Four years of cronic diarrhea and stomach problems

Four years of chronic diarrhea and severe stomach disorders and every test in the medical society and now, like a complete miracle from heaven, my cause was found by this very forum! I was sick daily, continually,and had really given up on finding the cause to it all. In desperation, I found this site through Google and found a post by "StomachproblemsNY" from April of 2006 stating exactly the same problems and being on cpap seven or eight years, asking others if it could possibly be caused from the process. I found no responses to him from others but it put me inquiring to my health-care providers. Some said, flat-out "no" but one said he never heard of a case but "supposed that it could be possible". This issued me at least a clue and went to work on it through my care provider. A new machine was "tried" with a much lower pressure of 6 and, low and behold, I started to notice the bowl movement beginning to be more normal. With-in about five to seven days, it was completely gone. This information was completely shared with my provider and he showed much attention to it all, entering it in his computers as it was issued. As it was "accepted by the medical persons" just yesterday, 3/14/2012, he assured that the findings would be used in future possible cases, and released me from his care of the subject till one year from date. I truly hope that others, possibly with this problem, will see this and have more to work with than I. THANK YOU.

Interesting, BinkBee. It would be even more interesting had you registered and allowed us a method of contacting you via PM for further information. Or, for instance, gave us a better description of your "severe stomach problems".

My first thoughts were of chronic air insufflation, reflux, GERD ... my guess would be caused by too high a pressure provided by your CPAP ...

You could help us out by discussing your situation further w/us - and, hopefully help others out.

I was thinking the same thing when I read this post and I looked up StomachproblemsNY and couldn't find any thread other then this one with this in it.

I have had what doctors have deemed IBS my whole life. I used to be IBS-D (diarrhea predominant). After starting CPAP, it became IBS-A (alternating diarrhea/constipation) and now I'm pretty much normal. However, I believe I do have some insufflation problems, but I don't know that much about it. The only thing I know is that sometimes I wake up and my gut feels like it's going to explode because of trapped air; VERY painful. My bowel movements now are actually better than they have ever been since starting CPAP.

Go figure.

Yep, I went thru that, too. Not as long, tho. Someone here suggested aerophagia within a few days.

The only drawback is I no longer have FOD capability.


*Fart on Demand...

Hey, Tattooyu! Maybe all the CPAP air is drying out the pooh as it is passing thru, ya think???

Doesn't cpap help reduce inflammation?
Would it affect other parts of the body?
I know it's not a cure-all, but a gal can hope.

binkbee wrote:Four years of chronic diarrhea and severe stomach disorders and every test in the medical society and now, like a complete miracle from heaven, my cause was found by this very forum! I was sick daily, continually,and had really given up on finding the cause to it all.

I also had diarrhea with no known cause before cpap. It seems that stressing your body for years is not a good idea.

I have been quite a regular 'ol chap since starting cpap, tho I am sure there are those who do not agree

"Rumors of my demise are a bit premature" - MT

A little off the original topic, but I'm new to CPAP and am having quite a lot of cramping and abdominal air when I wake up. Is this normal and is there a way to reduce it? Thanks.

Jonathan9891 wrote:A little off the original topic, but I'm new to CPAP and am having quite a lot of cramping and abdominal air when I wake up. Is this normal and is there a way to reduce it? Thanks.

It is called aerophagia - do a search on it (Search Box - Upper lift side of the page)

Hey, whatever works! I am curious what your pressure was before, and why a different machine was needed to reduce your pressure. And is there data to show that the reduced pressure is still effective in treating your sleep apnea?