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Thanks again for your reply. No need to apologize for the length, I loved it!!
My doctor too prescribed Hyoscyamine, but I didn’t fill the prescription after explaining that I had lingering symptoms after recovering from a week long stomach flu to the pharmacist. I consulted 3 different pharmacists and all said the same thing...stay away from the Hysoscyamine, PPI’s and ant-acids (Pepsid, etc) and instead try probiotics, their theory being that my GI tract just needs time to heal. The compounding pharmacist that I consulted recommended digestive enzymes in addition to the probiotics to help the digestive tract to heal, which I started on Friday. I still feel like c**p today, but I feel marginally better than yesterday.
I too am eating small meals and hoping that I won’t feel sick afterwards. Morning and afternoons are rough, but I seem to do marginally better in the evenings. While I HATE all of the GI symptoms, the toughest part of all of this for me is the weird zombie like brain fog I’ve been experiencing, which definitely gets worse after eating. Have you experienced this?
I copied your list and edited it to conform with my symptoms and timeline:
*Stomach flu symptoms for 5-6 days (ending around 1/25/17), including fever, severe diarrhea, slight nausea, and vomiting (only once).
*Weight loss, due to stomach flu and subsequent persistent severe nausea and lack of appetite (12lbs).
*My insides hurt. Not jabbing pains or cramps, but more along the lines of feeling raw and general discomfort. Perhaps due to inflammation? I am way too aware that I have a GI tract.
*Felt like my intestines were doing somersaults inside my stomach recently before and after BMs. These spasms are a recent development for me.
*Feeling "full" after only eating a small amount and feeling like total c**p after eating.
*Burping (minimal, but more than normal for me).
*Dry mouth.
*Sleep disruption. Waking up at 3am almost nightly. Before and during the actual stomach flu I slept like a champion.
*Zombie brain fog, bouts of crying, and bouts of anxiety. By far the worst symptoms for me because I cannot focus on anything. These symptoms started after the stomach flu ended. I was completely healthy before the stomach flu. – what is the deal with this?! I can only guess it is the result of a protracted, un-diagnosed illness.
My husband did not get sick, only me. I had full blood work up….results all negative. My best guess is post-infectious IBS, but what do I know?
~lov4k9s
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Me again. Do you personally know a couple of others in the same boat? If so, I would love to hear their timelines and stories.
I've never had anything like this before either and it is disturbing, especially when the doctors can provide no diagnosis and the suffering goes on and on with no end in sight. I go to bed every night certain that I am going to be better the next day. I seriously thought I would have been over this 3 weeks ago!
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Hi Lov4k9s! Sorry for delayed response. Tried to be out and about this weekend to ease my blues :/ I'll be addressing both of your messages here.
I may have mentioned that i, too, took some probiotics for a bit. How are you feeling since starting them? I was on them for about 2 weeks, but recently stopped taking them because of a curious issue I had began having. As weird and tmi as it will sound, I was going "#2" in heavy quantities...My watery D had eased a bit and I was "only" going about 4 times a day. But it was all in the morning. Very early, to be exact. 5:00 am early. Now that is odd! I would go, and get back in bed only to have to get up another 2 times!!! I NEVER was awakened to "go" before, not like that. So, unfortunately for me it may have been the probiotics doing a little too good of a job clearing my system. I stopped just a few days ago and have since STILL woken up way too early but no bathroom trips so far and have been able to go back to sleep...I think it's challenging for my body to find a rythm again. This whole sickness has MAJORLY screwed up my "schedule," apologies for tmi. Just totally out of whack. I feel like a very old person who has bowel problems. Sigh. Hoping the probiotics are better for you though??
Yes, brain fog after eating...So far I've had a couple of days of not feeling that way...Fingers crossed. But yes...My day until about 2 pm is rough. My nausea seems to be getting better but my stomach still does not tolerate nearly as much food as I used to eat. I get that "no more" feeling. Got that today and apparently cereal and two lattes was too much because D came afterwards....Sigh. when is this going to end? Meals are a little nerve wracking for me as I'm always wondering if it's going to set off nausea or worse.
My insides feel raw as well. And dry mouth I totally forgot about that one. I just had my first day without that symptom this past Sunday. I had it the entire time...Hoping it's gone for good but yes, insanely dry. I would be "gulping" and feel like a nervous person because of how dry my mouth was!
My sleep has been a challenge this whole time. In the beginning I actually had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. I also had vivid and weird dreams (my guess is due to lack of deep, healthy sleep). I still wake up briefly early in the morning, I believe due to being overly concious of my GI c**p and apparently our colons "wake up" at about 5 am (oh the fun things you learn on a random IBS forum).
The brain fog for me has been a really bad caee of anxiety about this illness. I got worried when a week went by and I was feeling no better than when it first started. (My symptoms began 1/27, dizziness slight temp, nausea and diarrhea). I think the thing I'm scared of is it never going away. I want my life back, you know? I used to love food...Haha...Now it's a chore to get through a meal. I feel you. I have cried, pleaded with God, called my poor hubby in tears...It seems to be slooooowly getting better but I definitely have moments where it gets truly depressing.
My husband's nephew came down with something very similar about two weeks ago. Healthy, 13 year old boy. He's better now but oddly he was the only one in his family to get it. One more, a friend of my mom in law, apparently had a Go bug as well and was the only one sick in her family. Not sure how she is doing.
Alright I'm prattling on again. No diagnosis is odd and frustrates me to no end. That being said, check out germtrax.con I believe it's called. The green dots are GI issues and boy are there a ton of them. They all have our symptoms though there's no way to tell how long they've had them for. A couple have complained of being "reinfected" with it over and over...Well that's not true, you just never got better in the first place (don't we know that all too well). Just another fyi, I have scoured food recall lists from the FDA and stores like Costco to no avail for me personally. If you google stomach virus in the "News" section, you get a lot of results from the past month. Australia had to dock a cruise ship due to a massive GI outbreak. A couple of sources I read in there have said they're not even really sure what "it" is that is making so many people sick. Not sure if it's what you and I have, but I found the sheer number of results to be incredibly telling.
How are you feeling? I hope the weekend brought some relief. Overall I think I'm marginally better but daytime doesn find me eating much still. I really can't wait to be able to gain the weight back. Hope I covered it all. Sorry for the novel!
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Good for you for getting out and I hope it helped you ease your blues! How are you feeling? Is your life getting back to normal, except for some lingering minor GI tract issues that don’t really impact your day too much or are your lingering symptoms still overshadowing your day? I ask because I unfortunately fall into the latter category and going out and about does not sound fun to me at present.
I've been taking probiotics for 3 weeks hoping to replenish the "good" gut bacteria that may have been lost during the severe diarrhea. My goal was to get the GI tract working properly again and hopefully get my appetite back and no longer feel sick 24/7. I also added a digestive enzyme that I take with food to aid digestion and hopefully eliminate the nausea. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any significant improvement with the nausea, lack of appetite, or general malaise and I still feel “weird” or “suffer” after eating. I don’t know what the “suffering” after eating feeling is the result of. Do you think it is a mild acid reflux or mild heartburn. I have yet to identify the sensation. I don’t believe what I am experiencing is heartburn because it doesn’t feel like bile is rising, but maybe that is what it is? Have you experienced anything like that? Yesterday was an especially bad day for some reason and I had to muscle my way through eating anything. And of course there was the worry that eating would trigger nausea and/or discomfort (which it did). I sometimes wonder if I should not force myself to eat because maybe I should just listen to my body, but then on the other hand I wonder if my stomach discomfort is due to lack of food. It is a catch-22.
Unlike you, I haven’t had diarrhea in a couple of weeks. But like you, my GI tract is completely out of whack and unpredictable BMs. It seems like my stomach gurgles way more than normal, especially after eating. I had to stop taking the Zofran (for nausea) due to the headaches it caused me and I suspect it may have caused constipation and contributed to the BM un-predictableness. I had such high hopes to glean some sweet relief from the nausea, but was denied. I haven’t been able to drink coffee since the stomach flu due to the nausea, so I’m jealous of your ability to drink lattes. As a matter of fact, I am going to make myself a cup of coffee this morning and give it a go and hopefully I won’t suffer any adverse effects (fingers crossed).
The first week after the worst of my stomach flu symptoms abated I wasn’t too worried about the lingering symptoms, because as much as it sucked I was confident that I was just in recovery mode. But with each passing week I have progressively started to get more and more impatient and worried. Early on in my journey I was very proactive in hastening my recovery and would research supplements and types of foods to help me recover faster. Even though I felt really ill, I was always optimistic that with each added supplement and/or change in diet I would yield the results I was hoping for. Every night for the past 3 weeks I went to bed confident that I will wake the next day feeling fully recovered or at least significantly better, but that has yet to happen and with each passing week I feel like this will never end. This protracted recovery has caused me to wonder if I should consult a GI doctor, but all of my research leads me to believe that time is the only healer and there is really nothing the GI doctor can do for me if I really am just recovering from a stomach virus. I too would really like my life back and I am fighting hard to be patient and to not to let my slow recovery pull me down. I know this all sounds melodramatic, but I was a healthy, full functioning, productive, happy person before I came down with the stomach flu.
My sleep patterns have been very strange since the flu, as well. I never feel sleepy and cannot take naps, even though I am only getting about 4 hours max of restorative sleep a night. I tend to wake at 3am and I don’t really get deep sleep for the rest of the night. I find this to be really strange and upsetting. This may be contributing to my severe zombie brain fog. You mentioned that you get brain fog after eating, but I was wondering if you feel out of sorts all of the time or just after eating. I ask because I feel cognitively slow and out of sorts 24/7 which is probably due to lack of food and sleep. While I don’t feel clinically depressed, I must admit that I sometime worry that the zombie brain fog is the result of post flu depression. I have read articles on the brain/gut relationship and how fighting a virus can trigger depression and/or anxiety. I’ve also read about how cytokines affect folks fighting a virus. Here is a blurb: “While cytokines are fighting the flu, they are also lowering the body's serotonin levels. Since serotonin affects mood, sleep and appetite, it seems logical that one would feel depressed for a time after a bout with the flu.” I have Googled the heck “lingering flu symptoms” and my quest to recover from this quicker has led me to research every symptom from every angle, which may or may not be healthy obsession. In the early weeks my research gave me comfort to learn that it can take two to three weeks to recover from a nasty stomach virus. I even found some folks with fact patterns similar to mine that still suffered loss of appetite/nausea 3 weeks out. Unfortunately, those posters did not update when they fully recovered. However, now that I am past week 3 in recovery I am no longer finding any comfort out there in cyberspace, except from this thread because of you.
I loved your “novel”, as it is nice to read about your timeline and progress. My husband has been super supportive, but I can tell he is now experiencing compassion fatigue, so I don’t want to talk about my symptoms with him anymore and I’ve started to fake feeling better than I really do. So, it is especially comforting to correspond with you and I hope you don’t mind if I check in on you periodically. I will try not to bug you on a daily basis :).
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Hi Lov4k9s. Apologies, my response was delayed due to yet another illness, haha. At this point I don't know whether to laugh or cry. We have all come down with a cold here (mostly just sore throat and "head cold" stuff for me).I'm sure you are already, but please wash your hands extra well....I blame this cold on my weakened immune system.
I'm happy to say that I'm finally able to eat most meals with few after effects, except for my breakfast. Mornings continue to be the toughest part of the day for me. Looking back on when all of this started, I can finally tell a difference from the "beginning" to now, which I hadn't seen before and that worried me a lot. One can only hope this is all permanent progress; I've felt noticeably better for about 3 days now. For me there are still some tinges of pain in my intestines after eating and a slight raw feeling in that area consistently.
The feeling weird after eating thing....for me its like indigestion, because when it happens it feels like the food is having a hard time settling in my stomach. Earlier on in all of this I had also had a lot of gurgling and generally unhappy noises and movements down there, even mere moments after consuming food of any kind. I really want to put on the weight again and I *am* hungry, but it still feels like I have to be very careful with what I eat, whether that is all in my head or not, who knows. Dinner time is better for me, so I try to eat a decent amount then and a snack before bed. I'm too nervous to switch up my diet during the day right now, so its pretty bland but I'm able to eat so I should be happy.
How was your cup of coffee that day? We just ran out today so it was back to tea for me. But, so far my body seems to be somewhat tolerant of one cup.
My doc was NO help whatsoever to me. Nice guy, but I didn't feel like he was taking me or my symptoms very seriously. I had asked for antibiotics at week 3 because I thought maybe parasites and was desperate to try ANYTHING to get back to life. He refused unless I wanted to come on for yet another visit. No way. I've had all the blood tests and urine tests they can offer. At that point the only thing I hadn't done was give a stool sample. I was this close to giving one, hubby even picked up the kit from the doctor's office and brought it home (oh the joys of married life). I decided to wait it out, as I found some pricing online and some people had paid thousands. Since our insurance is awful, I decided not to go through with it. The nurse at my doc's office told me if nothing came of the stool test, they would send me to a GI. Gee, thanks. Like you, I'm hesitant of that route. And I also do NOT feel like I have real "IBS" as I was perfectly normal before this, no food intolerances whatsoever. My research online also leads me to believe this is something others are struggling with as well, based on symptoms; though not everyone says what their outcome was (like you said above). I honestly think people probably get better and then just never check on their forums again. ALONG THOSE LINES....my husband is a sales consultant and spoke with a customer two days ago, and somehow they got on the topic of flus and colds. Well, apparently this guy's wife has been sick with what sounds like the same thing for 3 week so far. They live about 3 hours away from where I do. Not a breakthrough, but I have to admit I was comforted to hear of yet another person.
Along the sleep lines....yes, I have only recently started to *feel* tired. Though falling asleep is still a challenge. Before this, the "tiredness" was more like full body exhaustion. Weird joint aches (sorry I forgot to mention that symptom), weird weak feelings in limbs, etc. I'm right there with you with the 4 hours of sleep thing. Only the past few days have I been able to sleep with no wake ups and sleep until a normal time. My brain fog is better overall (not today, thanks to this cold and being awake with my little one last night), but again, this is one of those symptoms that has JUST started to go away for me. I would describe my overall mental state with this illness as depressed and anxious. It was and is hard for me to focus during the day. I felt like everyone was running at 60 mph and I was dragging along at 20 or less. I believe this has to do with the lack of good sleep and lack of good food in filling quantities. When you think about it, our bodies have been deprived of their normal nutrients and vitamins for a while. That in and of itself has to be a contributing factor. Also, if you've been avoiding caffeine like me for practically the entire time, that can really cause some withdrawl symptoms. I wasn't a heavy drinker of coffee, but I had 2 cups religiously for years on end. I definitely blame some of the brain fog on lack of normal caffeine intake.
I, too, have become a bit of a hypochondriac in some ways since this thing began. Google is my enemy, haha. I still look up "stomach virus" in the news every night, desperate to find more stories. Just the length of this sickness is enough to give anyone mild depression.
Ha! Same with my poor husband...he is amazing, but I know I wear on him sometimes. "When am I going to feel better??" is my constant question. He has been reminding me that I *have* been feeling better lately, so that's a good thing. I'm very glad you're out there as well, it is such a lonely thing to go through and never will I take daily life for granted again. At least we are here to be a soundboard to eachother and monitor our progress. :) How are you feeling this week?
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I know of other people who have had the stomach virus coming and going, but none for as long as this. If anyone comes up with some answers or ideas, please reply!!!
-NY1
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I really relate to your 3rd sentence. Not like me at all either!
Are you experiencing any sleep disturbances?
lov4k9s
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It's been a rough week overall. No improvements and now I have headaches and constipation, despite drinking lots of water and eating healthy (when I can manage to eat). The 3am wakenings continue and I still only get about 4 hours sleep max, which is not helping the situation. I don't understand how the stomach flu disrupted my sleep cycle and digestive system so profoundly. I feel completely out of whack. And what is up with the anxiety....not like me at all! The original stomach bug symptoms were preferable to the aftermath.
I will reply with more detail when I'm feeling a bit better.
Lov4k9s
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Yes, I do have sleep disturbances - wake up at 2 or 3, then 5 or 6am. I have been experiencing a lot of anxiety as well. When I wake up, I feel a rush of panic, or adrenaline. During the day I feel weak and shaky. Also, for the past few days, I have had an excruciating headache that won't go away, and almost constant nausea. Weirdly, after reading your posts and other people's, I realized that I never had the actual stomach flu with the vomiting etc. It started with the diarrhea, queasy, overwhelmed, feeling rundown, and forgetting things. The fever has come recently as well as the headache. Also, lots of stomach bubbling, gas, stomach knots (in the upper stomach)
It's really depressing! I think anxiety is related to the gut - when I'm anxious, I can get diarrhea - even if I am healthy. It is a very sensitive and interconnected system. Maybe if the gut is upset, it sends signals to the brain - sort of in reverse? Does that make sense? Also, being sick always makes me really worried, especially when I feel like it's not going away or changing. I am trying to hold onto hope that we will feel better one of these days - each day gets us closer to the end of this!
NY1
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Mine started with fever and diarrhea. I only vomited once she n day 5 cause of the nausea, but it was more like dry heaving cause there was nothing in my stomach to purge.
How is you appetite ?
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NY1
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