Symptoms or Side Effects?
Last year the symptoms of an IBS flare of severe diarrhea and nausea caused me to report to the ER where it was determined that I undergo emergency surgery for a colon resection (called a colectomy) and my life has not been the same since then.
As a possible side effect of this procedure, a few months later I was diagnosed with acute cholecystitis following another hospital stay which happened because the symptoms included my state of confusion, vertigo and extreme pain in my upper right abdomen.
I called 911.
No gallstones were found so I was treated with antibiotics, released after 2 days and placed on a low fat diet.
And I lucked out recently during a week of holidays — Christmas and New Years.
Bile acid diarrhea
Don’t ask me how, but I managed to enjoy myself between frequent nightly bathroom sprints that found me on the toilet discharging clay colored sludge from my body by the bucketful.
The odor was of death, causing my cats to take refuge in the garage.
Fortunately these “attacks” occurred mostly at night and I learned there is a name for them, Bile Acid Diarrhea or BAD. And they aren’t kidding! The smell is bad!
Gratefully, my episodes did not involve pain, other than the sting of humiliation, which I endured along with depression symptoms lasting too many days and long, long nights.
And now, as I reach for the tissue box, I find that I have developed a runny nose. My informants say that it’s a possible symptom of gallbladder disease.
Go figure…
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