Question:
Anyone having or ever had severe stomach aches and water-like diarrhea?

I am past my 3rd week post-op and am experiencing severe stomach pain and diarrhea. ANYTHING that I put into my mouth causes this and by mid-day I have water-like diarrhea. I have cut out all solid foods and sticking with water, carnation instant breakfast and energy bars. I do take 2 chewable vitamins a day in addition to a tums for calcium. I'm feeling very weak now and plan on calling the surgeons office tomorrow am as I am due back to work on Tuesday. I have read in the library about many people having the diarrhea but that with the stomach aches which can be VERY sudden and painful is taking its toll on me physically and emotionally. Generally I experience about 5-7 bouts of this daily. ANYBODY out there have this also and what did you do?? ~Traci~    — Traci A. (posted on October 20, 2002)

October 20, 2002
p.s. I forgot to add I am NOT drinking anywhere to what I should be as far as water goes...within minutes it's coming right out of me..HELP!!!!! ~Traci~
   — Traci A.

October 20, 2002
Traci, not eating solid foods is making this worse..most likely. First off, you need to contact your doc immediately about this. IF you are having as much diarrhea as you say, you will quickly get dehydrated. Second, stop drinking your protein drinks first thing in the morning. They are milk based, and are probably causeing more irritation and more diarrhea. You may be actually dumping off of the protein drinks and bars at this point. I could not tolerate bars till I was almost 2 months out. And the same with the milk products, I still dump occasionally if I drink milk products. You may want to not use your carnation instant breakfast for a few days till your bowels settle down some, then slowly ad them back in. You may need to drink only 1/2 at a time as your tolerance level. But you obviously are not tolerating the whole thing. Third, Go back to regular proteins, chicken, beef, pork, what ever you tolerate, try to eat that protein- and eat lots of them. And you may want to try some oatmeal, that may help with the diarrhea also. Good luck to you.
   — Vicki L.

October 20, 2002
Tums will not help as a calcium supplement now. You need calcium citrate not calcium carbonate. I do not know about the diarrhea problem but I would contact my doctor if I were you.
   — Kelly B.

October 20, 2002
Just wanted to be sure the carnation instant breakfast is the no sugar added variety. Otherwise, it could be the sugar in there that is causing the diarrhea. Good luck.
   — Jeanette W.

October 20, 2002
Traci I had the same problem as a new post op. The cramps and diarrhea were horrible. I too was on a liquid diet at the time since it wasn't even a week after my surgery. I complained to my surgeon at my one week post op appointment and he said to take the maximum dose of Imodium and it would go away. Fast forward to one week later I was still having a horrible time. This time I called my surgeon and demanded that he do something. He said that I had an intestinal infection and he prescribed Flagyl which is a broad spectrum antibiotic and Lomatil which is a prescription anti-diarrhea medication. It took about 6 days for everything to subside but now I feel really great and haven't had a loose stool in two weeks. Please see your Dr. this can be very serious. Wendi
   — lovemonterey

October 21, 2002
CALL YOUR SURGEON!
   — Patty_Butler

October 21, 2002
The liquid diet gave me (and still gives me) HORRIBLE diarrhea. Even during the two-day pre-op liquid diet, I was in the bathroom 100 times a day! According to the nurses, this wasn't all that uncommon and the solution was to eat solid foods (and invest in some good baby wipes!). Good luck!
   — mandajuice

October 21, 2002
Traci, switch to a calcium citrate now. You are taking a calcium carbonate that does not absorb in your system and if you keep it up, you'll be adding osteoporosis to your ailments. It does sound like you have some sort of intestinal bug. Call your surgeon/PCP right away and don't let them put you off.
   — Cindy R.