nongsung

An update:
Little over a week ago I had an appointment with the doctor who treated me
while I was admitted. He happens to be an endocrinologist, just what I
needed. My food was not properly processed, yellowish very soft stools, cramps,

dizziness/shakiness, feeling very weak and that all sounded very familiar to him.
Guts were working overtime and he gave me some medication before and after food.
The dizziness/shakiness was most probably caused by the nerves vagus, something
that connects guts & brain. Since day one all my symptoms eased, stool got better and

a bit more firm, no undigested food in stool en started to gain a little bit of weight
that I lost over the last 2 months. Day by day my energy got better and tomorrow I
have an appointment with him again. The only thing that's still there is the dizziness/shakiness

but, as I have found out, is always connected to having to visit the toilet.
Once stool is out of my system the symptoms disappear. How I was able to stop it by taking sugar

is beyond me, it's the urge of going to the bathroom.
By reporting my experience with colonoscopy and the health-scare when I passed out it's only fair

to keep you all updated.

I will stop posting on this subject once my symptoms are cured/solved.

Thanks for listening in!

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

Ignore the website list of "symptoms" of pre-diabetes (which looks to me lijke it was patched together from various websites, some of them not even talking about diabetes but rather about  its opposite, hypoglycemia. )

 

Pre-diabetes in fact has no particular symptoms.

 

Neither pre-diabetes nor diabetes causes the shakiness relieved by food that you describe, that is rather likely related to low blood sugar. (Of curse, that in turn can be a side effect of diabetic medications but you aren't on any).

 

Be careful that in dieting to reduce your lipids you do not worsen what seems to be symptoms of hypoglycemia. In particular, be sure not to go too long between meals. They don't have to be large meals, but you need to take in something at regular enough intervals that you don't get dizzy or shaky. Preferrably something other than processed carbs, while processed carbs give a quick initial boost that is followed by a precipitous drop in blood sugar later.

 

If this keeps up, might be worth seeing an endocrinologist

 

 

That makes sense to me Sheryl!

it feels like a hypo and yes, I switched to small meals every 2,3 hours. Be it a banana, some crackers or rice with fish. That would explain why, after a waking up, I feel so shitty (could well be hypo). It takes food and drinks to fix me up and afterwards I'm ok. Maybe important to know that I was a sugar junkie all my life and recently I have cut that out completely. In the hospital they advised me to do that.

That is what I like about a forum like TV. Valuable information, alternative possible reasons for my symptoms, open discussion without flaming, food for thought and sound advice. You guys are the max!

Thanks!

14 minutes ago, Hedghog said:

In my previous post.

I was referring to the attached quote.

With the above extensive list,pre diabetes is a given.

But still the question remains.

What is the underlying cause.

That is what you are being invstigated for presently.

If the route cause can be identified,then the pre diabetes can also be reversed.

Thanks HH,

For now we assume that a combination of a colonscopy, an e-coli infection and strong anti-biotics have taken toll on my system. First approach is to diet & excercise in order to lower Cholesterol and hopefully improve the (pre)diabetes symptoms as well.

It will be closely monitored by the hospital, bloodtests again next week.

If the symptoms continue then further investigation will be done (that's what my doctor just told me this morning).

Thanks for the valuable input!

This is what I found on the web (my symptoms are in italics):

Do You Have These Pre Diabetes Symptoms?
The more yes answers you have, the more likely you have prediabetes.

A constant feeling of being tired. No matter how much you sleep, or exercise to gain strength, you feel fatigued.
 
Frequent bouts of depression for no reason. You’ll be fine, and then you feel sad all of a sudden, without any cause.
 
Unexplained weight gain. Your eating habits haven't changed, but suddenly you've put on 10 pounds. In addition, you are having difficulty losing it, even when you exercise and eat less.
 
Blurred vision that seems to be worsening, and trouble seeing at night.
 
Headaches and a sore throat that comes and goes.
 

Dizzy spells, and a feeling of being lightheaded sometimes, especially after having sweets. (This indicates reactive hypoglycemia.)

Breathing issues during sleep; you may have been diagnosed with sleep apnea.
 
Digestive issues. You get frequent stomach aches and are constantly dealing with gas pain, bloating and stool issues, cycling between diarrhea and constipation.
 
Heartburn which may be worse during the night. You may have gotten a diagnosis of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD).
 
A groggy, sleepy feeling after meals, even when you have plenty of rest. You may fallen asleep at your desk at work, or during a meeting.
 
The dentist tells you that have gingivitis, even though you brush and floss every day. You often wake up with a nasty taste in your mouth, even though you brush before bed.
 
You have elevated blood pressure and blood tests indicate you have high triglyceride levels, and low HDL cholesterol levels.
 
After every meal, you really crave something sweet, even if you are already feeling full.
 
Frequent yeast infections, and cuts or bruises you get don’t seem to heal quickly.
 
Constant hunger, no matter how much you eat. You often think, "How can I be hungry? I just ate!"
 
Constant joint aches, and muscle and joint stiffness when you wake up in the morning. You may even have been diagnosed with some form of arthritis.
 
Your feet burn and your toes feel numb when you stand for long periods of time.
 
Swollen ankles, and a general feeling of puffiness or water retention, especially if you sit for long periods of time.
 
If you don’t eat, you get really grumpy. You may also feel nauseous and shaky.
 
Waking up in middle of the night with your heart pounding. Often you also feel nauseated or cold. It happens more often if you've been eating high sugar meals. This again indicates hypoglycemia or low blood sugar.

And all these symptoms just started last week, suddenly...

To give as much info as I can: during the shaky/dizzy spells my heart rate is around 77bpm and I do not experience an abnormal hart rhythm. Having these spells do not make me feel anxious, I take them as they occur in the knowing that a glucose drink will fix me up eventually. What I'm going to do is to buy a glucose check-kit today to monitor the glucose levels myself to see if there is any relation between feeling like shit/feeling fine and glucose levels. 

Some details regarding my Cardiac arrest. At home I had serious diarhea, more than 10 times, pure yellowish water. It came out with unbelievable force. I tried to replenish with ORS drinks but ran out of drinks when I reached the hospital. I had to wait for my turn and in the meantime went to the toilet at least 6 more times in 20 minutes or so. I was very thirsty and weaker by the minute and the last 3 toilet visits my wife had to support me because I was so dizzy could hardly walk. For me, that's detoriation.

The last visit to the toilet was by wheelchair (could'nt walk anymore) and was the one when the lights went out. Seriously dehydrated and lost an enormous amount of fluid and therefore blood pressure... that's when my heart gave up. Rhythm came back after half a minute or so but only 30bpm. 10 quick pumps and the normal rhythm returned.

For me, that explanation given by the doctors is a plausible one and exactly how it felt but I could be wrong.

I should have asked for something to drink but I thought 'I'm in the hospital now so I'm going to be fine' and that was kind of stupid. Can't blame my wife who helped me going to the toilet, registering my as a patient, asking nurses if they could speedup because I was really sick at that point. She did her best we just did not think about getting some fluid in...

@Sheryl: it's always difficult to describe exactly wat happened but I value your input highly. Being a non-English speaker can complicate matters.

I wasn't shaky after the fasting sugar and two weeks ago I was monitored for 24hrs and my heart showed no abnormalities. But now, when I'm shaky sugar fixes me up every time (that looks like diabetics related to me). And shaky/dizzy/sweaty/cold hands/feet happens mostly in the early morning but around midday I'm mostly fine.

Late afternoon I go for my daily walk with no problems whatsoever.

I'm not on any medication at the moment but was treated with Metronidazole & Ceftriaxone two weeks ago by IV.

One problem after another... Last week suddenly started to feel very dizzy and shaky and thought I was going to pass out. Felt like an enormous hypo

and some water with glucose I felt a little better. This happened again the next day and the day after so I contacted my trusted doctor and he told me to

come and have my blood checked. Seems to have pre-diabetes but I could like to have this discussed with BM's with a bit more knowledge than me.

Fasting glucose was 120 and HbA-1C just 3.2. Doctor told me that the low HbA-1C indicates that my pre-diabetes is only recent.

I have cut my sugar intake (almost) completely and trying to adapt to a diet for diabetics. Fruit, rice, cooked/grilled fish etc but I'm struggling to keep me

from feeling dizzy & shaky; many small meals instead of 2 or 3 big ones but the mornings are awful.

Questions: can this be related to the strong anti-biotics I was given recently, I would guess so because I have never had any problems with being

so dizzy and shaky. It's something that happened out of the blue after my e-coli scare. And could this be a temporary thing or do I have to accept the

fact that I'm going to be full-on diabetic in the near future.

Second, I also seem to have high cholesterol(163), Tri (130), HDL (37) and LDL (144) so the approach is a strict diet and excercise; I have started to do

a daily (speedy) walks and increasing the distance every day. Baby steps, yesterday just 1.5 km but I have never been a fan of physical things.

Questions: is brisk walking for 30 minutes a day (and strict diet) enough to get the Cholesterol levels in check or is there something that I've overlooked.

And, with diet and excercise when can I expect these levels to go down (not that I'm impatient, just wanna know).

Hopefully more knowledgeable BM's can give me some insight in these (new) matters to me.

Thanks in advance,

Peter aka Nongsung

As I have struggled with my guts for more than 8 months now I don't understand why no one (no doctor) never checked my cholesterol apart from my

trusted doctor who saved my life... I was asked not so long ago if I wanted full bloodwork (Including HIV) and I was ok with that. Everything came back

normal (well, that's what they said)...

12 hours ago, HooHaa said:

Says the wit with no time to actually read the full story.

 

Yeah, you are, right, but if you only read the headlines then Bokningar's comment made me laugh. Can't we have a laugh now and then?

I had no choice, was admitted last week Monday because I had a cardiac arrest. CPR and all of that. Caused by a gut infection (e-coli), lost so much fluid that my body gave up. But, I'm home now slowly recovering and getting a bit stronger every day.

Smoked for 40+ years and left the hospital not having a smoke for 5 days (not my choice but it was simply impossible) and finally had a reason to continue the fight. Today day number 8 and I hope the worst is behind me.

Only struggling with low blood sugar, dizzy and weak at times and given my cardiac arrest it's frightning but I'm trying to win this one.

Ok, Waiting for my wife to settle the hospital bill and then we will go home.

My energy levels are low and can feel I have been seriously ill. One step at the time is all that matters now.

The biggest hurdle is the cardiac arrest, makes me feel not sure about my body and that scares me. It's between my ears I know but 'don't worry'  and 'everything is ok' does not work for me at the moment.

On a positive side; I quit smoking 'cold turkey'.

Anyway, all board members that replied; thanks and thanks for the heart warming messages.

regards,

Nongsung.

13 hours ago, chubby said:

I believe, a fairly common scenario, with lose  of large amount of fluids  is  an electolyte imbalance,  e.g  your potassium K+, which can lead to arrythmia , which can lead to cardiac arrest. 

 

septicemia is not uncommon, but less dangerous when  caught early , this causes hypotension  and 50% of the elderly  may not survive  it.  

 

did you get   defibrilatted ( shock paddles )  ? ; I am not aware that CPR is great  for  un fibrillating  someone,  though, I'm sure it happens   ....

 

Can't you just eat Western  Food,  and Sterilzed Water  or something ,  maybe buy yourself  an autoclave ?

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=autoclave+machine+amazon&ia=products

 

Or move to a new location, somewhere else in Thailand ?

 

 

Thanks Chubby for your reply.

Yes, electrolyte imbalance had certainly something to do with it. I lost so much liquid in such little time and I just could not replace this with ORS drinks.

They were preparing the paddles but in the meantime someone started to pump

my chest quickly (around 10 times). Then my hart came back to it's normal rhythm.

Well, that's what my wife told me anyway.

An autoclave is an interesting suggestion. You can achieve similar results with

a microwave but forks, knifes, spoons etc are a no go. So yes, I'll look into an autoclave, thanks!

And about food; my wife is very carefull, everything is fully cooked, steamed, fried etc. And currently we are in the process of installing a new watertank (and new piping, taps etc) for kitchen and bathroom. Although the water will come from a factory I'm still going to cook that before brushing my teeth with it.

Another cause for e-coli could be that my wife brought a kitten into our home 'to catch mice'

Well it got pregnant and now we have 1 cat & 4 kittens. I have changed the litter box daily...My inlaws are going to take care of the cats now (they live accross the road).

Moving to a new location is something that I would like to avoid but I keep an open mind about it.

Thanks!

On 1/25/2017 at 3:19 PM, Sheryl said:

 

I suspect it will indeed turn outy to be a strain of e. coli, there are some that are quite toxic.

As far as I could understand the doctor today it's e-coli indeed.

The cotton swap revealed that... And the suspicion of my 'nerd' doctor was correct as well.

To my surprise I'll be discharged tomorrow, I'll have to continue taking antibiotics and try to regain 7 kilo's of lost weight.

To be continued...

41 minutes ago, rijb said:

Glad your back.  Maybe it's time to leave the country, until you can fully recover.  Get well soon.

Rijb, thanks and yes, right now I'm planning some recovery time with my eldest daughter. Once I know when I will be discharged and fit to fly I'll be on an plane straight away

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

Good grief!

 

I suspect it will indeed turn outy to be a strain of e. coli, there are some that are quite toxic.

 

How did they know to get you from the toilet? Were you able to pull an alarm before you passed out?

Felt already very dizzy so I took the disabled toilet. Wife knew that I was not ok and waited for me. She went inside and  I remember saying to her that I was about to pass out she then alarmed the staff.

I was as stubborn as you, didn't want this, didn't want that. Had a colonoscopy two weeks ago with 'mild sedation' was knocked out completely apart from that small gap when there was apparently not enough sedation. I can't describe the pain, it's the worst I have ever experienced.

Just to give you all an update. Diarrhea came back, Saturday mild, Sunday worse (and started to feel sick) and Monday it was just violent. Went to the hospital and before my turn had to visit the toilet (for release number 15) and (apparently) went in a kind of shock. Passed out with cardia arrest! The wife saw hospital crew retrieve me from the toilet and later (at ER) performing CPR on me and I came around quickly. Of course I am admitted now and beeing treated with dual anti-biotics, since white bloodcell count went through the roof.

The cardiac arrest was a result of a septic shock and CPR was done because my heart came back after some 25 seconds but only at 30 bpm...

Scary stuff.  But, according to the doctors, my heart is in good shape (it was monitored for 24 hours) and it only happened because of the septic infection.

The anti biotics are doing their job, white blood cell count is getting; lower diarrhea is a loose stool now but feeling absolutely knackered.

Keep you posted.

Nongsung

Technically I was dead for 25 seconds and believe me; there's nothing, no bright lights, no welcoming voices, just nothing, like you switch off the light.

11 minutes ago, rijb said:

I switched to coconut milk.  It has a high fat content.  So, you have to go easy on it.

 

It seems to be safe.  And baby coconuts love the stuff!

rijb, thanks!

Yeah, I have a couple of coconut trees in my garden en love that stuff too.

I only overdid it (three a day) and got the ... shits. Kind of natural anti vermin as well.

4 hours ago, katana said:

Sometimes newcomers can build up a resistance to it after several months. Sometimes they can't.

I knew one foreigner who had to leave Thailand because of constant stomach problems and never being able to build up resistance to the food.

I've often wondered what bacteria it is. Since night soil is I believe still used in some parts of Thailand for fertilizer, he may well be right on the escherichia coli strain.

Katana, thanks for replying!

1995 was my first trip to Thailand and since then every trip has resulted in severe diarrhea. At first you are adventurous; try the local food, try the fried bugs, you know

what I mean. Then you start to cut back on that because being sick while on holiday isn't exactly what you want. Then finally you move to Thailand (2009) and then

that very same problem comes (and goes) but never goes away. And the diarrhea gets worse, more frequently and it lasts longer before it disappears for a week

or sometimes a month or two. My body obviously can't cope with something that enters my system and is unable to built resistance to it (whatever that is).

And, being 62 I noticed that over the years my 'healing powers' aren't the same anymore. You cut yourself and an infection is just around the corner and it takes much

longer to heal then when I was younger. That might explain why my gut problem is increasing...

Back to Europe? Want to avoid that at all costs...

Night soil is a good one. I'll look into that since I have two septic tanks behind my house. Might be the time to inspect the workings of it since that was built when

I still was in Europe.

15 hours ago, CaptHaddock said:

So, lazy Thai thinking that if a foreigner has an ailment it must be due to his being a foreigner.

 

Since the op does not show the same symptoms in Europe it is presumably something in his Thai environment.  He should try eliminating one element after another including food items, but everything else he can think of as well.   Maybe boil his drinking water for a while, too.  Takes a lot of effort, but looks like the only option.

CaptHaddock, thanks for replying!

It's certainly not lazy Thai thinking; he checked all my treatments of the past and the results from blood-tests, stool-tests, gastroscopy, colonoscopy & x-rays. He listened carefully to my story and the issues I'm having and took that all in account before he came up with e-coli. I know that there are quite a lot of 'lazy thinking Thai doctors' around here, a quick diagnosis and off you go with bags full of medication but this one is different (where have that heard that before ;-). We know him for years, I've earned tons of respect by helping him with his English and I'm pretty sure that he is trying to help me to get to the bottom of it. 

And a lazy Thai would not hop in his car and drive 150 kilometers to visit me without charging me. His family lives in this village too and after he left us me did visit them but 10 minutes later

he drove out of the village.

So yes, we are trying to find out now what is causing it; strictly on the same diet for a week now and I'll not introduce new foods/drinks until my guts settle. Everything is boiled, cooked, steamed, fried and in a few days/weeks we might know more.

Right now I don't know where I stand; today (7 days after my colonoscopy) I had my first BM and was pretty normal.

It might stay that way or the diarrhea might come back again, who knows...

Right now I'm on the same regime; I drink exactly the same, I eat exactly the same, every day.

Drinks: tea with a little milk, Bulgaria drink yoghurt, some water. Lunch: toast with some jam, dinner: fried fresh

vegetables with chicken. In between some Yolida yoghurt and once a day Probac7 (pro-biotics), 1000mg Vit C

and a 1000mg Multi Vitamin. If I keep doing this for another week or so and if the diarrhea does not come back

I can start to make small changes to my diet. Would like that because I can't stand hearing my wife asking me

'darling, vegetables with chicken?' day after day...

Let's what happens...

I'm born in Europe and I have taken milk out of the equation a couple of months ago. Cut out milk completely for over two months. Did not make a difference and right now I'm back using a little milk in my tea. Stopped drinking coffee but that did not made a difference either. My stool & blood have been tested numerous time in 2016 and once parasites were found and treated with Flagyl. I have undergone physical exams; an MRI of the abdomen, two gastroscopies and recently a colonoscopy so don't tell me I'm not that serious about fixing my problem. I was even tested for TB (x-ray & sputum) because that could be an underlying reason too.

So my GI is using the catch-all 'IBS' but going back to Europe for a couple of weeks I'm completely fine.

Can eat and drink whatever I want and won't get sick and haven't had diarrhea once. So there must be something in Thiland that enters my body and it can't cope with that. It's an ongoing investigation of trial and (unfortunately) mostly error...And since I'm not a doctor  I was hopeful that some TV members could point me in the right direction. I can't be the only one in Thailand having these problems...

I've cut down on milk one month ago, one cup a day and that's it.

Right now I'm collecting stool for culture testing so in a couple of weeks I should know more. But to me it makes sense that in Thailand I'm having gut problems and when I'm back in Europe everything is back to normal in a couple of days...

Some 15 years ago (when on Holiday in Isaan) I have met a young boy that did not seem to have friends, did not play football, did not race his motorbike,

did not smoke, did not drink but was always with his nose in books. I called him ‘the Nerd’.

As soon as we arrived in the village he would visit me several times to practice his English. He was a nice guy but boring and I was always happy to see him leave.

Fast forward 15 years and that Nerd is a doctor now and my wife kept contact with him through Line. He works in Sakon Nakhon which is a 150 kilometers from our village.

I’m battling diarrhea for for as long as I permanently started to live here (2009). It a on/off kind of thing; violent morning diarrhea for weeks then a bout of obstipation and if I’m lucky a couple of weeks of a normal stool. And then back to the diarrhea again. But only in the mornings.

So far I have had two gastroscopies and recently a colonoscopy but no reason could be found; numerous kind of medication could not solve the problem either.

My wife (apparently) talked with ‘the Nerd’ about my problems and later he consulted us by phone. He asked all the specifics and said that he would think about it and come back to us.

Well he did, drove his car to our house, asked more questions and came up with the following:

I must have some kind of travellers diarrhea and most probably caused by a strain of e-coli.

He said that this particular strain is not harmful for Thais because they grew up with it but Westerners are vulnerable to this strain. In Thailand hospitals can identify e-coli pretty easily but strain identification can only be done in a handful of places in Thailand. E-coli is a kind of non-issue for doctors in Thailand because Thais have (mostly) no problems with it.

He said that e-coli (and most probably this specific strain) is everywhere. On fruit, vegetables, banknotes, all fresh products, water (of course) and most bottled water as well!

Even bottled drinks are no guarantee that the e-coli is not present. I’m a milk junkie, drink at least 1,5 liters per day but it’s pasteurized, a no-go if e-coli is involved.

According to him that is the one of the reasons why it’s so difficult to export these items to Western countries because the hygiene/quality is below par.

So we have to step-up in hygiene.

Although my water is filtered it most probably contains e-coli so I’ll install a UV because all our plates, cups, forks, moves etc are washed with contaminated water.

For the time being (as currently all our water piping is being replaced) I brush my teeth with Evian water. I microwave plates, cups etc before using them and I don’t drink/eat things that haven’t been boiled, cooked, steamed or fried. 

I now regularly wash my hand after doing things that could have me exposed.

For me his observations would make a lot of sense because if I travel to Europe for a holiday my symptoms disappear within a couple of days.

But what I would like to know if someone (Sheryl?) can confirm his story or blow some holes in it. After all, I’m not a doctor and the precautions I currently take could be over the top but in any way are cumbersome.

Some insights would be appreciated.

Regards,

Nongsung