Intermittent diarrhea?

Question

Recently I've been having very intermittent diarrhea - I'd be fine for a week and then get several bouts of diarrhea in a day. Then I'd be fine for another week or more, then get another round of bouts.

I did travel to a 3rd world country before this started. I also have IBS. There is nothing I can pinpoint which has changed recently. It doesn't seem serious enough to bother with my doctor - but it's been going on for about 6 weeks now!

Any ideas?

Answer 1

About 3rd world: It's possible you've caught parasites (giardia, entameba...), which may go with intermittent diarrhea which can last for several weeks. Diagnosis is with Ova and Parasites stool test (O&P).

On the other side, stress of the journey and changed food may have aggravated your IBS. Under diagnosis of IBS there is often some food intolerance, like fructose intolerance (fructose malabsorption). If you eat fruits high in fructose and sorbitol (apples, pears, prunes, sweet cherries, dates) products sweetened with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) or polyols (xylitol, maltitol, mannitol...) in "low-calorie" foods, drinks or "sugar free" chewing gum, you may get bloating and diarrhea in few hours after the meal.

Wheat, onions and beans may aggravate diarrhea in fructose malabsorption.

Try to exclude all above mentioned foods and sweeteners from the diet for a week to see, if this helps.

Answer 2

I would say the IBS has more to do with this by the sounds of things.  Maybe a quick visit to your GP would do a little good after all.  And if you did happen to get something from the other country you visited, you may as well find that out too.