Bloating/cramping

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schism
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Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2019 5:23 pm

Bloating/cramping

Postby schism » Mon Mar 04, 2019 12:52 pm

Guys,

I have done my best to stop thinking about c diff issues and stayed off this website as well, but last week I developed bloating and now pain and I'd like to hear from your experiences. For 3-4 days it felt like I had air/gas trapped in lower abdomen. No D or C. I would let some air go from time to time, but it never gave me relief.

On day 4 or 5 or so, my bloating got a little better, but now it's just painful. My lower abdomen and especially lower left side is just crampy and tender. One day this weekend my left side was quite sore and very tender to touch, the next days it was less tender but still sore.

I am worried it's diverticulitis, UC, or c diff. The LAST THING I want is more antibiotics from some infection. I'm currently not having D or C. I currently do not have blood and so far very little mucus.

I know that it perhaps is IBS, but I don't know enough about it. Is this what you guys deal with with PI-IBS? Do you ever have days of tender abdomen like this? Particularly after an episode of bloating?

To be honest for the last 2-3 weeks I've been having regular morning BMs that have really been better BMs than I've had in years. Then suddenly I developed bloating and now pain. I don't understand how I can go from really good GI function, eating without any restriction, very regular good type 4 BMs, then wham...bad bloating, cramping, tenderness for days.

I should note that I've been taking Florastor and I ran out, so I switched to a different S Boulardii brand. It was day or two after this that I developed the bloating. I switched back to Florastor a couple days ago. I figured maybe this triggered all this, but it seems odd to me to have days of GI issues just cause of few days of a diff brand of S Boulardii. Anyone experience anything similar?

TedGil
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Re: Bloating/cramping

Postby TedGil » Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:52 pm

Schism, sorry to hear about your struggles. I am about 3 months in since my last dose of Vanco so I can relate to some of your frustrations. I have had soreness near my old Hernia operation and other places in my lower adnominal area. I was convinced it was a hernia from all the pushing I was doing because I had this constant feeling I had to pass a BM. Went to doctor no hernia. Then I felt like I had a UTI or Prostate infection so back to the doctor I went and nothing. But since I have been bugging my doctor on a regular bases with this stuff he put me on anti-anxiety meds. Well, I had cramping, nausea from them. Because of the meds giving me D I took Pepto which turned my D to a black color as well as my tongue. At the time I didn't put 2 and 2 together and panicked. So I had my Dr order a C.Diff test and it was negative but that was of low yield considering the D stopped the next day. I stopped the anti-anxiety meds because there side effects was making me more anxious then I already was. Now I have this irritation, itching on a portion of my anus that constantly bothers me probably from all the pushing and straining.

I have taken many kinds of probiotics both spore based and regular. Some played havoc on my gut while others didn't. I have tried to eat fermented foods that sent me straight to the toilet. Right now I am on a bland diet with no Guten or dairy and little sugar and it seems to help. I take a probiotic now that I am comfortable with and drink 8oz of Kombucha a day.

Anyways, I have learned that my PI-IBS is like a tenacious toddler that keeps bugging me both physically and mentally in some form or fashion. It takes time to heal from this stuff and being somewhat OCD, I want things like they used to be NOW!! This support group has helped me to calm my fear, uncertainty and doubt about things. But mostly everyone has just helped me relax and take things slow. I have a new normal now in which I have to live with.

Also, I now listen to the small voice of Roy in my head who says if you don't have WD 3 straight days 3+ times a day then I probably don't have C.Diff.

roy
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Re: Bloating/cramping

Postby roy » Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:36 pm

Could be the "other ingredients" in the new brand of s boulardi.
If something seems to work stick with it.

schism
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Re: Bloating/cramping

Postby schism » Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:40 pm

What anxiety med did he put you on?

I want to believe this is just PI-IBS, but I don't know for sure and that bothers me. If I did know, I could probably just ignore the bloating/pain and be fine since I got that reassurance. But the only way to really know for sure is to probably run a battery of tests including colonoscopy and cat scan. There are risks with doing these procedures and I don't think they should happen unless really warranted so I really want to know for sure but at the same time I'm not willing to go through with all these tests unless I really have to. So a lot of this is trying to weigh what is worth it vs what isn't. Is it really worth freaking out after bloating and pain and going through with all these tests or should I just wait a week and see if it goes away?

I think the majority of people that aren't hypochondriacs would probably wait things out for a week or two unless it gets unbearable. I'm different in that I sit here and stew in wonder and my mind goes all over the place. I google things and then deepen my fears and become even more hyper-aware of my symptoms. I'm sure you know how it is..... yeah I should probably get on some anxiety med, but to what end? And if its long term, what are the side effects? How is that altering my microbiome? What's it do to my risk of future mental health issues, dementia, etc? It's all scary bro.

schism
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Re: Bloating/cramping

Postby schism » Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:43 pm

roy,

I am really hoping that is all this is. The new S Boulardii does have MOS in it as well (it's from Jarrows). I don't know if that could be the culprit. I just never have been the type to have GI issues especially pain and especially for days. Sure I'd get issues for a day, maybe 2 max. So while this could well be some normal IBS thing for me now, I'm just not used to it so it's very nerve racking.

I still can't but help worrying about it being another infection like diverticulitis or I sit here in wonder if C diff is infecting me again and the D just hasn't started yet. It's really hell in my mind.

TedGil
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Re: Bloating/cramping

Postby TedGil » Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:39 pm

They put me on Lexapro but I took Xanax at the same time. Lexapro initially causes heightened anxiety when first taken and the Xanax was used to counter that. After a couple of days when the side effect was gone I stopped taking Xanax. A day later Lexapro was causing ringing in my ears which drove me crazy so I stopped that to. There are allot of other side effects that pertain to men which I will not mention that I was unwilling to risk. :-)

This is how I know allot of it was in my head. When I first took the Xanax and felt calm some of the symptoms went away. Not saying they where not physically there I just didn't care about them which made them less severe. The constant focus and awareness that I placed on every ailment actually was causing it to be worse then it was. Example the irritation in my anus from either a hemorrhoid or fissure or whatever, if I focus constantly on it becomes worse and my mind starts to fly all over the place and I get anxious. Not saying I should ignore the irritation, I did contact my GI and he told to use Preparation H with Lidocaine twice a day until sensation goes away. Which I have not done yet. I like to use more natural remedies like Witch Hazel etc 1st.

Anyways, this is me and taking anti-anxiety meds can be an important part of someone's recovery especially with things like C.Diff, PI-IBS, IBS, IBD, UC, Crohn's, etc because there is a Gut/Brain connection. I was just not willing to take the risks. Well, at least not yet. :-)

schism
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Re: Bloating/cramping

Postby schism » Mon Mar 04, 2019 5:47 pm

My friend is on Lexapro and I remember he was losing it the first week on Lexapro. They didn't give him anything to counter it and he ended up calling 911 in the middle of the night cuz he thought he may be dying yet nothing was actually wrong with him :P

He was able to get reassured it's just the med and that he has to get used to it and now he's been on it for a couple years now without any more panic incidents.

I definitely dwell on things as well and I think that makes them worse than they really are. I am not patient enough, which I believe is one of the biggest damn issues I have. I start to freak out about something and wonder why the symptom is present and I am in literal turmoil until I either find out what it is by a diagnosis or it resolves. I can't just trust my body a bit and let it ride a few days and just deal with it. I have to panic about it. It sucks ass.

Obreezy
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Re: Bloating/cramping

Postby Obreezy » Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:16 pm

Schism,

After my first round of C-Diff, my PI-IBS was almost exclusively bloating and occasional cramping with relatively normal BMs. It gradually got better over about 3 months. One thing I found to help with the bloating was to chug a lot of water in the morning (drink about a liter over the course of an hour). If the cramping is severe, I heard putting a heat pad over your abdomen can help.

I wouldn’t worry about UC unless you are noticing a signficant amount of blood with your BMs.

schism
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Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2019 5:23 pm

Re: Bloating/cramping

Postby schism » Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:46 pm

Thanks for your reply Obreezy. I was bloated for like 3-4 days straight. Couldn’t really pass wind. It wasn’t painful until several days of the bloating. Have you ever had that? When you have cramping, what does it feel like? To me, cramping is just this vague kind of soreness in the lower abdomen.

I also felt pretty sharp pain by pressing the left lower side of my abdomen or moving quickly. Thankfully that has gotten less painful as a couple days have passed which is somewhat encouraging to me that it’s not infection or UC.

If this blows over, does that pretty much guarantee that it’s a PI-IBS episode I had?

Obreezy
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Re: Bloating/cramping

Postby Obreezy » Mon Mar 04, 2019 11:22 pm

For me, there was a constant sense of a slight bloat for about 2 months straight. Not unbearable, but my stomach felt a little off and it was uncomfortable to lay on my stomach or wear tight pants. My cramping was mostly a dull ache and varied on location around my belly button (usually on the left side or below).

I think it's safe to say that any GI problems that go away after a couple days are most likely just PI-IBS and aren't worth worrying about.

Musings
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Re: Bloating/cramping

Postby Musings » Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:36 am

Bloating/cramping is incredibly common with IBS, and PI-IBS, and without other much more concerning symptoms (excess diarrhea, blood in your stool, etc.) would not lean towards the cause being c.diff or IBD. IBS can also be aggravated by stress/anxiety (mine is, 100%) so hyper focusing on what might be wrong with you is probably creating a vicious cycle where the stress is making your IBS worse which in turns amps up the stress - do what you can to break the cycle :-)


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