Gastroenteritis after radiation.

I'm sorry to hear this, henhill.  A year and a half - I bet you are tired of it.  You might want to tell the specialist the pill after pill - throw anything at it - approach isn't working for you anymore.  

derMaus - while I have been taking proiotics before this all started and continue to this day - can you share with everyone what you mean by "taking massive amounts" means?  

While I don't have what is termed gastroenteritis, I do appear to have long term bowel problems which occurred during and since treatment. Mine pretty much is constipation. I have had colonoscopy which showed no polops, but I had an incomplete regular test followed by a virtual colonoscopy a couple weeks later. I have consulted with a gastroenterologist and for me what seems to help is probiotics, fiber supplements and miralax. Mine isn't perfect results all the time, but is somewhat better. Also I drink a lot of water and try to get a decent amount of activity. Yes, my husband has some of the same problems as he has had radiation also.im so sorry you are having this. Has your oncologist given you the supplements or have you seen a gastroenterologist?

I had it too -- bad -- for a while, but it eventually went away.  Are they thinking things will settle down?  Have you modified your diet?  Do you take Prilosec?  I feel your pain.  The radiation is very difficult.

I want to respond to your post regarding gastroenteritis.  I wanted to mention that I have had acid reflux for the past 30 years. Presently, and for the past several years, I have been taking Omeprazole 40 milligrams in the morning and Zantac (150 milligrams) in the evening. This really helps me.  All the years before this, I took Zantac on an as needed basis.  I hope this helps you. Good luck with it.  It is not pleasant to have this and you really have to watch what you eat. 

Cheerful

a/k/a Jane

Hi, I had almost the exact same symptoms you describe: after chemo/radiation treatment i also had issues for nearly a year afterward and crampy pain where radiation was. nothing i did fixed it. then one day i had a bad sinus infection and the doctor put me on Augmentin 825 twice a day for 10 days. After that, all intestinal issues disappeared. I don't know why; maybe a pocket of adhesion or scar tissue had some little infection, or the lining of the intestine wasn't healed right or whatever. but it worked. I do drink kefir a little bit every day and take basic multivitamin, 1 baby aspirin, and 1 2000-unit vitamin d daily, that's it. good luck. ps: i had a routine colonoscopy this year and everything was completely normal. 

so don't give up! good luck and keep healing. 

Henhill:

I started having real bad indigestion.  It would come and go.   One morning I started to feel it in my shoulder and being concerned because my father had heart disease I asked my husband to take me to the ER to get it checked out.   Good news, nothing was wrong with my heart.  However, my lipase was over 1500.   I had a pancreatitis attack.   I was hopsitalized for 4 days.   Then I started getting that feeling again.  So I called my PCP so I could get a blood test.   Once again (although only in the 400s) I had another attack.  I wasn't hospitalized but I just went on a very soft diet.   This happened several more times.   I ended up having my gallbladder out in March (even though it looked fine) and so far have been good.

I just had my lipase checked because of this other abdominal/pelvic pain because I wanted to make sure it wasn't also pancreatitis.   Which this time it wasn't.   I didn't get the normal pains of pancreatitis - just the indigestion feeling.   I believe I had it many times before and just didn't know it.

Wishing you well.

Kathy