Recurring diarrhea after food poisoning 3+ years post kidney transplant - anyone experienced this?
Hi everyone,
I'm a 20-year-old kidney transplant recipient, a little over 3 years post-transplant.
A few weeks ago, I had what seemed to be a pretty severe food poisoning episode. I had diarrhea more than 20 times in one day. After treatment, it improved, but since then I've been dealing with recurring episodes of diarrhea and urgency.
The pattern has been strange:
Symptoms improve for several days or even a week.
Then I suddenly have another episode of diarrhea.
Sometimes I get abdominal cramping and an urgent need to use the bathroom.
The urgency often seems worse when I'm getting ready to leave the house or when I'm in situations where I can't easily access a bathroom.
In between episodes, I can feel completely normal.
Some additional information:
Kidney transplant over 2 years ago.
Current medications include tacrolimus, prednisone, and mycophenolate (360 mg twice daily).
Recent bloodwork looked reassuring.
Creatinine and kidney function were stable.
No fever.
No vomiting.
Stool parasite testing is currently being processed.
What confuses me is that despite these episodes, I still feel physically strong. For example, I trained legs today without any issues and felt completely fine during the workout.
I'm wondering:
Has anyone experienced recurring diarrhea after food poisoning that lasted for weeks?
Has anyone had similar symptoms related to mycophenolate?
Has anyone developed post-infectious IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) after an intestinal infection?
How long did it take for things to return to normal?
I'd really appreciate hearing other transplant recipients' experiences.
Thank you.