New to IBD.

I lost here completely and I don't know what to do.
I have never had health issues. My gut was strong. Never had only diarrhea once in life and I am 26. This all started after taking antibiotics such as docxy, augmentine, and malaria course.
1 months after taking these I am having troubles with my gut. I am nauseated all the time, food doesn't seems to travel from upper middle abdomen part, and loose bowel once a day. I had glow on my face which is gone now, dandruff in hairs, dry skin and fluid retention in my ankel. I am scared, I think antibiotics destroyed my gut balance completely. Can any one help me through this? I don't know what to do. I have trying diets, drinking buttermilk and I am vegetarian. I don't eat meat or fish. I am already trying fruits.

I was pescatarian when I was diagnosed, and made the choice to add meat into my diet in order to follow a dietary regimen to rebalance bacteria. These diets would be very challenging as a vegetarian, but I would recommend reading about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, GAPS, Autoimmune Paleo (They are similar, so don't feel overwhelmed by options). A good beginner's resource is scdlifestyle.com

Just found this article/podcast on scdlifestyle that may be helpful http://scdlifestyle.com/2013/08/vegetarians-tips-for-improving-gut-health/

Check out nutritionfacts.org It is awesome. Many helpful, educated choices.

How are you doing? Have you seen a doctor/gotten tests to start finding out what has been going on?

How are things going?

Not great. I have referred to a a gastroenterologist.
Again had loose bowel and with all the food I had. Not absorption of food. Never been so scared in my life.

I understand feeling scared. Glad to hear you've gotten a referral - I hope you have some answers, and start feeling better soon!
If you feel like your symptoms are linked to food, I definitely encourage you to look into the diets used for IBD above.

Just now came from gi. As of now I am given b12 supplements. Because I was low on it. He agreed that it could be anything and antibiotics could be the reason, it's not ulcer because the antibiotics I was taking was of ulcer and did not show any improvements. So I have to take supplements for one month and if I do not improve I have go for endoscopy. He said there is something wrong with stomach but suggested me to take supplements if it work out endoscopy won't be needed.
I am though 100% sure it would be crohn's. I feel some lump on right side of stomach. And it's mostly inflammation because I am not able to eat anything inspite of feeling very hungry. I don't know if antibiotics would have altered my gut, would have changed guts function. It's confusing how do reverse side effects of it.

Did they do blood or stool tests? In my experience they have done those tests to look for signs of inflammation first.

Antibiotics definitely affect the balance of bacteria in the gut and can cause problems. Are you taking probiotics?

I take VSL#3 probiotics that I get from the pharmacy. My doc told me they are really good. It has helped me quite a bit. You should ask about taking them first though. Maybe call the doctors office.

Get well soon,

cmack

My doctor gave me a sample of VSL#3...Planning to try them when I run out of my OTC probiotics. I agree that is something to ask about.

Hi, sorry got busy with job..missed to check emails. Yes had blood test CBC came to be bit abnormal with increased wbc. So I was given antibiotics thinking ulcers in stomach. But not much relief, only bowel were normal. But it's now back to same again. My esr was 10 in CBC, I think it's normal. But then I read somewhere that esr doesn't matter much in initial stage of crohn's so nit sure. Anyhow I have to wait for one month. And in mean time I am trying to experiment with diet and taking lot of natural probiotics. I was hospitalized and its been long time now. While hospitalization I was given augmentine, docxy, antibiotic shots, full course of malaria tablets. I was completely experimented on. When I came back from hospital I was vomiting for 5 days, I could not stand with vomiting. I felt like someone took out my brain. It was horrible. I don't trust doctor's much now. I am trying to recover. It think it will be a long journey. I just hope that I recover fully as I was. Which is not happening. If anyone can be benefited from my experience I will feel happy.
Sorry to rant about it. But I felt betrayed and felt like lab rat.

I am sorry for what you have been through.

I felt like a lab rat too. I sure hope you feel better soon. Keep in touch!

I hope you start feeling like you're on track to health with a doctor you are able to trust soon!

Yes

Thank you so much you guys. Your support means a lot. @cmack were you able to recover completely? Except prebiotics what else you tried?

@newhope,

I went 95% vegetarian, over time of course. I also supplement with vitamins. You can pm me and i will fill you in on what I had to do.

Your bud,

cmack

Newhope123 said:

I lost here completely and I don't know what to do.
I have never had health issues. My gut was strong. Never had only diarrhea once in life and I am 26. This all started after taking antibiotics such as docxy, augmentine, and malaria course.

1 months after taking these I am having troubles with my gut. I am nauseated all the time, food doesn't seems to travel from upper middle abdomen part, and loose bowel once a day. I had glow on my face which is gone now, dandruff in hairs, dry skin and fluid retention in my ankel. I am scared, I think antibiotics destroyed my gut balance completely. Can any one help me through this? I don't know what to do. I have trying diets, drinking buttermilk and I am vegetarian. I don't eat meat or fish. I am already trying fruits.

Click to expand...

I understand where your coming from.
I have recently been diagnosed with Crohn's disease. The specialist told me there is no cure or understanding what causes it. This is when my journey began. I firmly believe there is a cause. My problems began after 3 months of being on anti biotics. I started experiencing diarrhea upto 7 times a day and feeling washed and and fatique all the time. I decided to research for my self and found out about "leaky gut". It is belived leaky gut is caused by the killing off of the good bacteria, antibiotics, which allows some nasty microbes to damage the lining of the intestine thus allowing large food molecules to enter the blood stream. The bodies resonce is the send out white blood cells to fight the infection and inflimation. I do find i now have food sensitivity. Gluten and lactos are off the menu. I am taking L Glutamine to help repair my gut along with making my own pro biotics ( kefer grains ). I am also on a low residue diet and pre digested food to give my gut a rest and allow it to heal.
My inflimation markers in my blood test have gone done and i am feeling very energized.
I also did a ph test on blood and urine which showed to be acidic. I have brought my ph to a healthy level.

Newhope123 said:

Not great. I have referred to a a gastroenterologist.
Again had loose bowel and with all the food I had. Not absorption of food. Never been so scared in my life.

Click to expand...

I understand where your coming from.
I have recently been diagnosed with Crohn's disease. The specialist told me there is no cure or understanding what causes it. This is when my journey began. I firmly believe there is a cause. My problems began after 3 months of being on anti biotics. I started experiencing diarrhea upto 7 times a day and feeling washed and and fatique all the time. I decided to research for my self and found out about "leaky gut". It is belived leaky gut is caused by the killing off of the good bacteria, antibiotics, which allows some nasty microbes to damage the lining of the intestine thus allowing large food molecules to enter the blood stream. The bodies resonce is the send out white blood cells to fight the infection and inflimation. I do find i now have food sensitivity. Gluten and lactos are off the menu. I am taking L Glutamine to help repair my gut along with making my own pro biotics ( kefer grains ). I am also on a low residue diet and pre digested food to give my gut a rest and allow it to heal.
My inflimation markers in my blood test have gone done and i am feeling very energized.
I also did a ph test on blood and urine which showed to be acidic. I have brought my ph to a healthy level.

Hi Awakening,

Welcome. I'm sorry to hear of your diagnosis. You are in the right place to find support and understanding. I also believe that leaky gut syndrome caused my still undiagnosed illness. I am also suspected to have Crohn's, but no tests have been conclusive as yet.

Feel free to come here often. We are a very supportive bunch.


Welcome again,

cmack

cmack said:

Hi Awakening,

Welcome. I'm sorry to hear of your diagnosis. You are in the right place to find support and understanding. I also believe that leaky gut syndrome caused my still undiagnosed illness. I am also suspected to have Crohn's, but no tests have been conclusive as yet.

Feel free to come here often. We are a very supportive bunch.


Welcome again,

cmack

Click to expand...

Agree

Hi awakening,
Glad to hear your success. Hope you are doing well . I too feel it's leaky gut sometimes. I have lost faith in doctors completly. I will consult them only when I would be in very bad condition.I am thinking to start to with low residue food but I think it's going to be very difficult. I too feel am less tolerant to wheat thinking to eliminate it from diet. Can you give more insight on your diet ,it might help me. I was taking probiotics which were helping , will start with it again. Also I would like to mention that I have been juicing bottle gourd which is helping me lot. I am able to feel hungry again. It really soothes stomach.