r/biofilms

Hello! In the past week I've been dealing with this mucus in the stool. What could be the cause oft this issue?

Hi everyone,

I’m wondering if anyone here has experienced something similar because I feel like my symptoms don’t really fit into one clear diagnosis.
For quite a long time, my main symptom has been a lot of mucus with my bowel movements. Sometimes I can pass mucus without much stool at all. My bowel movements also vary a lot: I can start with small hard pellets, then have thin/soft stool and sometimes loose stool later the same day. I usually don’t have significant abdominal pain or bloating.

I’ve had quite an extensive work-up already:

Colonoscopy was visually basically normal.
Biopsies from the ascending colon/cecum, sigmoid and rectum showed mild chronic and acute inflammation, increased mast cells and moderately increased eosinophils.
Calprotectin: 7.6 (normal)
CRP/ESR and complete blood count: normal
Tryptase: normal
C. difficile: negative
Stool testing for common bacterial pathogens and parasites: negative
No anemia
Occasionally I notice tiny amounts of bright red blood within the mucus, but not really mixed throughout the stool.

The strangest thing happened recently: I had to take Augmentin (amoxicillin/clavulanate) for another infection and, for the first time in months/years, my bowel movements became completely normal. One normal, well-formed bowel movement per day and absolutely no mucus. After stopping Augmentin, my usual symptoms gradually returned.

My gastroenterologists aren’t sure what is causing this. SIBO/dysbiosis, a functional bowel disorder and some kind of local immune/mucosal reaction have all been discussed. I’m getting a SIBO breath test soon.

Has anyone experienced mainly mucus and very variable bowel movements with otherwise normal inflammatory markers? And especially, has anyone had their symptoms dramatically improve while taking Augmentin or another antibiotic?