Has anyone experienced this? Opinions?

[moonshadow]

Hi, I'm a newbie and although I have commented on a few other threads this is my first 'proper' post. Hello! I want to ask about a stomach problem I once had because altho (touch wood) it's gone. I'm still trying to get to the bottom of what the heck it was... You all seem so friendly and supportive, so here goes... oh, and FYI nothing graphic follows!


A few years ago I came down with what seemed a 'regular' stomach bug - nausea, bloating, no appetite, stomach cramps, bouts of (can I spell it?) diarrhoea, feeling a bit fluey. So far, so ordinary. The problem was that it WOULD NOT GO AWAY! Every time I would start to feel better, back it would come again. This went on for at least TWO YEARS!!!


When it started, I lost 14 pounds in 3 weeks - and I usually I find it incredibly hard to lose weight. I was living on cornflakes and ginger nuts (cookies) which was all I could stomach. Then it easedoff and I was getting attacks every week, then every month, tho not feeling truly well in between... but the worst problemwas that I would nearly always suffer from it when I went out, or went on hol with my boyfriend. The misery of feeling sick when you're away from home - urgh, right? It never actually made me v* but I feltclose several times... When I had an attack, I also felt exteremely anxious, depressed and disoriented.


The number of times my boyfriend cooked a wonderful meal that I just couldn't physically eat... I would just cry and cry. I started to lose all my confidence and didn't want to go anywhere.


As you can imagine this was NO FUN for anyone, let alone an emet! I went to the doc about 4 or 5 times but tests forcolitis or infection revealed nothing. You are thinking IBS, right? But no, I had and still have IBS and it's different. One doc asked if I was stressed, but I know my body and I know that this problem was CAUSING stress, not resulting from it! Stress made it worse, but didn't cause it. It was definitely physical. I have been an anxious person all my life and anxiety has never made me feel ill like this before, and it still doesn't. It was definitely a physical condition with occasional fever. I just couldn't get it diagnosed. I probably should have insisted on seeing a consultant, but because the problem was never acute, just mild and chronic, I would have feltI was making a fuss about 'nothing'.


A few times I had a 'normal' stomach bug on top of it, which would be there and gone in 24 hours - that I could cope with. But this underlying problem just wouldn't go. Well, gradually, gradually it faded away until I finally realised, about 3 or 4 years on, that it was gone. It left me very prone to IBS attacks but at least when these are over, they're OVER!


What I need to ask is, has anyone else experienced anything similar? What was it? It has haunted me because it was so awful and took away several years of my life. I have done a web search and the ONLY condition I could find with persistent symptoms like this was a parasite infection, eg Giardia. I don't know how I could have caught such a thing unless a) from a pet frog I had at that time or b) eight months earlier on a trip to the US (Maryland)? I just wish I had an answer because it seemed no one else in the world had ever heard of such an illness and I felt so alone!


A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine told me she'd had v* and D that wouldn't stop and she had actually been diagnosed with giardia. Once she'd had antibiotics, she felt fine. My first thought was why couldn't they diagnose me, and the second thought was - even tho my problem was several years ago - OMG I hope she didn't catch it from me!


Any thoughts, ideas, questions, opinions would be SO welcome,,, thank you!


PS I didn't kiss the frog, honest!

[carmagnet]

I think I might know how you feel. For the past few years everytime I eat, well not everytime, alot of times after I eat it's like I can literally follow it down until it, very uncomfortably comes out the other end. I hate it. It hurts, it makes my tummy feel sick. I had a doc appointment this morning but my baby has broncitis and won't be going with her dad for a few more days. It also seems like everytime I get some type of tummy sickness it sticks around about twice as long as everyone else who had it. Probably anxiety.

[sweetfreak]

It sounds like giardia and it's very possible that the doctors coudn't find it because it's very hard to detect. You can get it from a piece of fruit you ate or bad water. When I first got lactose intolerance giardia was one of the first things I thought I had. It took me a couple of years of going to doctors to finally be told I was lactose intolerant. Believe me...doctors are like everyone else. There are good ones and bad ones.

[missbecca]

Wow....Sorry to hear about your problem. Off and on since I was seventeen (I'm twenty-one now), I'll go through periods of time where I'll feel sick to my stomach. It seems to happen quite often, and it tends to worsen at night. Diet can be a big factor. Nerves are another. Like you, I have been a nervous person since I was a child, and now it has affected me greatly. However, you know your body better than anyone, and it's good that you are feeling fine now.

[holly18]

it might possibly be a food intolerance. next time you go to the doctor bring this up and he will probably send you for a blood test.Do you notice that its worse after eating certain foods? i was going through the same as you and was tested for food intolerance and it came back negative, but theres certain foods that make me feel horrible for example dairy products and fruit make me feel so sick and horrible.

[moonshadow]

OMG! I did another web search and found this site, GiardiaClub.com. This (plus 'non-watery' D*) is EXACTLY what I had!



<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%">
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Other major giardia symptoms - the giardia infected person often has spells where they feel a bit nauseous. There is a loss of appetite. Sometimes there is lethargy, probably from eating less and feeling off the feed, so to speak.

These symptoms come and go, too. Especially after the first few days or week of a giardia attack, many of the symptoms will go away, or almost go away.
You'll think you're over it. Then the giardia symptoms will return for a day or two. This cycle often goes on for a month or two. Sometimes the period of remission gets longer and longer, until the attacks go away completely.</TD>
<TD width=18></TD></TR></T></TABLE>


How I wish I'd found this info while I was ill... it might have been over in a few weeks instead of years! Repeatedly feeling nauseaous did nothing to help my emet... it's not a feeling I could ever get 'used' to!


Many thanks for your comments so far,I will return!

[Galadriel]

Welcome Moonshadow!!


I am sorry you had that bout of giardia, it sounds awful to have. Im glad you are over it now tho. Its good that you know what it was, even tho it really sucks that you suffered that long with it. Well, I hope you enjoy posting on here, it really is a great place to get and give support! Your all like family to me!! [img]smileys/smilies_04.gif[/img]

[moonshadow]

Thanks so much to the people who commented and of course I'm so sorry to hear of others suffering horrible prolonged symtoms, whatever the cause. I do hope you will feel better. I'm pretty certain mine wasn't food intolerance asthere was no food-related pattern to it. I feel certain now it must have been giardia or similar - especially as I've now found outthat G. is'freely available' (ha!) in the UK and notsome tropical disease! I had never heard of it at the time. Itticks me off that notone doctor I sawconsidered it as a possibility either!


The only good thing that came out of it was that I lost14 pounds I needed to lose and never put them back on! It 'cured' me of comfort eating. But I would certainly not recommend this as a method of weight loss! (When I hear people joking about getting an intestinal parasite to help them lose weight I just think Gah! [img]smileys/smilies_31.gif[/img]Let themgo ahead if they don't mind feeling nauseated, crappy andmiserable for the sake of vanity!)


Well, my mind is more at rest now - knowing I had a proper illness and was not going crazy. Thank you Galadriel for the lovely welcome!

[snowangel]

Hi Moonshadow. It sounds like a horrible experience and you have done the correct research in order to find out exactly what was haunting your stomach. Remember to always bring te research TO your doctor, they are pretty out of touch with things (doctors) a lot of times. And if you bring that giardia to them, they may be able to do appropriate testings. Also, do not rule out something called H. Pylori. It is a bacteria that grows in stomach and can make one feel very sick. With antibiotic it can go away quick. Although, I am not so sure it causes diareah. Good luck, hope you feel better, and welcome to the site.