Gut Issues I can't figure out
Hello,
So I've had this problem for about a year and a half now. It started by me stupidly having too many energy drinks, trying out flavours. I had 1 every other day for about 3-4 weeks due to keeping me awake for film work.
I basically need the toilet more often in the mornings (1st half of the day up until 11/12) It can be a struggle to hold off going to the toilet as well, when I need to go it's pretty urgent.
I don't think it's an intolerance as I've had a lot of fibre/chicken & veg, fermented foods and the odd occasion a take away and I still feel the same in the mornings. 2 days ago I had Ice cream, cookies as a treat (which I never have) and the following day I went to the toilet 1 time in the evening. Very weird.
So far, the doctors in the UK have been pretty awful if I'm being polite, they refer me to a gastro, only to be told to have blood & stools tests when I already had these done 1 year prior when I was at my worst and still they couldn't find what was wrong.
I had to fly to my friends hospital where he works in Geneva, Switzerland as I had enough of UK doctors (NHS &Private) not being able to help. I didn't eat for a day and a half so I could get to Geneva okay.
I had an endoscopy, different tablets, blood and stools tests. Still they couldn't find out what was wrong with me. They gave me lactase enzymes which helped a tiny bit, but I was on lactose free milk a couple years prior to my problems.
I've been told to cut down on fibre as I could be having too much fibre but I've not noticed much difference still.
Any ideas what could be my problem? I'm pretty certain it's a problem with my actual digestion itself and not food related.
It's really frustrating to have all those tests done and not get any answers, I feel you. So many of us have gone through that unfortunately. Here are some ideas:
- Just in case it is food related, I'm going to link this article for you: https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/fodmaps-trigger-ibs-symptoms. It talks about how long it takes for foods to trigger symptoms. I never knew that when trying to figure out my symptoms, and it led me to cutting out so many foods and not realizing that gluten was actually a major trigger for me. Keeping a food diary (here's a free one: https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/food-journal-download) can also help you double-check that you don't react to any specific foods.
- How are you stress levels currently? This is again my own experience, but my biggest trigger by far is my anxiety. When I'm anxious, I'm unable to digest anything at all. When I'm feeling calm, I can eat almost normally. You mentioned that your issues started after having too many energy drinks to keep you awake, so I'm wondering if this was also a stressful time for you, having to work long hours? If you think that stress and anxiety might be trigger for you, things like hypnotherapy, stress managing techniques, deep breathing could improve your symptoms.
- You could also try seeing a holistic practitioner. I haven't done that myself yet, but they can do additional tests and suggest different treatments. I'm going to link this article from one of our contributors about her experience here: https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/naturopath-experience. Please let me know if this is helpful.
Wishing you all the best, Karina (team member)Thank you so much for your big reply. That's very very kind of you, I'll certainly try to implement some of these things, although I have came across some before.
I don't really get stressed or anxious about things so I'm pretty sure it's not that but it's all worth giving a goYou're very welcome! I've been trying to think of other approaches since your don't have issues with stress or anxiety (which is great!).
For some people, gut issues can also be caused my problems in the spine. Here 2 community members shared their experiences with that: https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/spine-ibs, https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/stories/gut-neck-problems-linked. I don't know if this could apply to you?
I also found these two articles: https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/why-do-i-react-to-everything-i-eat, https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/missing-treatment. All the best, Karina (team member)
