
What Causes Abdominal Pain And Diarrhea?

some possible causes and advises mentioned
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thank you for asking at HealthcareMagic.
I carefully read your question and understand your concern.
3 weeks with the stomach pain and diarrhea on and off there are a few causes that might be the reason for it.
First would be, if you are having a certain food intolerance- mild intolerance is the most common one. Avoiding milk for 2 weeks will give you a better idea if this is the case. You can still have yogurt and cheese.
Another cause would be if there is a parasite infection like giardia but in USA it is not very common, even though it is not an exception to have it there either. You might need a stool test for ova and parasites and the antigen for giardia to rule these out.
Rarely food allergy (different from intolerance) might also cause them. In this case avoiding certain foods that you think might be the cause of it and adding them one by one and see if this brings the symptoms back.
Taking plenty of fluids and electrolytes to substitute the loss of them is very advisable.
If you have had a colon cancer 7 years ago you should have had other routine checks after that. After 75 years old the colonoscopies are not recommended to be done routinely so you would probably be a good candidate for a colonoscopy in case you have not had one in the last years. Fecal occult blood is not invasive but gives a lot of the idea what is happening. Having 3 negative fecal occult blood tests increases the chances that no tumor is present in the bowel but is not 100% either. A complete blood count to check for anemia would be good also.
So to conclude I would say:
1. drink well and take oral re-hydration solutions to substitute electrolytes also
2. try to avoid milk for 2 weeks and if improved than it might be milk intolerance and in this case, you take yogurt and cheese
3. enterogermina might help with the bowel flora and can be tried for a few days if they improve the symptoms
4. if no improvement you might need to have some tests as mentioned above
5. you can also try to avoid all the food that you think is causing your symptoms and add them back one by one to find if any really causes you these symptoms
6. If your stomach is painful then a PPI/antacid eg. omeprazole/lansoprazole might be a good medication to use for 1-2 weeks and see a doctor if no improvement.
I hope this is helpful and answers your question
Kind regards
Antoneta Zotaj, MD


Pleasure
Detailed Answer:
Hello again,
It is a pleasure to be able to help
Kind regards
Antoneta Zotaj, MD

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