete misery, after finding the right combination of meds, which i now take bupropion (antidepressant), Holigos, Antibiotics, meditation, staying away from major stress
> 
> now a little bit over 4 years i can honestly say i am back to normal, 99% and i am not just exaggerating, i have posted here a few times, but have not really posted much like in 3 years, i figure i would let much more time pass by so that i can have a good update
> 
> Before i couldn't do coffee, now i can and it wont affect me in any kind of way
> 
> Can eat garlic, onions and all those heavy foods that almost killed me
> 
> No more days of laying in bed doing nothing cause i dont feel good, all my days are good
> 
> No more uncomfortable anal sex because there used to feel irritated, now if feels normal
> 
> No more looking at menus all scared because everything used to make me feel sick
> 
> No more making plans and wondering if im gonna be feeling alright around that time, like a vacation
> 
> No more thoughts of suicide, yes that went thru my head at the very beginning
> 
> maybe im one of those lucky guys, i just hope most of you will get back to normal at some point, it's a horrible condition to live with, it's very crippling.
> 
> i may be one of those lucky guys as far as PI-IBS
> 
> but i've had a great deal of other problems, like it all happened that year, 2017 the worst year of my life so far lol
> 
> that year had episodes of vertigo, random urinary track infections, had hemorrhoidectomy (a very painful surgery) and it had to do
> 
> with my symptoms of IBS, all that constipation too much straining in the toilet, veins got swollen and became hemorrhoids, never
> 
> had these things cause i always had a regular BM, cyrcopharringeal spams in my throat, dealing with some mold in the house basically getting
> 
> like all the symptoms that come from breathing mold, horrible experience, and a bunch of other things, i am a lucky man to have overcome all of that
> 
> and i am very appreciative person of what i have now.


You are one of the lucky ones who recovered completely but sad to say some do not.


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