Looking for advice on my symptoms

Hello everyone,

I have been struggling with bad digestion for the past 15 years. I have done my own food jounrals and tried some therapies. What I am learning is that the exact situation is highly individual to me. But maybe there are people out there who are experiencing symptoms similar to mine.

So I want to share my story and see who has experienced something similar or has some advice.

My journey started when I had my appendix removed in 2008. Six days after the removal, I took a trip to China. Because of the trip to a foreign country with food that I wasn't used to I did not think about the occasional diarrhea at all. But looking back, the diarrhea hasn't gone away since.

For the first five years or so, I ignored it, hearing stories that "it will eventually go away again".

By 2014, it had gotten really bad. I was always staying close to a toilet just in case. I had developed hemorrhoids from the constant toilet visits. My stool rhythm was: soft stool before breakfast, explosive stool after breakfast, possibly diarrhea during the day depending on the food.

So I went to the doctor for the first time. I was tested for Lactose and Fructose intolerance, but no indication. I had a colonoscopy, but the anatomy was fine.

I tried ecoli drops, loperamide and other things I could get in the pharmacy without a prescription. Initially, it helped. But from my perspective, it felt more like my body adjusted to the medication by learning to ignore it. I would always have a bit of an improvement at first and after a couple of days the medication seemed to have no more effect.

I learned to live with it, building a bit of intuition about what caused diarrhea.

For the past five years or so, I have experimented with "reset diets" where I would eat really basic foods (potatoes, rice) for a couple of days to calm my gut. This seemed to take away the extremes. Neither was my stomach ever really okay, but also the diarrhea got less frequent.

I started this year with a proper food journal hoping to find a specific list of foods to avoid. But no clear answers. I had another colonoscopy this year; anatomy is still fine.

The most recent innovation for me is one teaspoon of Psyllium before every meal. This has reduced the bloated feeling and seems to calm my stomach a lot. Yet, my stool is still always soft.

Here is what I know about my digestion today:
- My stool is always soft. Even when I eat nothing but potatoes and white rice for days. I seem to be unable to have shaped stool.
- Too much fresh yeast —> diarrhea after 10 minutes
- I flatulate a lot. Luckily, it doesn’t seem to be smelly.
- Some curries —> diarrhea after 10 minutes
- Alcohol —> explosive diarrhea the next day
- Too much food at once —> diarrhea after 10 minutes
- After the diarrhea I immediately feel much better. I don’t have cramps. My body just opens up and lets it all out.
- Coffee seems to be fine. I don’t drink much of it, though.
- I tried avoiding sugars for a couple of days. But it was really hard to do and I did not notice an immediate effect.
- I wasn’t able to find any specific intolerances other than the fresh yeast.
- I do sports. I am reasonably fit and can run 10 miles. I can control my weight well by having an eye on my snacking.

I am at a state at which I feel that I am managing okay because of the Psyllium. But I am also thinking: Isn’t there more I can do? Why can’t I slowly build a better gut biome over time?

Happy to get any kind of feedback. Thanks!