I've been trying to figure something out for the last month that doesn't make much sense to me. However, I don't have the in-depth knowledge of the mechanisms at play that many forum members here have, so I'm hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction.
For at least the last 10 years I've had loose/watery stool and general malaise (feel tired, sometimes some sinus congestion, etc) from consuming certain things. This is not an allergy (some trigger foods don't have protein) and I'm not gluten intolerant. It's never really been much of an issue because it's been easy to identify the things that were causing it (caffeine, spicy foods, Vitamin C on an empty stomach, etc) and it never impacted my life-- since I can control what I eat, and it's always been related to what I eat, I've never had to worry about it. I have mentioned this to 2 separate doctors who both said to just keep a log and avoid trigger foods. One of them had the idea of taking an anti-histamine prior to eating foods that normally bother me, which oddly enough does work very well. I just don't seem to adapt very well to taking anti-histamines every day-- I feel a bit "off" mentally. In the past I've trued the gamut of probiotics ranging from Culturelle and Align to VSI #3. I've also tried Jarrow's saccharomyces boulardii which I do not tolerate well. About the only thing I haven't tried is Mutaflor, and only because I can't get my hands on any. I've also tried a variety of digestive enzymes/products.
Recently it became more of an issue because it seemed to get worse and I couldn't figure out what was causing the flare up. I had days in a row of watery stool, and then happened to pop a 200mg advil. The issue went away completely. I've tested this many times-- one 200mg advil before each meal and no matter what I eat my stool is perfectly solid and I don't feel any irritation from the food, where if I skip the advil for a day the symptoms return. Obviously, I do not want to continue to consume 600mg advil per day.
If it helps, here is a more precise explanation of exactly what happens when I'm NOT taking the advil: I eat the food, then about 15-45 minutes later I can feel some mild irritation going on somewhere (I guess intestines/colon area), I start feeling the malaise (which may just be psychological, as in "damnit! again?" or it may be triggered by inflammation), and then I've got to go to the bathroom. Obviously 15-45 minutes is way too fast for food to pass through me.. it seems like my body is speeding up my gastrocolic reflex dramatically when it detects something "incoming". This is different than descriptions that I've read of normal IBS.
My next step is to see if there's something simple and safe that can replicate the effect of the advil. If not, I'll go see a doctor again and explain the new development, but I'd like to try the supplemental/nutritional approach first. I assumed it was the anti-inflammatory effect of the advil relieving some sort of mild irritation in my intestines, so I started with grape seed extract and pycnogenol. Neither of these seems to have the same effect (unless I just haven't let them built up long enough). I already take curcumin. I'm now trying to substantially increase my dose of fish oil due to the research I've read on its prostaglandin impact. I realize that higher doses of fish oil come with their own set of concerns, but I prefer those to advil.
My question: Is anyone aware of a mechanism by which ibuprofen could do what I'm describing here? I've checked IBS forums and I see many, many anecdotal reports of anti-histamines before meals getting rid of loose/watery stools. As mentioned above, I've noticed this before myself. However, I haven't seen anything about advil/ibuprofen, and in fact it seems that ibuprofen makes many people far worse.
Thanks in advance for any help that anyone can provide.
