
Hi I Am A 43 Year Old Female For The

Very likely your symptoms are due to IBS and sucrose in some fruit may make it worse
Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to "Ask a Doctor" service,
I carefully read your query and understand your concern.
A combination of diarrhea and constipation, especially if the patient does not have a fever or bleeding with the stools, is a likely presentation of irritable bowel syndrome.
If blood is present with the stools or if the patient has a fever then other more important conditions should be considered.
To help with the symptoms there are several things to try:
- avoid milk (you may still use yogurt and cheese) as some patients are sensitive to milk and this makes them have gas and loose stools
- avoid the food that makes you worse, some fruit and vegetable can cause patients a lot of gas. The patient may identify which are those that do not go well with him but as general rule beans and lentils, cabbage, broccoli, onions, celery, fructose in some fruit, sugar, etc, may cause a lot of gas.
- to help with gas from fruit and vegetable Beano (over the counter) may be used and for gas in general, Simethicone can be tried.
- Fiber supplements may be helpful in some patients with constipation but may make gas worse. So you will have to try and see if in total it is helpful with your symptoms
- if none of the above measures helps enough, you may try to avoid gluten in your diet for some weeks and see if there is an improvement. There is also a blood test that can rule out gluten intolerance
- if you are not better with these or you get any worse, it is advisable to start investigations such as blood tests (CBC, ERS, TSH for thyroid function, test for gluten intolerance disease, etc), stool tests (stool microscopy, stool for ova and parasites, stool antigen for giardia infection, etc) and in some cases colonoscopy.
I hope this answers your query.
I remain at your disposal in case further medical assistance is needed.
Regards,
Dr. Antoneta Zotaj,
General and Family Physician

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