Hi there - I am 3 weeks sleeve post-op and on the soft food stage. Per recommendation from my program, I'm also taking probiotics via yogurt / kiefer, BUT I have nearly constant diarrhea and almost no solid stool. I run to the bathroom a lot, especially after eating or drinking. I also use Lactaid instead of milk to avoid lactose. Is this normal / have others experienced this?

I'm not eating sugar or anything (I don't think this is dumping syndrome).

I had loose stools until I was got back to eat more solid food, then things settled down.

It happens when on liquids.

Also for me it happens because I drink a ton of water every day.

You might get tested for bacteria.. totally drawing a blank on the type.. but there is a type that can take over after the antibiotics given after surgery kill off the good bugs.

33 minutes ago, Berry78 said:

You might get tested for bacteria.. totally drawing a blank on the type.. but there is a type that can take over after the antibiotics given after surgery kill off the good bugs.

I can see why you'd say that because of OP saying they're on probiotics. Nice catch.

So antibiotics would run roughshod over the flora in one's gut and digestive tract all the way to the anus, leaving open the possibility of opportunistic pathogens like bacteria to take the place of otherwise useful bacteria. There's way too many bad bacterias to list, the dangerous ones though people should know well.

1 hour ago, PatientEleventyBillion said:

It happens when on liquids.

Also for me it happens because I drink a ton of Water every day.

I wish... it never happened to me... I have the opposite

4 minutes ago, rainyann said:

I wish... it never happened to me... I have the opposite

Just make sure whatever you're consuming doesn't increase your regularity. For me I was just taking milk of magnesia as I was told.. stuff made me literally a hydrant every 2 hours was destroying the toilet, which my pissed off wife made me clean up.

Also, it's just a hunch of mine, but I do think I might have developed some kind of lactose intolerance post-op.

Edited May 30, 20179 yr by PatientEleventyBillion

I am using benefiber rather than a laxative and it has been better. I know this is too much information but I was constipated before the surgery and not much has changed. However, it is better with benefiber

Same happened to me around the 2 week post op mark. Lasted about week and half. Then went away.

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Same thing happened to me. I was tested for c. Diff, which came back negative. I ended up starting the puree stage a week early, it has settled down since

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I had runny stools until I went to full liquids and incorporated two different probiotics and benefiber. No more diarrhea after that. Both probiotics can be bought on amazon: Bio Kult and Prescript-Assist. Together they contain a wide range of healthy bacteria

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thanks everyone. I really appreciate the advice!

This was an issue for me and once the Doctor ruled out C-diff he said it was fine to take immodium as needed. It made it much easier to leave the house and only occasionally is a problem at 12 weeks.