Frenchprof Posted December 3, 2022 Report Share Posted December 3, 2022 Hello everyone, I'm a 64 yr old woman who was dx with IBS D probably about 30 years ago after a bout of diarrhea with blood in mucus. My gastroenterologist did a colonoscopy at the time and based his dx on a clean colonoscopy and my symptoms. I should add that I have a lot of anxiety issues also. Symptoms came and went over the decades, resolving themselves over about 1-2 weeks, sometimes with Lomotil, sometimes Imodium. About 24 yrs ago, after a bad case of food poisoning and right in the middle of dealing with my late daughter's brain cancer, I developed an anal fistula (OMG, what awful timing) which required a fistulotomy. About 9 years ago, I developed an abcess in the same location which was successfully treated in office. Fast forward to now-- I developed yet another fistula in the same spot which was surgically repaired Nov. 17. Here's the issue: the surgeon had me on 500mgs of Cipro 2x a day and I'm not sure how many mgs of Flagyl 3x a day for 10 days before the surgery and 5 days after. My bowels went into overdrive 3 days into the antibiotic course and haven't let up since. I've been off the drugs for almost 2 weeks now and I'm still pooping up to 15x a day, mostly semi solid or loose stool with LOTS of mucus. The mucus is now pink or clear with red streaks of blood in it. Thankfully I had my regular colonoscopy in late June, so I know my colon is ok. I've also had upper GI'S done about 5 years ago after a spell of diarrhea with blood in mucus to rule out Crohn's. It was normal. I had stool cultures run last week and they were negative for toxins/parasites and they couldn't do the C Diff culture because that required liquid only, which I don't have-- just the loose mucus stuff. Gastroenterologist says to take Imodium 1 tab 2x a day and Align probiotic. I'm so depressed and frightened. I KNOW it was the high dose antibiotic regime that kicked this off, but how do I slow my gut down and stop this mucus with blood? Having had surgery in and around my anus 2 1/2 weeks ago complicates things, but I'm so sad, frustrated and scared. Please help if you can offer words of encouragement! Thank you so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Roberts Posted December 4, 2022 Report Share Posted December 4, 2022 I'm so sorry to read your story and what you have endured for so many years. It does seem like you have antibiotic associated diarrhea (AAD) and likely a C Diff infection. My daughter went through a C Diff infection this year and they were able to test semi-solid stools. I strongly suggest you get tested again and perhaps take it to a different lab. Imodium might slow things down, but then if it is infectious, that could get much worse. If you develop terrible abdominal pain with a rigid bowel sensation (distention) and/or a high fever then you should go to emergency as it could be toxic megacolon or even sepsis. I'm sorry to be so dramatic, but I'm worried given your history. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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