Loose Woman
September 22, 2014 1:18 PM   Subscribe

Why can't I stop pooping liquid, ugh. TMI and unfortunate mental images below the fold.

So Friday afternoon, following lunch, I started having the runs. I suspect dodgy spicy minced meat from an otherwise excellent restaurant, but who knows. I didn't take it seriously to begin with and had my normal cheese sandwich for breakfast. It was pretty bad and crampy and above all squirty all through Saturday.

Now I've tried all the good old German remedies and foodstuffs that usually work (black tea, coke, Zwieback, those tiny dry pretzels, oxidised apple mush, plain rice, plain potatoes). And I've started dosing myself with charcoal tablets twice a day. After dinner today (four Zwiebacks thinly spread with 1% fat curds) I had four tablets.

At least now I'm only pooping once during the night (and nothing during the day), but it's still liquid poop. Charcoal black liquid poop.

I'm not actually feeling bad during the day. I'm just done with all this shitting around, and craving a big bowl of ramen noodles like nobody's business. Do I need a doctor? Is this going to go away eventually? Up the charcoal dosage? Get out the bigger over the counter guns? Should I be worrying?

My kid, baby and husband are all eating and pooping normally. I suppose it isn't a virus or food poisoning or I would be completely sick, but could an upset stomach last that long?
posted by Omnomnom to Health & Fitness (28 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
If it's a certain point of your regular menstrual cycle, that could be part of what's monkeying with your bowels. That happens to me now and then.

I'd still check with a doctor to be safe (especially if this is really out of character for you), but in the meantime if you want to try a wives-tale folk-remedy thing that I've done and works for me - try a mug of hot milk with a generous sprinkle of ground nutmeg. It's tasty, and it can't actively hurt that I'm aware.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:23 PM on September 22, 2014


First, take some Pepto Bismol or Immodium AD --- medicine designed for such circumstances.

Second, call your doctor.

And just as an FYI, when that happened to me about a year ago, I ended up being hospitalized for swollen lymph nodes. Of course, I had other symptoms --- so if you have other symptoms, get checked out.
posted by zizzle at 1:24 PM on September 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


I have no idea why you're taking charcoal, which I only know as a horrible paste I had to forcefeed my dog after she maybe ate poison. The point seemed to be to make everything leave her body in black torrents from both ends. So maybe stop doing that, since that seems to be at least partially your complaint.

The most recent conventional wisdom says that even if you have food poisoning you can take immodium. But I would just stop the charcoal, eat a BRAT diet with yogurt for probiotics for 24 hours, and *then* take the immodium if you still need it.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:24 PM on September 22, 2014 [6 favorites]


I'd definitely lay off the black tea and coke (I assume Coca-Cola?) and anything else with caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic and you need all the hydration you can get.
posted by Beti at 1:25 PM on September 22, 2014 [4 favorites]


Response by poster: (Well, charcoal's the thing everyone here takes against mild diarrhea. First thing the doctor asks if you tried, and relatives recommend, really. And it does usually help, or maybe just seems to.)
posted by Omnomnom at 1:28 PM on September 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


I think you're fine as long as you're not in pain. Activated charcoal is great to take if you suspect food poisoning as it absorbs the exotoxins that many pathogenic bacteria produce. I'd probably just try to stay hydrated and eat things that bind a bit (like banana).
posted by quince at 1:28 PM on September 22, 2014


I think the main thing to worry about in the short term is adequate hydration, make sure your drinking plenty of non-caffeine fluids. Otherwise, yeah really just go see the doctor, going on four days seems like a sufficient time to wait.
posted by edgeways at 1:29 PM on September 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Oh dammit, I breastfeed. No Immodium for me. I guess that leaves the doctor...
posted by Omnomnom at 1:30 PM on September 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


Go for Oral Rehydration Therapy. Your colon needs the electrolytes (dissolved salts) to be balanced before it starts absorbing water again.
posted by ambrosen at 1:36 PM on September 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


Wow, yeah, definitely doctor if you're breastfeeding and are having 5 days in a row of severe stomach issues!
posted by poffin boffin at 1:38 PM on September 22, 2014 [6 favorites]


(not that I'd imagine it was something you could pass through your milk, just that your body is in need of all the nutrients it can get right now)
posted by poffin boffin at 1:38 PM on September 22, 2014


In my late-20s, after an extended period of travelling, I returned home to discover I was now lactose intolerant and could no longer handle some types of dairy. I had similar symptoms to what you're describing, and since you specifically mentioned curds and cheese it might be worth discussing with your doctor. When I visited the doc to try to figure out what the hell was going on she asked me to cut dairy out of my diet for a while and also to start taking a fiber supplement. The combination of both did the trick.
posted by IanMorr at 1:54 PM on September 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


Oh, the lactose idea is interesting. If there was any dairy in the initial meal that made you feel unwell then I would explore the idea of removing dairy from your diet completely for the next day or so (or until you can see the doctor, or whatever) and see how that feels. Make sure you check stuff like bread and crackers and even sliced meats and vitamins for the presence of whey, evil monstrous whey.
posted by poffin boffin at 2:04 PM on September 22, 2014


Try Immodium. Immodium has been approved for use in lactating women by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It is an L2, defined as "Drug which has been studied in a limited number of breastfeeding women without an increase in adverse effects in the infant; And/or, the evidence of a demonstrated risk which is likely to follow use of this medication in a breastfeeding woman is remote."
posted by rabbitrabbit at 2:32 PM on September 22, 2014 [4 favorites]


I took Immodium while breastfeeding. The world still turns. The caution is on every medication ever for lactating women for liability reasons only. Immodium is quite safe.
posted by zizzle at 2:49 PM on September 22, 2014


Where are you? That will govern what meds you can get over the counter.

Go ahead and eat that ramen, (better soba or rice noodles, easier on the gut.) The liquid, salt and noodles will help you out. You need lots of liquid and if you're hungry, eat!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 2:52 PM on September 22, 2014


you say you feel fine now and you're only going once a day. If you had food poisoning before, it doesn't sound like you do anymore. I would definitely stop the charcoal. I don't know what formulation you are taking but most of the charcoal I'm familiar with is mixed with sorbitol (a sugar alcohol) which is an osmotic laxative.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 3:03 PM on September 22, 2014


Just one thing with Immodium - the way it works is by reducing the... movement of your intestines that pushes things along. It does what it says on the box, however, there is often a good reason why your body is trying to fast-track things along - and it doesn't deal with that. Depending on the reason, it is not always a good idea to keep in what your body is trying to expel.
posted by smoke at 3:11 PM on September 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


You definitely want to keep hydrated and electrolyted, so drink Gatorade or Pedialyte. I've also found that taking a probiotic (Culturelle), after my intestines calmed down, helped get things back to normal sooner.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 3:38 PM on September 22, 2014


For what it is worth...I breastfed three children and my bowels were loose the whole time. Didn't clear up till I weaned the last one. So it is quite possible there are hormonal issues.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 3:41 PM on September 22, 2014


Response by poster: Oh, what is a BRAT diet?
posted by Omnomnom at 3:42 PM on September 22, 2014


Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast (sometimes BRATT, including Tea, and sometimes BRATY, including Yogurt).
posted by mogget at 3:47 PM on September 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


2nding BRAT.

When this happened to me some years ago I was finally able to discern that it was our water source. We were buying bottled water and my husband was unaffected so it took me a couple of weeks to figure out. Once we changed water vendors, the problem cleared up within a day or so.
posted by vignettist at 4:23 PM on September 22, 2014


Re: the BRAT diet
Please note that AppleJUICE will have an opposite effect of Apple SAUCE.
The juice will loosen you right up.

Also consider a constipating solids diet, which offers a little more variety:

Constipating solids include:
Toasted white bread with honey or clear jellyavoid butter or margarine.
Soda crackers.
White rice (no butter); cream of wheat or rice cereal (no milk).
Applesauce or bananas.
Boiled potatoes.
Baked or broiled fish or poultry without skin or fat.
Cultured dairy products yogurt, cottage cheese, buttermilk.

posted by SLC Mom at 7:44 PM on September 22, 2014


Are you eating anything with food coloring in it? Sometimes purple food coloring gives me the nastiest green diarrhea.
posted by Jacqueline at 7:45 PM on September 22, 2014


Response by poster: The doctor said it's probably a weak form of a gastrointestinal virus that has been making the rounds. Whoah.
Gave me a list of things to eat and drink and some meds to build up my intestinal flora. And said five days is quite within the normal range, considering the cause.

Poop consistency not quite as liquid this morning, so yay!

Thank you all for being so helpful!
posted by Omnomnom at 2:02 AM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Oh, and she also said that if I'm only having bowel movement once or twice a day I needn't worry so much about dehydration, but definitely yes to mixing myself something electrolytic.
posted by Omnomnom at 2:06 AM on September 23, 2014


Check your Vitamin D levels. Once I got mine up with a daily mega dose, the poopsplosions stopped.
posted by Snackpants at 6:58 AM on January 22, 2015


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