Watery Diarrhea- Dining Out
I was having regular stools all week and the other day I went out for lunch with friends and had coconut shrimp and yucca cheese sticks and mashed sweet potato’s and a Coke. Well about 2 hours later, I had the worst diarrhea that felt non stop. Cramping was horrible. I almost felt wozzy to point I was worried I’d have to go to the ER. After the 3rd time visiting the bathroom I took some Imodium and laid down and everything settled down. I was very confused if it was a very bad Ibs-d flare up or food poison or food sensitivity. I’ve had a similar experience before with raw salmon. Not sure what triggered it, my guess is it being a lot fried food or the type of frying oil the restaurant used. Regardless never want to experience that again! Would love to hear any ones thoughts what could’ve triggered it or if you’ve had similar experience.
I'm so sorry you went through such a bad flare. From what I've read, food poisoning usually take a couple of hours to appear, and at least for me, Imodium does nothing for it. I would assume your body either didn't like the food at all and decided to reject everything (at least that's the impression I sometimes have with flares), or there was something you ate before that did not agree with you.
This happened to me once. I had eaten deli chicken for lunch and then had sushi for dinner, after which I got really sick. Naturally, I assumed it was the sushi, but I ate the same chicken again two days later and had the same reaction. My partner, who also ate the chicken the second time around, got sick, too. There must have been some sort of bacteria in it...
But I have also had horrible flares that were just IBS. For me they're usually stress related, or when I ate food that is very triggering.
Karina (team member)thanks for your response. It’s hard to try to pin point exactly what made your stomach upset or if it was even one thing! That’s so true, it’s really hard. A food diary (https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/food-journal-download) can be helpful with this sometimes, have you tried that before? But even with that, I find that there are so many variables that some flares just don’t make any sense…
Karina (team member)
I had the same thoughts you described. Fried food can be a trigger even if it doesn't cause a flare every time you eat it. It probably wasn't a stomach virus if Immodium made you feel better, and as Karina mentioned, likely wasn't food poisoning bacteria either, for the same reason. So, it might have been all that fat from oil and cheese coming down the pipes at once, adding water and "combustion" to the stool already in your colon and causing intense gas pains and loose stools. I've been there more than once, I really feel for you! Having IBS ain't for sissies. Gas pains are my model for level 10 pain. For me, so far, all other pain pales by comparison!.I hope you don't have that kind of episode again for a very long time! Hugs, Kim, moderator sometimes with triggers, it’s also the amount that counts, at least for me. So maybe you could test how much greasy food is still okay, and how much is too much?
All the best, Karina (team member)
Sorry you went through that. The sneak attacks are the worst. If you feel like your IBS is getting worse or more frequent you should consider taking immodium before the event or day since that helped you.
I like Karinas idea of keeping a journal. I used to but now I need to start again. I thought I knew all my trigger foods.
Sometimes the colon spasms will happen without a trigger I believe.
Just curious.. were you hydrated after the flare or did you feel light headed?
