# IBS caused by the Stomach Flu?



## Discover (Jan 10, 2011)

Hi all.I'm just wanting some advice on some problems I've been having recently.About 4 months ago i had the stomach flu, i threw up 4 times in 24 hours, about one week after i started to get the IBS symptoms, Nausea before and after eating and some constipation. I stopped taking my multivitamin and that seemed to help the Nausea as i now don't have it nearly as much. I used to get it every day, now i get it around once a week. I can't drink energy drinks as they now make me nauseas. I'm just wondering if something like the stomach flu could cause IBS?I've not read much into IBS and was wondering is there a cure for it?Thank you!


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## em_t (Jun 8, 2010)

Hey,I do believe IBS can be caused by a stomach bug. I suffered from a particularly bad one in July 2009, vomiting and profuse diarrhoea for days. However I noticed that after the stomach bug my stomach didn't seem to empty properly, my appetite was gone despite knowing that I should have been hungry (ie: after a long shift in work) and then I started to get constipated on a more regular basis. The constipation has gradually got worse since then and at the moment is very severe. None of my doctors seem too convinced that my constipation was caused by the stomach bug, but I believe it is.On the positive side, at least you've found something that makes the nausea worse so you can avoid it. With the nausea, you might want to check its not acid reflux. The reason I say this is because I have suffered from terrible nausea for months and turns out it was actually acid reflux, even though I didn't have any of the usual symptoms! My symptoms were debilitating nausea (so much so I would have to drive to work with the window down the whole way) and a persistant sore throat at night. If it is acid reflux it can be easily treated with a PPI or other such medication and possibly a prokinetic such as domperidone or metoclopramide.As for the constipation, there lots of different things you can try - eating as much fibre as you can tolerate, plenty of water but also you could try Miralax (Movicol in the UK) which is an osmotic laxative that works particularly well for lots of people, there's also stool softeners, milk of magnesia and loads of other ideas on these boards.Hopefully, that's given you some degree of hope! It might not ever be cured but there are ways to manage IBS quite successfully!


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## Epona (Jul 27, 2000)

Quite often my IBS is triggered and made worse by stomach flu. There really is no cure for IBS, but at times it can be somewhat controlled, but everyone differs. For me I take Tums or Pepcid, that helps some for nausea, as does over the counter anti-nausea meds.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

GI infections are one of the things that has evidence for triggering IBS to start.It is called post-infectious IBS.If you compare people who had a GI infection with a matched set of people who haven't had one recently people after a GI infection are 4-20 times more likely to develop IBS.


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## micki (Jan 20, 2011)

Discover said:


> Hi all.I'm just wanting some advice on some problems I've been having recently.About 4 months ago i had the stomach flu, i threw up 4 times in 24 hours, about one week after i started to get the IBS symptoms, Nausea before and after eating and some constipation. I stopped taking my multivitamin and that seemed to help the Nausea as i now don't have it nearly as much. I used to get it every day, now i get it around once a week. I can't drink energy drinks as they now make me nauseas. I'm just wondering if something like the stomach flu could cause IBS?I've not read much into IBS and was wondering is there a cure for it?Thank you!


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## micki (Jan 20, 2011)

Hi,I wanted to reply to your blog as I'm currently battling with my doctor about the same thing - about 6 months ago I had a stomach infection, right out of the blue, with the prominent symptoms being nausea and heartburn. Since then, I've had recurring bouts of nausea, heartburn and cramps which have all taken weeks (and Omeprazole and a very bland diet) to fix. These all flared up after having too much 'rich' food i.e. a meal out, alcoholic drinks etcAll this I am told, is post-infectious IBS. Its a sad and frustrating fact that people with stomach infections are very likely to get IBS, and to continue to have it long-term.Apparently there is no cure! But I would look into any food intolerances that you may have suddenly developed, as they may be triggering it - my trigger seems to be dairy and alcohol Hope this helps and good luck.


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## andi smith (Jan 15, 2011)

I got the flu last year too. And then I started having symptoms a week later!!! It was such a marked date! I was perfectly healthy befor I got the bug everyone got. Then my train derailed a week later! I remember the first day I got sick with ibs. I have been diagnosed with ibs first then with a functional GI disorder. I thought it was so weird that it just started after I had the flu. I'm Glad that others had to go.through the same thing.


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