# IBS battles.. Now causing major health issues



## overkillxx (May 6, 2016)

Hey Guys,

Well, where to start.. I will concise this as much as possible with the hope that someone out there can help me out.. As now I have health issues that I am battling with which I am confident are to do with the IBS. As stated, I will make it as concise as possible (Point form mostly) to get to the point.

Since my early 20's Ive been having stomach ailments. From what I can remember it all started after having a severe case of stomach upset (Watery diarrhea, stomach pains) that last about 2 days. The severity of these symptoms resided, but that's when all the fun began. From this time my stomach has never been right.. Im now 36 years old. I have had so many tests done in this period its ridiculous.. For the most part they come back with nothing or if they do show something the doctors lack any suggestions what to do next.. A summary of the tests are below:

Blood tests:

The number of blood tests I have had are A LOT. But I will try to list the ones that I believe hold any significance

- IGG blood test for Celiac Disease: I can't recall the exact result, but it showed one of the values on the scale that was only suggestive of possible Celiac disease/wheat intolerance. Further tests via colonoscopy & Gastroscopy showed nothing wrong. Interesting enough when I had wheat I felt absolutely fine.

- DNA test for predisposition for Celiac disease. Negative

- General blood work done on thyroid, liver, white blood cells. Almost always when this test was undertaken it came back normal.

Stool tests:

- At the start (8 plus years ago)I had 3 day stool analysis tests undertaken before the creation of the PCR stool tests for parasites.

- More recently have had a stool test for parasite/bad bacteria using the PCR testing method. This showed (repeated) detection of Blastocystis. The Doctor at the time said this is very common to have & not to worry about it. Originally when detected I didn't think much of it but I have since had this parasite eradicated recently (Refer to procedures undertaken)

- Have recently had the reduce sugar tests undertaken. This showed malabsorption of sugars.

Hydrogen Breath tests"

Done recently due to the malabsorption of sugars noted in stool tests,

Fructose Breath test: Gave a negative result

SIBO breath test (Glucose): Gave a negative result

Lactulose breath test (Baseline test): Showed I am a hydrogen producer (Most common type)

URINE tests:

Test for leaky gut using the lactulose & mannitol sugars. This showed I had leaky gut. This was done many years ago. I am looking at the advice given on this site for treating it myself:

http://draxe.com/4-steps-to-heal-leaky-gut-and-autoimmune-disease/

If anybody can recommend anything here, it would be appreciated.

PROCEDURES UNDERTAKEN:

I had a Gastroscopy undertaken many years back for Celiac Disease. It found nothing. Further to that I've undertaken multiple repeat Gastrocopies & Colonoscopies.. The most they found on one occasion was some polyps which turned out to be completely harmless.

Gastroscopy (Multiple)

Colonoscopy (Multiple)

Specialized procedures

Recently (4 months ago) I had a specialized procedure to eradicate Blastocystis. This procedure was undertaken at the Centre for Digestive Diseases in Sydney Australia. It entailed having a Colonoscopy to infuse antibiotics directly into the large intestine to eradicate the parasite. After having this done I actually felt huge relief for about 2 months after. My stools became formed and normal (Like the Bristol pooh chart) & flatulence became basically non existent. I was happy as I thought "FINALLY" I am really on top of my issues.. Unfortunately it was short lived because slowly but surely the symptons came back.. Repeat PCR stools tests for the parasite showed that it was not being detected anymore. I might add the test was for a whole swamp of parasites/Bad bacteria & not just this particular one.

Current state:

Constant dizziness a lot of the time. Almost every morning I have one bowel movement, & 80 percent of the time Its very loose. Shortly after finishing I have a huge bout of fatigue come over me that can last from 30 minutes to a few hours. Usually its worse if the stool movement is leaning more on the watery side. With the reduced sugars detected I believe that shows malabsorption. I have lived with stomach problems for many many years, but now I believe its effecting my health in other serious ways as detailed below.

2 months ago I had an MRI for a constant lower back problem Ive been having.. It was self inflicted when I was trying to lift 200kgs deadlift with wrong form after taking a huge break from doing weights. Since then I've had a bad lower back. The MRI showed a bulged disk & some wear & tear on the lower back. Not really good, but not too bad overall. One thing that stuck out to me was that slight bone oedema detected on a vertebrae. This is basically bruising of the bone. For some reason (Perhaps call it paranoia) I insisted to my GP I would like to get a Dexa scan done to check my overall bone density. I think at the time they thought I was crazy. A scan was done on my back & on my hip. The test on the back showed I have thicker bone density than the typical 30 year old. But on my hip it showed I had mild osteopenia (The pre condition before you get Osteoporosis). I saw a specialist & after some bloodwork was done he heard my story with my stomach ailments & my strict avoidance of anything dairy since I was mid 20's he put it down to the fact that the stomach ailments & strict avoidance of dairy has caused it & that as long as I focus on doing weight bearing exercises & get more calcium intake (I was getting basically nothing before) it should correct itself within 1-2 years time & be in normal range. This sounds ok I thought, but my stomach is still terrible. If I'm not absorbing certain sugars probably that is likely causing other nutrients to be malabsorped as well. So now I am more than ever desperate to get on top of this. I don't know where to go.. I've exhausted every avenue I can think of.. I do know that while IBS is obviously very common. But for a male who is 36 years of age that is otherwise generally healthy and looks healthy being diagnosed with Osteopenia is extremely rare & not normal whatsoever.

Ive read about some other IBS sufferers taking Vitamin D (8000IU) & Omega 3 (2000 omega 3) supplementation which has helped them alot.. I am doing this at the moment. No idea if its going to help as I just started.. Similarly my diet is practically that of the FODMAPS diet (Now it is entirely). Any dairy I have is lactose free.

Any advise or suggestions are greatly appreciated. As stated, I really have nowhere else to go with this as I have exhausted everything I can think of.


----------

