thick stool - now what to eat?

Milk of magnesia, 1-2 Tbsp at night, works with me when this happens. MOM is a non-stimulant laxative (stimulant ones about kill me), but it's gentle enough to work.

Also, purple grape juice works for me, too, sometimes without the MOM, sometimes it's enough.

It seems there is a lot of stomach flu going around lately, which is odd because it's not really the time of year for it. My family had it last weekend as well. Unfortunately, I'm having the opposite problem; I'm now having trouble getting my stools to thicken back up to normal consistency. I've been trying to stick to the thickening foods, subbing in some imodium here and there, but no real luck so far. Most of what I eat is still going straight through me. When I had Norwalk a few years ago, it took a good 2-3 weeks for my system to go back to normal rhythm; I hope it doesn't take that long this time. I've got a lot of plans coming up over the next few weeks and I can't afford to be hobbled by this. *sigh*

As for thickening things up, you can try sipping prune juice every 1/2 hour or so. Just a few sips at a time until you get a consistency that is better for you. However, don't overdo it; too much can have the opposite problem.

Diarrhea can also make you temporarily lactose intolerant, even if you normally tolerate dairy just fine.

Thanks everyone! It did take a few days of trying some things, but everything seems back to normal finally. The grape juice did help, thanks :-)

Spooky, just like you, when I had the stomach flu 2 years ago, it took me 2-3 weeks to get things thickened up and back to normal . It was horrible. This time, only 2 days of the runny stuff.

Yeah, it's been a pain in the butt, literally and figuratively. My bottom is now quite sore from all the liquid stools. I've upped my probiotics and I'm trying to mostly stick to BRAT type foods. But this is going on 5 or 6 days now; I'm beginning to tire of it.

Scott, I have been eating Greek yogurt as normally this is a good thickener for me, but your point about the lactose is well taken. I don't usually have a problem with it, but stomach flus can throw everything out of whack. Maybe I'll back off it for a couple of days and see if there is any change, then reintroduce it gradually.

Stomach flus can throw things out of whack for up to a week but hydration is the premium consideration because if you are losing a lot of fluids, keeping your hydration where it should be is not easy. If you are feeling like crap, it is due in all likelihood to insufficient hydration.

What I do is a boil a large pot of chicken soup and then freeze some emergency installments in the event of these situations, because when you have a flu and feel like crap, nobody feels like cooking.

Regarding the issue of keeping a proper balance between thick and thin stools, you have to be careful because if you get too thick, and constipated or semi-constipated, it will cause pouchitis. And on the other hand, you do not want really watery stools either, which will cause dehydration and butt irritation. I think you have to make dietary adjustments and see what works. In my case Pepto Bismol will calm down the watery stools and kill the bacteria that is causing them and I take them until the stools thicken. If too thick, lot of liquids, and fibrous veggies get me moving like I should be. I traveled from Canada by car yesterday on what ended up being about a 12 hour drive due to dropping off a friend in New York City, and my guts were roiling when I left Canada. But strangely eating a salad for lunch in Queensbury, NY settled my stomach down, and I was OK the rest of the trip, which got a little unexpectedly adventurous when I got lost in the Bronx.

Throw chicken soup at any stomach flu situation and it will facilitate a return to normalcy.

I actually don't think I'm dehydrated, I'm drinking frequently and I'm peeing like a racehorse. Since the flu itself has passed, I've actually felt fine the past few days, but for the watery stools and irritation. I caved and took a couple of imodiums again this afternoon, mostly for the sake of my behind, which is not a happy camper at the moment. I'm hoping my gut normalizes itself over the next couple of days; I'll just have to ride this out.

Interesting about the salad for you - I highly doubt a salad would be my go-to food right now, though.

I would not have thought that a salad would settle down a roiled gut either, but it did. All I had for breakfast in Montreal was a large coffee from Cafe Depot and a protein bar I bought at the Depanneur (that means convenience store, the French call it a Depanneur). I had that very irritated feeling I get when a bout of diarrhea is coming when we arrived in Queensbury, NY, but I met my cousin for a pre-planned lunch in Queensbury, so I ordered a salad. Honestly I was totally relaxed after that and did not even have to go to the bathroom, except to pee.

If your urine stream is clear you should be OK but if gets darker yellow start drinking some fluids and soup.

Not too much improvement today. Frequency is more normal, but stools are still pretty liquidy. Really getting frustrated now.

Did you try taking some Pepto Bismol?

I've actually been told to avoid Pepto for the time being. My GI thought it might be one of the reasons I've had bleeding issues, believe it or not. I took 2 imodiums yesterday - I might try to take 1 tab every 2 hours this afternoon until I can achieve some better consistency. Gut is pretty rumbly too. I was doubling my probiotics but I wonder if maybe I'm overdoing it with them. It's so weird because I feel fine otherwise.

Spooky - hopefully it's just one of those things that will resolve and you'll wake up all fixed. I've had that happen a couple of times - lingering after-effects (but mostly the flu comes and goes very quickly).

I'm so sorry it's taking so long for you to get over it.

Kathy

Thanks kathy. That's what I'm hoping. Often you do just have to wait these things out. The flu itself was done in about 48 hours; these are definitely the after effects. I had Norwalk 3 or 4 years ago that took my system a while to re-regulate afterwards, but I don't think it was quite this bad the last time. But I could definitely be increasing my imodium so that is what I think I'll do today.

Going on day 7 of gurgly belly and watery stools. I did see some improvement last night after 4 imodiums, so I thought I'd turned a corner but we're back to watery again this morning. I'm half wondering now if something else isn't going on. I'd half suspect a partial blockage but I don't really have any other symptoms. I'll sit on this a few more days and hope it resolves itself, but I'm wondering at what point I bug my GI, if at all. I was just there for a follow up a few weeks back. *sigh*

Depending on what virus it is, it can take longer than the usual 2-5 days to resolve. Plus, there is always that possibility that some opportunistic bacteria decided to proliferate because your resistance was down!

In addition, bowel slowers, like Imodium, can be a double-edged sword with gut infections. They slow the gut, which is a good thing. But, if you still have toxin or virus in there, they just keep it in contact with your mucosa longer, causing more irritation and damage. So, they can actually delay healing. In that case, you are better off just increasing fluids to try to keep up. I know, not a very perfect solution, but with a virus, you just have to wait it out.

Fingers crossed that you did not snag a "piggy-back" infection with your virus...

Jan

Thanks, Jan! I had actually considered that with the imodium. I didn't take any for the first 3 or 4 days. Sometimes I think it's better just to get everything out. I have upped the fluids and I'm still doing the probiotics. Unless this gets worse, I'm going to try to ride it out through the weekend and then see how things are to start the week. I hope this is not a secondary bacterial infection. We have been having a lot of BBQ this summer...

Spooky, I really think if you give it a bit more time, it will subside. I think as long as you are feeling ok otherwise, it will just take some time to regulate. I remember feeling completely normal after my flu bug, but it just taking forever for things to get back to normal. After 2 weeks of liquid BMs all day long, I was thinking "are you kidding me?" It seems totally backward to me though. I figure, us colonless people should rid the virus much quicker as we just have the small bowel and the pouch. Less places for the virus to live! Doesn't seem to be the case though.

I am with Jan that if you have a stomach bug the bowel slowers only slow down recovery and the best course of action is to drink lots of liquids and soups and not try to slow things down but rather flush it out of there as quickly as possible. Just think of a toilet with an atomic flush vs. one that you have to flush 3 or 4 times. The goal is to get the crap out of there as quickly as possible!