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What Causes Rapid Bowel Movements After Eating?
My sister has some serious issues and I want to try to help her. After she eats, she almost immediately needs to have a bowel movement. It is often loose when she does. She won t eat anything at all is there is somewhere she will need to be going because she is afraid of an accident. She has cramping a lot. It seems almost everything she eats hurts her stomach. I want to do some research to see if I can suggest things for her to ask her doctor about, but I don t know where to start. She is overweight, diabetic, and is 65 years old, as of this past August. Thanks
Fri, 13 Jan 2017
Hi,
There are a few things to consider:
- Is your sister using a drug known as a Biguanide that is Metformin or Glucophage (can have other trade names but the active ingredient is metformin), to treat her diabetes?
- If so, consider the onset of symptoms, if it correlates with the use of the drug then inform your doctor, who will substitute it. Diarrhea and bowel symptoms are a common side effect of this medication.
If she is not on this type of medication, I would suggest sending off a stool sample to the laboratory to look for microscopic bacteria, fungi and protozoa. If present she would need a course of antibiotics that is Ciprobay or Flagyl. A course of probiotics will also benefit her especially if the diarrhea is not caused by Metformin. A good strain would be LP299v, this is usually taken once daily until symptoms resolve.
If your sister has blood in the loose stool, is losing weight, has decreased appetite, has a family history of cancer or if the stool sample comes back as negative, i would recommend that she visits a gastroenterologist for a colonoscopy to rule out any serious conditions such as a food intolerance, ulcerative colitis, Crohns disease or a bowel cancer.
Hope this helps. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Felicia Manickam
There are a few things to consider:
- Is your sister using a drug known as a Biguanide that is Metformin or Glucophage (can have other trade names but the active ingredient is metformin), to treat her diabetes?
- If so, consider the onset of symptoms, if it correlates with the use of the drug then inform your doctor, who will substitute it. Diarrhea and bowel symptoms are a common side effect of this medication.
If she is not on this type of medication, I would suggest sending off a stool sample to the laboratory to look for microscopic bacteria, fungi and protozoa. If present she would need a course of antibiotics that is Ciprobay or Flagyl. A course of probiotics will also benefit her especially if the diarrhea is not caused by Metformin. A good strain would be LP299v, this is usually taken once daily until symptoms resolve.
If your sister has blood in the loose stool, is losing weight, has decreased appetite, has a family history of cancer or if the stool sample comes back as negative, i would recommend that she visits a gastroenterologist for a colonoscopy to rule out any serious conditions such as a food intolerance, ulcerative colitis, Crohns disease or a bowel cancer.
Hope this helps. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Felicia Manickam
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