IBS flare up or something else? Input appreciated please!
I have IBS-A. When I'm not regular, I lean mostly toward the C side. Lately, tho, I've been having more D. It's usually softer stools but for the past 11 days I have had intermittent diarrhea. Some days I won't go at all, and other days I will have diarrhea 1-2x. I don't have any other symptoms (besides occasional discomfort but I guess that's to be expected), I have an appetite, feel my normal self, etc.
A similar circumstance happened at the end of August when I thought my husband had covid and I was a stressed mess. I went to my GI, he did a stool panel (Enteric Bacteria and a Calprotectin panel to be exact) and blood tests, and everything was in the normal range.
I'm not sure what I'm experiencing now is an IBS flare up or what. But I'm nervous because I have a phobia of GI illnesses (anything that has to do with vomiting tbh) and it's hard for me to tell myself that this is just IBS due to stress rather than some type of illness. Yesterday I called my GI doctor and filled him in and asked him if I'd need to do another stool sample. It said it was mostly stress-related and to touch base in a week.
So back to my regular question...does this sound like an IBS flare up? Have others experienced anything similar? I have been really stressed (nervous about contracting Covid has been on my mind a lot). Please help. I'm upset.
ETA: I can't think of a possible trigger as my diet has not changed (I mean I've been eating more junk than usual) and I eat the same foods.
I have ibs. But mild compared to what you are going through. I found out garlic onions and many other things made it worse, I went to my g.p. in the U.K. and saw a dietician who advised FODMAP diet I read the books and it helped, but I still had problems. Then I had a cut on a finger that went bad and was prescribed an antibiotic, after a few days the finger started to get better, but also I noticed a significant improvement in my ibs symptoms, I looked closely at what the antibiotics were used for and it started these antibiotics could remove bacteria from your gut. I had a good reaction and a reduction in all the symptoms for a considerable time. Then I started again with the problems. I told my doctor and he gave me another course of the antibiotic and that again worked for me. From then on I paid close attention to what I ate and kept a food diary. I'm not completely free of problems, but if I am bad, I check on what I ate and can usually find out one of the ingredients was bad for me. I am not medically qualified. But I really hope this helps.
