Giardia in my gut

[Caleb]

Hello everyone,

I have been dealing with ibs for 6+ years now and my symptoms have included bloating, gas, gastritis, constipation, diarrhea, chronic fatigue, abdominal pain, back pain, headaches and muscle spasms.

I recently saw a doctor this past summer that specializes in eastern and western medicine combined. They were first people to help me find that I had giardia in my gut, through a GI Map. I did an antibiotic treatment along with a licorice root supplement. My symptoms became better after the treatment but I still had minor pains and issues. My doctor then put me on a treatment of probiotics and butyrate. This helped immensely and I thought I was completely healed for a couple months. Sadly I just had another bad flare up which drove me to seek out this support group.

I have used low fodmap dieting which has been very helpful in reducing symptoms after a flare up but does nothing for preventing or fixing the situation. I also run 3-4 miles roughly 5 days a week. Cutting back on alcohol and any unhealthy lifestyle choices had a positive impact as well but nothing has seemed to fully stop the symptoms. I would like to keep visiting the specialist to find out more since they have given me the most success and answers so far but it is expensive. I definitely recommend seeking out a medical professional that focuses on gut health and doing a GI Map to help identify imbalances in the gut bacteria. Since I have experienced months at a time without a flare up it seems like there is hope again but still looking for more answers.

[Jeffrey Roberts]

Hi Caleb,

Thanks for sharing your story. Giardia can be rather nasty. I'm surprised that nobody looked for it before now because people don't normally encounter that.

You mentioned that you got a bad flare again after the antibiotic treatment. Are your symptoms different or the same for this flare? Is it possible you have a new infection namely Clostridium Difficile, or even post-infectious IBS, which may come after being treated with an antibiotic or a severe infection.

The GI Map definitely looks interesting instead of having to do all those tests separately. Almost everyone who has IBS-D should have the GI Map to rule out other causes than IBS.