stomach flu / food poisoning

UGH. I had diarrhea 17 times between 6pm and 6am. My backside feels like it had a cheese grater dragged through it. I took 5 showers last night.

take a warm bath and start wiping with baby wipes.

it came on during flip-turns during swim practice, and it was a dicey run to the locker room in my speedo

good thing you didn't shit your speedo in the pool.

right? that would be the most awkward situation ever. and it's not like you could play it off/pretend it wasn't you/hope it got caught in the folds of the fabric

it would be ok if you were a squid.

"Whoops, there goes my ink again!"

i've been through this a lot an all you can do is wait it out

It's not right to be going through this "a lot". I thought it was very suspicious that I'd get (what I thought was) food poisoning 3 or 4 times per year. Did go see my doc about it, but he just threw some IBS pills at me. Ran no tests. Turned out I had Crohn's, with complications developing for years, and needed surgery last year.
Jon, what did your GI doc eventually diagnosis you with?

my dad has crohns, not fun.

Thanks for asking. I already have an Ulcerative Colitis diagnosis (had it since 1985). Had the lion's share of my large int removed in '91 which fixed me up pretty good until a few years ago; now I have active colitis in my remaining large int but not in the small (so my diag is still UC not Crohn's).

My GI doc ultimately did not have a clear answer on what exactly happened 3 weeks ago. She was sure it was not a UC-related stricture or blockage, felt it was something bacterial, but also felt the symptoms were weird for food poisoning. She did a colonoscopy the following week which found nothing unexpected except that my whole lower intestine is more irritated ('friable') than usual. We're gonna try upping my dose of the non-steroidal anti-inflamm I'm on.

My theory is that I had a temporary torsion which unkinked itself when I finally got up and was running around getting ready to go to the ER. Doc was skeptical of that, but it fits the data IMO.

Yeah that sounds reasonable to me. I had a, um, I think it was a fluoroscopy done a couple months ago, and man I never realized your intestines move around and contort as much as they do. Just with breathing or shifting positions.
My stomach flu-like symptoms were due to a stricture, and so the food always had to come back up for me to get any relief.
Are you only on NSAIDs for it?

***TMI ALERT***

In addition to the Pentasa NSAID, I also do a mesalamine rectal suspension (aka an enema that you hold in all night) at bedtime. It does a really good job of keeping inflammation at bay in the lowest zone of my GI. Sometimes if things get dicey I switch from mesalamine to cortisone suspension for a week.

***END TMI ALERT***

Don't know much about UC and how symptoms and treatment differ from Crohn's, so was curious what your regimen is.
No surgery since '91 seems good though, right? I was told that, for Crohn's, those who need one surgery generally need more surgery roughly every 10 yrs. I just really really hope I don't wind up with a colostomy bag ugh.

My inflammatory bowel disease buddy in Florida had the same back story as me except he 'upgraded' to Crohn's in his early 30s. He did end up having to get the complete removal a couple of years ago and has a bag now. Since that's kind of a worst case scenario in my mind as well, it was comforting to talk to him recently and find out that the technology for those things has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last couple of decades-- the whole routine is much less grisly & gross apparently, you can go a week without having to reattach the snap-on thingy, they never leak, it lives in some kind of cloth sleeve so you don't have plastic resting against your skin etc etc.

So I also really really hope it doesn't end up that way for you or I, but I am told it's not the shame horror it once was...

hey Jon, i just started taking Pentasa myself, also have steroidal foam for flareups. do you do anything special dietwise, or is that a crazy rabbithole of second guessing?

That is good to know, Jon. Presumably, it'll be even less unpleasant or rendered obsolete by the time it could possibly be a necessity for you or I.

Re: diet. I only know a few things which FOR CERTAIN fuck me up (chocolate, corn chips, peanuts) but in fall 2008, after having been in the hospital about once per year for super high colitis-induced fevers for about 4 years running, I made the decision to totally give up EVERYTHING which is commonly said to aggravate UC/Crohn's. So for 2 1/2 years I haven't had:

Coffee (but I drink black tea instead)
Anything spicy beyond the tamest of the tame
Chocolate
Anything deep fried or very greasy (this one is super important)
Alcohol
Nuts of any kind
Seeds other than the tiniest kinds
Fresh cheeses (only do the aged ones like cheddar, parmesan. No mozza, no ricotta, etc)
Big payloads of meat (it needs to be a component, not 80% of the dish)
Mollusks and uncooked seafood
Sweetened sodas

...and I feel like I've had decent results insofar as I haven't been to the hospital since and haven't had a really crazy flare (though I still have medium ones).

Also there are some whole categories of cuisines which seem to fuck me up even if they obey all the criteria above-- I just can't eat Mexican food at all, apparently. And BBQ. Williamsburg gluttony culture is now anathema :(

omg see I don't know if I could give up all that, good for you for being able to. There's some extreme Crohn's/IBD diet that I read about online that's no dairy, no sweets, no grains, no carbs. Not much left TO eat! The only thing my doc told me is no sucrose, and I've been pretty good about that. Though I did cave a couple times for pumpkin whoopie pies.

It's not that extreme-- I still got carbs, sharp cheeses, meats, sweets within reason.

The biggest heartbreakers were spicy foods (formerly my religion) and especially coffee. Tea is better than I thought though.

Mexican and other spicy foods would be the hardest for me, too. If it was colostomy bag vs giving up Mexican, hook that bag up.

Well that's my other consolation when I contemplate worst case scenaria: if I end up with a bag on my gut, I can at least go back to drinking 5 cups of coffee a day and eating genuine szechuan.

Wow, that list! Well done on having the willpower to cut all that stuff out. :/

(reading this thread cz my mother has Crohn's and lately I've had some v. minor but recurring stomach troubles which I am 99% sure are not Crohn's but am beginning to worry they may be something else I don't want to have. I def. need to cut out the sweet sodas even if this turns out to be nothing, and that in itself seems like a big deal right now; nuts, chocolate and alcohol too would be a pretty depressing prospect)

Best wishes for all the ILX Crohn's/colitis sufferers.

If your symptoms start getting more frequent and/or more severe, get your doc to run some tests.
I never was a big soda drinker, but since I can't have sucrose but CAN have corn syrup (and honey, agave nectar, etc) I MUST have a Dr Pepper every day. It's become a thing. But watch, I'll find out in a few years that HFCS and maltitol/other sugar replacements are even worse for Crohn's.

they are. this is a good article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html

Hi, Mr. Jon Lewis. Have you considered that your attack last month could have been diverticulitis? It fits your description of the pain, and I've been through it before.

You can have both UC and Diverticulosis at the same time. I've been through a couple of similar episodes over the years. Toughed it out once, and hospitalized on IV antibiotics another.

On the nicer end of the disease scale, I eat a normal diet and only have to take asacol pills for UC. No complications or steroids.

On the other hand, I re-read that you had a current colonoscopy. That should have shown up, but I've had it missed over the years.

I suppose if it were diverticulitis it's really high up (given the location of my pain that day) and hence maybe beyond the point she reached with the camera scope. I suspect I am already avoiding the things one avoids for diverticula food-wise.

There's quite the IBD posse on ILX! (IBS posers stay out!)

i've had an ongoing stomach bug this past week but i'm also craving spicy thai food. i think the thai food is going to win.

also: if i only have acid reflux, am i too much of a poser for this thread?

my stomach felt like it was playing "Putnam's Camp" by Charles Ives during the night. I was really nervous cuz a friend of mine had a stomach virus recently and I was afraid I got it. in a condo-esque hotel, so I had nothing I could take as the lobby is a mile away.

fortunately it was mild, but like, are there any good natural remedies for this (sour stomach) in situations where I can't get antacids/other products?

Ginger, in whatever form you can find it (including ginger ale).

oooh forgot about ginger ale. thanks!

:-)

a flat sprite/7-up also helps.

Argh. My wife and I were both struck on Monday night what we suspect was food poisoning from something we ate on Sunday. I hate the fact that this afternoon I'm *still* feeling spacey and sluggish and without much appetite. Get better, self!

yep same here, apart from my not having a wife. if i did i assume she would have it too though, assuming we weren't so estranged that we never spent time in close proximity.

This is a useful thread, thank you ILX.

1. Peppermint tea is not good for your stomach, it is an irritant. Ginger is good.

2. Has anybody tried Flagyl? My doctor friend has recommended I take it. It is a gentle antibiotic that she says has positive pro-biotic side-effects.

3. Do not eat whole roast suckling pig.

psyllium husks are very useful for bad stomachs, will help both runs & constipation.
Not sure where you get them from easily elsewhere than Galway. Think I've looked in London before and not found hem as easily.
Here they're in the health food shop in bags for something like €1.29 or €2

Are we talking food POISONING, eating spoilt food...or just a condition like gas or constipation? Because food POISONING, well, even if it isn't that severe, get that checked out!! Seriously, you might end up in a coma or WORSE.

I got food poisoning once on a stuffed mushroom and it was hell. Usually your whole body is involved. I thought I was going to die. It was on Thanksgiving. My family got me some type of sedative, like a Tylenol PM because I was vomiting so much and my fever was very high.

I don't know what I would take, but something to help you rest and lots of water if you don't see a doctor.

Slammed a cup of two week old yogurt and felt bad and crampy within 5 minutes, reported to the bathroom within 15

Damn

Fuck you, 蒙牛

Ironically, the only milk I have trouble digesting is COCONUT MILK which c'mon you aren't even milk, why u gotta play me like that.

This flaw in my otherwise iron-clad GI system made travel in Sri Lanka a bit dicey, because there is delicious coconut milk in basically all of the delicious curries. After a while I worked it out so that I could be like "OK well if I eat this curry now, I should be OK for the 3:00 p.m. train."

what is a good transitional meal between the bananas & rice diet in the aftermath of the liquid shits, and normal greasy eating? bcz this is where i have been fucking up for ten days.

(i seem to be handling yogurt OK)

oatmeal
mashed potatoes
a plain sandwich like turkey, or cheese

those are what helped me, idk how far along you are though

white starchy foods worked p well in all their forms

something with tofu maybe?

that's good, i am white and starchy to begin with

xp

cheese, dairy seems dubious to me but i can try turkey tom'w

I have never prepared oatmeal in my life, but ate it several times in Chicago cuz it's what the health cafe in the hotel was serving.