Sensitive stomach after gastro

Anon Imperfect Mum

Sensitive stomach after gastro

I had some sort of stomach bug or food poisoning last week. It was mainly just the runs but I chucked once as well. I ended up taking gastro stop which stopped me from using my bowels. I feel better now but my bowels still haven't returned to normal and are still small and loose but not diarrhoea. I have been to the dr and she said to take a probiotic and have a bland diet, which I have been but still hasn't really improved. Has this happened to anyone else, did you eventually go back to being able to eat normally? And did your bowel movements go back to normal? If so how long did it take?

Posted in:  Health & Wellbeing, FAQ

8 Replies

Anon Imperfect Mum

A bout of gastro triggered my IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).
Short answer, I never went "back to normal".
Even now, 4 years later, I have to take pro biotic regularly and watch what I eat (I am essentially dairy intolerant and gluten free now amongst a few other things).

Persist with the pro biotics for a few weeks because it does take a bit for them to start having an effect and look up (and try and follow) the low Fodmap diet to see if that improves things.

Failing that, head back to your GP and ask for them to do a stool and blood test, it may have been something like a giardia infection rather than run of the mil gastro (I had that once too, can make you feel really crappy).

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Anon Imperfect Mum

How did you know it was ibs at what point did you become concerned? My mum had the same kind of bug as I did and she still feels the same so it could have been what you mentioned.

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Anon Imperfect Mum

It took probably 6+ months to finally get the official diagnosis of IBS. It was pretty much a process of elimination, I didn't have cancer or chrohns disease, bloods were good, bowels physically looked good so that was pretty much the conclusion my gastroenterologist came up with and after dietary changes started to improve things, that pretty much cemented that conclusion.

I'd say if your mum is feeling the same, I'd ask to be tested for giardia. It's also extremely contagious (and common if you have daycare/school aged kids apparently).
A gastro virus shouldn't last longer than 2 weeks at most, giardia won't go away unless it's treated (which is very simple).

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Anon Imperfect Mum

Gastro triggered my lactose intolerance
Perhaps you’ve been lactose intolerant, it can last for a few weeks or for the rest of your life

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Anon Imperfect Mum

And with gastro you shouldn’t take gastro stop it makes the bug stay in your gut longer, you need to literally poo it out

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Anon Imperfect Mum

I think this may be it as I was almost 100% better while not having lactose, had some today and have diarrhoea again. How did you re introduce to see if it was permanent or not?

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Anon Imperfect Mum

Avoid gastro stop unless absolutely necessary. I used it once and the dr described it like trapping the bug in my bowel and had to give me some meds. Go to your GP

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Anon Imperfect Mum

I have Crohn’s Disease and it takes 6-8wks for gastro to clear up for me..

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