Brief Answer:
Antibiotic induced diarrhea

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome,

This is frustrating.

I imagine you were tested for clostridium difficile ("c. diff") which is a bacteria that can cause a bad gastrointestinal infection following broad spectrum antibiotics.

If that was negative, I'll give the following recommendations:
1. Take a good quality probiotic. There still isn't enough information via research to know which probiotic is best and in what situations they can cause a bit of trouble such as bloating vs being helpful. So I wish I could recommend something specific here in terms of what works great and dosing, but we don't have that information yet. You might consider are Florajen 3 or Megafoods brand Megaflora. Both need to be kept refrigerated.
2. Foods that are usually tolerated with diarrhea are rice, toast, apple sauce (not raw apples) and sometimes bananas. Non greasy non spicy foods such as baked fish and chicken (or boiled) are ok too once things start to slow down. And then add very well cooked steamed vegetables.
3. About the rice: add extra water when cooking it and cook it for much longer than called for. The result will be easier to digest and also help slow things down.
4. Pepto Bismol is binding, and the bismuth in it can kill some opportunistic microorganisms.
5. Avoid food with sugar such as fruit juice and those replacement fluids that have added sugar. That can increase osmotic diarrhea. I can explain what that is if you are interested.
6. Avoid artificial sugars too.
7. Eat in small amounts at a time.
8. Until you are starting to do better, avoid dairy too, because when adults have diarrhea, it can wipe out the enzymes in our gut lining that are needed to process the milk sugar lactose.

If your diarrhea doesn't start to slow down and get better soon though, then do go back to your doctor. I hope this information helps and you recover soon.

---

Brief Answer:
Thoughts on this:

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for clarifying this. That is a long time to have diarrhea! What evaluation has been done so far other than the stool culture. And was the stool culture done 1 1/2 years ago? If it was not done recently, it is time to be tested again.

I also recommend being tested for Celiac disease (gluten sensitivity) which can be done with a blood test.

And it is time to see a gastroenterologist as this is not a normal situation. Have you consulted with one in the past year, and have you had a colonoscopy?

---

Brief Answer:
Thoughts on this:

Detailed Answer:
If the gastroenterologist you have had in the past has not been able to come up with any reason for the continued diarrhea, nor any treatment for it, then do consider seeing a different one. It sounds like no diagnosis was found?

---

Brief Answer:
Make appt. for evaluation of chronic diarrhea

Detailed Answer:
Some gastroenterologists just have people schedule the colonoscopy without really reviewing the problems. I think it would be best to instead schedule a consult specifically for chronic diarrhea. Then the scheduler will probably give you a longer appointment so that the issue of chronic diarrhea can be evaluated. If the GI doctor still thinks this would be a good time to do a colonoscopy, he/she can tell you to schedule that - i.e. you can bring it up at the appointment for chronic diarrhea, rather than vice versa.

---

Brief Answer:
Your welcome

Detailed Answer:
Your welcome. Good luck to you and I hope you get some resolution to your problem soon.

Best regards,
Bonnie Berger-Durnbaugh, MD

---