u/Sure-Doctor-6431

Lately I’ve been trying some different things to try to get myself to poop on my own without needing laxatives or anything anymore. I’ve mainly been focusing on hydration and trying different foods, especially vegetables. It’s been trial and error, I’ve had some luck, but other times all it’s done is make me bloated and gassy.

Just now I had an actual big solid normal poop though. Not with extreme discomfort or pain like usual either. The last time I had one like this was 4-5 months ago, and even then that was the first time I had a normal one in almost 2 years (I’m still not 100% sure what I did differently then, though). The only things I can think of that I did differently this week were eating cultured yogurt and being on my birth control again. I don’t know if it was actually either of those that did it this time, but overall my bowel habits have been a bit improved in general lately. For many months I was only going about once a week, now for the past few weeks I’ve been going a little bit every couple days. Still definitely not great, but it means something I’ve been doing is helping.

I actually had a realization recently that my bowel issues didn’t start happening until right after I had antibiotics for strep throat 2 years ago. I had diarrhea for months after them, and then it turned into a mix of chronic diarrhea and constipation (mostly constipation). I can’t say anything for sure until I can see my doctor again, but I have a feeling my bowel issues really may just be some kind of overgrowth or imbalance that can be traced back to those antibiotics. I never had any bowel problems my whole life until after I was on those meds, so I’ve been really wondering lately if there’s some kind of connection there.

Also my immune system in general has just been very out of wack since that period of time anyway. I got really sick with some kind of flu right after them, I’ve had chronic swollen lymph nodes in my neck since I was sick, got a weird fungal infection that year, and more. I have a feeling there’s some kind of connection there. I really have hope that this realization will help my doctor get to the bottom of things now.

I’ve been dealing with chronic GI problems since I was 16 (I’m now 19). I dealt with upper GI issues for a while, and then started to have bowel issues on top of it in 2024. I always assumed I just had one singular underlying problem giving me all these symptoms, but it just occurred to me that my bowel issues may be unrelated, and antibiotics may have been the root of it.

I was having upper GI problems in 2023, (severe appetite loss and chronic nausea) but I never had bowel issues, and never did my whole life. But early 2024 was rough. I got strep throat, which I had to take antibiotics for. Then right after that, I got sick with some kind of flu (not sure what exactly, just had a high fever, chills, severe fatigue, etc), and then maybe a week after that I got my wisdom teeth out. None of that was fun, but the important part is that I was on antibiotics.

After the antibiotics, I started to get diarrhea almost every day, and it went on for months. I kept missing lunch at school and my classes because I couldn’t get out of the bathroom. When I did eat lunch, I’d be rushing to the bathroom right after. Then by September ish, it turned into a mix of constipation and diarrhea. My bowels haven’t been the same since that year, and have just gotten worse. It’s always been so odd to me because I went my entire life having perfectly normal bowel habits, up until 2024.

Also, don’t know if it matters but I managed to get some kind of fungal infection on my skin that summer too, which required an antifungal prescription. The fact I got that in the first place is bizarre to me as I never had anything like that in my life. Not sure if this would have anything to do with it either, but my menstrual periods randomly got really painful that year as well, and still are. I used to have very easy painless periods, up until that year, around the same time my bowel issues started.

I got some prebiotic+probiotic gummies, however I’m aware treatments for an unbalanced microbiome is different for each person. I know I can’t really know what I personally need to do until I can get testing done, but I figured I’d start with these for now. I don’t know, I can’t say anything for certain yet, but I have a very strong feeling this stuff isn’t a coincidence.

They put me on Linzess, but it gives me a lot of diarrhea. I’m gonna keep taking it every 2-3 days because they want me to, but it’s still very uncomfortable every time I take it. Those days inbetween, I want to focus on natural remedies and habits, but I don’t know what I can even do??

I was sticking strictly to foods like rice, fish, broccoli, chicken, and asparagus all this week. 4 days ago, I tried to eat half a sweet potato for the fiber, along with chicken and rice. 3 days ago I ate a bunch of sweet potato chips and veggie flour crackers (didn’t eat much else all day because my stomach was feeling a bit crampy). 2 days ago, I woke up really really bloated and crampy, and pooped 3 or 4 times throughout the day. That’s cool because usually I haven’t been able to go at all without my linzess, but I was still barely passing anything each time. It never felt like enough. Also couldn’t eat much that day either, because of how crampy I felt. Yesterday, I was still feeling really bloated, crampy, and uncomfortable, before suddenly running to the bathroom. The stools were okayish at first, solid and log like, but still pretty small. Then the cramps got worse, and the stool became really soft. I felt a bit better after it was finally over, but it was really annoying because there still wasn’t a lot that even came out despite how uncomfortable and bloated I was for the past 2 days. I still felt like I needed to go, I just physically couldn’t.

I just don’t know what I can even do? I feel like fiber and water aren’t what I need more of, because my stools are usually pretty soft, they aren’t too dry majority of the time. But then again, fiber confuses me cause I know there’s insoluble and soluble, which each are beneficial for kinda opposite reasons, so maybe I’m using the wrong kind, or too much/too little. If I do nothing, I feel horrible and can’t poop at all for at least a week at a time. When I take linzess, it gives me horrible diarrhea on and off for hours, but I still don’t feel empty enough afterwards. When I eat fiber rich foods like sweet potato or broccoli, it doesn’t seem to do much, or makes me feel really bloated. When I take store bought fiber powder or gummies, it does nothing but maybe make me a little gassy. When I take miralax, it makes me poop but still never feels like enough. I also hate miralax because it seems to give me a lot of nausea and pain when I take it, even when I try to stay hydrated and consistent with it. It seems that way with stimulant laxatives as well

It’s all very mentally exhausting. It’s driving me crazy because up until 2 years ago, I never had to put all this effort in just to poop. Pooping was such a breeze my whole life, I never had any problems. I was able to eat whatever I wanted and not have to worry about a thing. I’m so sick of having to put in so much extra effort just to do something that used to be like an afterthought for me

I’ve been on it for about a month. It’s still giving me liquid diarrhea every single time I take it. I have to be by a bathroom for 4+ hours trying to get it all out of me. I’m sick of having to plan my whole day around it.

I keep telling my gastro that it’s still giving me diarrhea but they STILL won’t change the dose or switch me to something else. They just keep having me change the frequency that I take the medicine (they told me to take it every 3 days now) and then saying they’ll change it if I need to, but then they never do. I already went to the ER with low potassium early last month, I don’t want the diarrhea to mess with my levels again because that was a miserable experience.

I had horrible nausea and appetite issues for a few months due to a different gi problem, which made me lose a lot of my weight. That stuff is a bit better now so I’m trying to put my weight back on again, but I think the diarrhea from the linzess is possibly preventing that. I’m not able to put any weight back on and might’ve even lost another pound or two despite being able to handle eating again recently. It’s frustrating me so bad.

Anyone have some advice for building my weight back up again? Daily I’ve been eating things like toast, avocados, rice, broccoli, bananas, asparagus, yogurt, and fish. I drink liquid iv, water, and sometimes ginger tea. I want to expand on it all a bit. But also, keep in mind I’m trying to stick to plainer foods because of past gastritis I had, that my doctor thinks may not have healed properly.

I’m 19. From 2023-2025, I was dealing with appetite issues, nausea, and stomach pain that all made me lose a lot of weight. I was dry heaving all the time and felt so bad I’d sometimes go a week at a time not being able to eat anything at all.

I finally was able to get an endoscopy about a year ago. They told me I had erosive gastritis, and Barrett’s esophagus. They said the gastritis was inactive but I’m not sure what that means because I was still dealing with symptoms. They put me on omeprazole indefinitely and sent me home. The omeprazole helped a lot for some time.

However, the past few months my symptoms got really bad again. I could’t eat anymore without immediately being in pain and was nauseous literally 24/7. It made me drop a lot of weight again.

I went to a new GI doctor about a month ago where she told me she’s pretty sure I don’t even have Barrett’s esophagus, and told me to stop taking my Omeprazole to see how I feel. Since I stopped taking it, my appetite, nausea, and pain with eating have been substantially better. However, now I keep getting acid reflux, chest pain, and this gnawing pain in the upper part of my stomach, right between my ribs. A few days ago I felt that gnawing pain, and it was so bad I felt it move up into my left shoulder. Never had that happen before. Today it feels like there’s this giant band tightly wrapped around my stomach, especially on the right side. I just don’t want to take my ppi again if I don’t have to, because I can’t handle feeling so sick like that all the time again. I’m not able to get back with the GI doctor until June.

I also have pretty severe constipation that my GI just put me on Linzess for recently. Is there any kind of connection between gastritis and constipation?

What can I do? I’ve tried to stick to more plainer foods now that I can eat again, but I know I’m not perfect with it. I’ve only been drinking liquid IV, water, and sometimes ginger tea the past 6 months ish. I honestly don’t really know much about gastritis, especially erosive gastritis, so any general information or advice would be helpful :)

I just want all my symptoms to feel more manageable so bad, as my quality of life has become horrible. I just want to be able to leave my house again.