diarrhea won't stop

[LexMom]

My son has been having bouts of diarrhea where he says it won't stop coming out. Same with urine. We've been to the gastro and a urologist but they didn't really do anything. He feels fine otherwise. His anxiety level seems fine, so I don't feel like it is an obsession. He's had bloodwork and a stool sample analyzed and they were fine. Anyone's child ever had this problem?

[pr40]

I did myself and was diagnosed with Celiac. Have you checked that? there is a simple blood test.

my diarrhea only stopped three months after I stopped eating gluten.

in my case, gluten kills all villa.

[philamom]

Has he been checked for c-diff? Many GI doctors overlook it. The stool test should have checked for c-difficile toxin A & B. Sometimes more than one sample is needed.

 

Is he on any antibiotics right now? Or too much magnesium/vitamin C?

 

For us, Florastor (Sach Boulardii) has been helpful.

Edited August 23, 2013 by philamom

[Guest]

Antibiotics always cause me to get c-diff, so definitely something to check on ASAP. Flagyl is supposed to help and does much of the time, but not with me. The GI I saw was able to send my stool to a lab to see which abx would stop the c-diff - that was vancomycin. BUT that should have been checked already, is a no brainer with diarrhea.

 

Gluten allergy is possible as my friend has it.

 

Urine, hmmmm, I have dysautonomia and that makes it hard for my body to retain fluid. There are easy ways to treat it: sodium chloride tablets in water daily really help with retaining fluid. I don't know though, I have a ton of bladder problems and they were never able to help me either. I just try to retain the fluid - electrolytes, sodium, etc. Florinef helps with this but I couldn't tolerate it.

[LexMom]

He's been checked for Celiac. He is on his 3rd course of antibiotics this summer for a sinus infection. I'm wondering if he doesn't even have a sinus infection. It seems like he has some kind of inflammation that just travels around his body...eyes, sinuses, bladder, bowels. Nothing seems to help and, just like that, it is gone. I'm going to ask the doctor about vasculitis. It definitely had a strep connection, at least in the beginning, but he hasn't had any strep infections in over a year. Right now he is taking Florastor and antibiotics. Just did 4 days of prednisone.

[Guest]

I got c-diff from taking abx for tonsil/throat infection. Something they can figure out really quickly with stool sample.

 

I don't know about anything else, my bladder has been messed up for 20 years (since I was little) and nobody has a clue. I'm looking into second opinions soon so will report back if anything is found out.

[LexMom]

It's possible that it is c-diff or even some other infection. Both my daughter and myself have had diarrhea on and off for a month. It would be nice if some test would come back abnormal so it would point us in some kind of direction.

[Guest]

My mom is an endo nurse so got me in with a really good GI P.A. I guess you've already seen a GI? They are supposed to send the samples to lab to test which abx will stop it.

 

Also, c-diff has puss and mucus in stool. That's a big sign. I also had blood.

[philamom]

Also make sure they tested for Giardia.

 

Does he experience any cramping with stools?

[LexMom]

I would assume they tested for Giardia since he had a stool analysis. It's just so hard to figure out what is wrong, as he always seems to have atypical symptoms. Even when he had a case of strep that sent him to the hospital, his blood tests have always came back normal.

[lfran]

Check for lactose intolerance. That can cause chronic diarrhea. You can buy pills at the drugstore that you take with dairy and that takes care of the problem. If you r very sensitive like I am, then even the small amounts of dairy in cookies and bread can cause problems. Actually, a good test would be to take some lactaid pills with each meal for a few days and see if that helps. It's OTC and very safe. Don't get the chewables. They taste awful! Just get the swallowable ones. Generics are fine and are a lt cheaper than lactaid brand.

 

Remember there are lots of hidden sources of dairy in almost everything you eat if it is commercially processed.

[LexMom]

Seems like it was just a flare in symptoms. The doctor put him on omnicef and he is almost back to normal. He went from being in the bathroom for 6hrs at a time to in and out. Weird how the symptoms change. We've experienced anxiety, motor tics, bathroom problems, OCD. Going to try another course of full strength antibiotics before a course of prophylactic antibiotics. Also weird how some antibiotics work for some symptoms, but not others. Zithromax and clindamycin didn't work for this one, but omnicef did.

[Guest]

Very weird. Omnicef is what always caused me to get c-diff, it's a horrible offender for that.

 

Must be something else - infection? Glad it has helped.

[LexMom]

He always seems to get diarrhea with a sinus infection. No sure why. This all started as a sinus infection.

[Guest]

Weird! Must be related b/c omnicef is used for throat and tonsil upper respiratory infections. That's why I got on it b/c of throat and tonsil infection.

Glad it is subsiding though.