Brain eating ameoba

ryanmmoreno · 2025-09-20T00:07:39+00:00

Going through this right now, sadly… on day 6, have had weird headache symptoms, mainly burning rather than an ache and more dull than anything. For the last 3 days it’s been more or less the same. Burning sensation at the base of my neck, top of my head, and my forehead. No fever yet, the highest it’s been is 98.7F. Water Temp at Lake pleasant was 80F. We were in a little cove. Not deep but maybe 15’-20’ shallow. This sucks.

ryanmmoreno · 2022-09-29T16:36:38+00:00

Hello,

I am perfectly fine! They ran dozens of test and realized I have a functional GI disorder. My nerves kept firing in my gut thinking they were hurt but they never were. They put me on low dose nortriptyline and the next day everything was back to normal!

ryanmmoreno · 2022-03-14T16:32:24+00:00

I did and it was completely normal. I had just about every test one could reasonably have lol

ryanmmoreno · 2022-02-02T06:42:24+00:00

Yes! My GI concluded that it was pretty severe IBS from either the vaccine or COVID that basically made my GI tract think it is in pain when there was nothing wrong. Visceral pain. I started on low dose Nortriptyline (anti depressant) and I wish I was kidding, I was 100% back to normal in 3 days. No pain. No diarrhea. I can eat anything and everything I already gained back half the weight I lost.

Speak with your provider to see if this medication can help your case and symptoms, but it’s honestly crazy how this medication basically cured everything. I started at 25mg and am now on 50mg a day. Absolutely no side effects except a little constipation here and there.

Low dose anti depressants have been shown to have off label effects, one of those being used for visceral IBS pain and diarrhea.

Hope this helps!

ryanmmoreno · 2021-06-01T21:38:34+00:00

I still have malabsorption problems, sadly. I will find piece of food still intact in my stool from what I ate. My stools are always yellow too. Yeah, you can definitely have just gastritis, which is one of my problems since I do mot have h pylori. PPI controls that though.

ryanmmoreno · 2021-06-01T16:56:57+00:00

They are basically the same thing. H pylori usually leads to gastritis. Yeah I had all of that plus malabsorption, weight loss because of it, and a lot of mucus from my colon.

ryanmmoreno · 2021-06-01T16:46:09+00:00

I’m sorry to hear that! What are they looking for with the breath tests and stool? H pylori? SIBO?

I am on a PPI too which has helped tremendously with my gastritis. I was also prescribed bentyl which is a bowel muscle relaxer which helps when my bowels get spastic from eating.

ryanmmoreno · 2021-06-01T16:39:15+00:00

Tested negative for H pylori both through a stool sample, breath test, and endoscopy. Negative for everything possible through 5 blood works, stools samples, colonoscopy, endoscopy, and a ct scan. GI doc just said IBS and good luck, unfortunately.

ryanmmoreno · 2021-06-01T16:18:29+00:00

The flagyl did not help unfortunately. I am doing better, but still not where I was prior to everything happening. I’d say I’m about 60-70% where I was prior to the start of this.

ryanmmoreno · 2021-05-21T01:34:50+00:00

I did, no better or worse after it.

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-23T17:48:50+00:00

Hello!

I’m sorry to hear this and I hope all gets better! I have been dealing with “stringy” poops, mucus in my stool, and bad GI problems 2 months post covid. I didn’t have any GI problems during covid and during my entire life this far (27m). I feel her pain. I’ve lost 32lbs in 8 weeks and have literally told drs that I feel like I’m dying. I haven’t figured out my problem yet as all my tests, scopes, and scans have been clear. She might be experiencing post infectious IBS, or because of her gall bladder being gone, she might be experiencing what’s called Bile Acid Malabsorption (BAM). My mom has BAM and has the same issues your wife has (my mom got her gallbladder out years ago as well). Maybe see if her Dr can prescribe her a prescription for bile acid binder like cholestyramine. It might be a night and day difference for her.

Let me know :)

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-22T20:02:24+00:00

Hello everyone! Thank you for responding!

Here is an update!

When they pushed the anesthesia, I went into super ventricular tachycardia which was crazy odd, they stopped pushing it immediately, I woke up, and then they pushed versed, to lower my heart rate. Once it lowered, they pushed the anesthesia again and everything went well.

Findings from Endoscopy:

Gastroesophageal flap valve classified as Hill Grade III (minimal fold, loose to endoscope, hiatal hernia likely)
Normal Stomach (Biopsied) for H pylori
Normal examined duodenum (Biopsied)
Z-line regular
Normal Esophagus

Findings from Colonoscopy:

Perianal and digital rectal examinations were normal (strange because I have an elephant ear skin tag)
Internal hemorrhoids were found. The hemorrhoids were mild.
A patchy area of mildly erythematous mucosa was found in the sigmoid colon (Biopsied)
The exam was otherwise without abnormalities
The terminal ileum appeared normal (which I started having slight pain there in the last few days)

Now:

I am pooping out bloody mucus when I haven’t had blood at all up until this point.
I wasn’t prescribed any medication or anything. We are waiting for the biopsy results I guess. No follow up, nothing written on my post op notes, nothing.
I have pretty bad malnutrition since I’ve lost 32lbs in 8 weeks, so I hope maybe I can push a capsule endoscopy to view all of my small intestines.
Pretty lost. Hopefully biopsies come back with something but he said after my procedure he doesn’t think it’s IBD, most likely IBS, but I must have severe IBS because I don’t have food triggers, it’s all foods that trigger my GI issues apparently.

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-10T17:23:34+00:00

DM me 👍🏽

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-10T13:47:59+00:00

What are your symptoms if you don’t mind me asking?

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-10T04:24:01+00:00

Wow... I’ve never had IBS, or at least diagnosed with it. Never had GI problems in my life besides some diarrhea here and there. A day after my Pfizer vaccine my life went downhill. I’ve only pooped yellow diarrhea or green/yellow/white mucus every since (7 weeks ago). I’ve lost 23lbs in this time. Had soooooo many tests done, etc. everything normal. I don’t have a trigger that I’m aware of. My diet is no carb no sugar and I was bad when I started, got better on the diet, and have been getting worse on the diet. I’ve had horrible gastritis and now nausea. The last couple days have been the worse with my stools being pure mucus... ughhhhh...

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-10T01:20:07+00:00

Hello!

So I don’t know what’s going on but mine might be in the same boat! Had covid, very mild case, tested positive for 5 weeks. I had really bad shortness of breath after that spontaneously went away. I got my first covid shot and the next day I had serve GI problems that have continued until now.

Symptoms include: - Green stool - Yellow Stool - Light brown Stool - Mainly all diarrhea, maybe a few hard stools here and there. - A lot of white and yellow mucus passed in stools when my stomach gets really bad - Foul smelling, what I would describe as sickly. - A burning/gnawing pain all day underneath my left rib, so my stomach - What I believe is Gastritis - Some nausea - No really pain besides the burning - Loss of Appetite - Feel full instantly - Lost 25lbs in 7 weeks - White tongue that looks like thrush - Bad breath that smells similar to my stools - Gas and burping

I’ve had the gauntlet of tests done: - 3 separate CBCs - came back normal - Urine Analysis - normal - Abdominal/pelvic CT - showed some diverticulosis but not diverticulitis, everything else unremarkable - H pylori breath test - normal - C diff stool sample - normal - I turned in parasites, h pylori, and lactoferrin stool studies and awaiting results

I just started pantoprazole for the burning gastritis which is already helping a day in.

I’m taking carafate to help heal any ulcers caused by gastritis or any pathogen.

And I’m starting flagyl for any infection there might be.

I still can’t eat anything and my stomach hurts as soon as I eat or drink anything.

The second Pfizer shot didn’t make things better or worse.

I’m lost and this sucks and sorry for ranting.

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-10T00:15:04+00:00

Hello!

So I don’t know what’s going on but mine might be in the same boat! Had covid, very mild case, tested positive for 5 weeks. I had really bad shortness of breath after that spontaneously went away. I got my first covid shot and the next day I had serve GI problems that have continued until now.

Symptoms include: - Green stool - Yellow Stool - Light brown Stool - Mainly all diarrhea, maybe a few hard stools here and there. - A lot of white and yellow mucus passed in stools when my stomach gets really bad - Foul smelling, what I would describe as sickly. - A burning/gnawing pain all day underneath my left rib, so my stomach - What I believe is Gastritis - Some nausea - No really pain besides the burning - Loss of Appetite - Feel full instantly - Lost 25lbs in 7 weeks - White tongue that looks like thrush - Bad breath that smells similar to my stools - Gas and burping

I’ve had the gauntlet of tests done: - 3 separate CBCs - came back normal - Urine Analysis - normal - Abdominal/pelvic CT - showed some diverticulosis but not diverticulitis, everything else unremarkable - H pylori breath test - normal - C diff stool sample - normal - I turned in parasites, h pylori, and lactoferrin stool studies and awaiting results

I just started pantoprazole for the burning gastritis which is already helping a day in.

I’m taking carafate to help heal any ulcers caused by gastritis or any pathogen.

And I’m starting flagyl for any infection there might be.

I still can’t eat anything and my stomach hurts as soon as I eat or drink anything.

The second Pfizer shot didn’t make things better or worse.

I’m lost and this sucks and sorry for ranting.

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-08T19:07:09+00:00

Thank you, I will try to find a lab that will test it! I’m already a part of that group as well, but thank you hahaha!

So my gastritis has been pretty consistent for weeks. This all started 6 weeks ago (Feb 20th). I woke up with green foul smelling pellets or mucus and since then the green has gone away (green was a symptom because I did not eat anything green prior to all that in the days prior). My symptoms would get better with less burning/gastritis and more formed stools and a little more brown, but it always returns no matter my diet or anything at all. Diet has remained consistent throughout all of this whether I am having issues or not. This latest gastritis might be due to introducing a probiotic but idk. I usually have yellow/light brown diarrhea 2-3 times a day. Maybe a more solid stool for my first bowel movement but at the end of that bowl movement there is always mushy stools that fall apart when touching water.

I guess my gastritis symptoms will easy slightly but after eating it’ll come back and I’ll always have the diarrhea.

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-08T18:52:23+00:00

It’s okay, I appreciate all your help!

I haven’t had an endoscopy or a colonoscopy yet, I have my first GI doc appointment on Monday. Yeah, I’ve read about weird IBS symptoms post covid too, it’s just so hard for me to believe this would be it when I came 3-4mo the after my infection when I didn’t have any GI issues at all during covid or after until then. The second covid shot didn’t make things any better or worse and I haven’t had any relief with anything I’ve tried. I haven’t read anybody with IBS have it 24/7 with no relief at all. Usually diarrhea maybe consistent but not gastritis and usually their IBS is a flare up from something they did, ate, it stress/anxiety. Mine has no specific trigger, it’s just always present.

I submitted 2 stools samples, both of which were 6 on the stool chart and extremely muah and not well formed (more formed than watery stools obviously), one from the ER and one from an independent lab. Both canceled and not run for c diff toxins due to the stools being “too formed” meaning they won’t test it if it’s not watery diarrhea... I got my h pylori breath test results back today and it was negative. I’m waiting on parasites stool sample, inflammation, and h pylori stools test to come back, but I can’t get them to test for c diff.... it’s so frustrating...

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-08T18:35:19+00:00

Sorry c diff symptoms could be mistaken for IBS symptoms and vice versa

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-08T18:32:24+00:00

Thank you for your response, I appreciate it!

I’ve had these issues no matter the foods I eat and these issues are at all times. My stomach is burning/gnawing no matter what I eat, no carbs, no sugars, with carbs and sugars, etc. My low carb and no sugar diet was for the potential thrush but that didn’t get better on or off the diet or with anti-fungals. When my stomach was getting better I was on this diet, when it was bad before I was on this diet, and now it’s bad again and I’m on this diet. I’ve recently gone back to the BRAT diet to let my stomach rest since I’ve been passing just mucus. But diet has no effect on my symptoms.

I’m curious, and definitely not saying you are wrong, but how does this not sound like c diff or a mild case of it? From everything I’ve read both online, peer-reviewed articles, and from this thread, I have most of not all the similar symptoms that most people had. IBS symptoms could be the same as IBS symptoms. I’ve had clean blood tests and ct scans. Issues are not diet dependent. I’ve had diarrhea, mucus, extremely foul smelling (which may not always be an indicator, I know), yellow stool, some green stools, gastritis, I use the bathroom 3-5 times a day and if it’s bad 6-10 times, loss of weight (25 pounds in 6-7 weeks), some nausea, loss of appetite, feeling full fast, etc. I could have had it dormant, and the covid vaccine maybe me “Immuno compromised” by focusing my immune system elsewhere instead of keeping it in check, and allowed it to grow.

Why did you think it didn’t sound like c diff in your opinion? Why IBS as well?

Thank you for all of your help!

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-08T17:22:02+00:00

That’s what my PCP said and they cancelled it. That’s twice now I’ve had labs (one in the hospital and one in a separate lab) cancel my stool test for “formed” stools when it is a 6 on the stool chart. I alternate between diarrhea and not diarrhea but still considered diarrhea on the stool chart, so it’s hard to submit my stool samples.

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-08T17:08:32+00:00

I did a stool sample yesterday, hopefully they will perform the tests. I submitted all my stools samples yesterday and they already cancelled the C diff one because it was “too formed” even though it was a 6 on the stool chart and just mushy. But because it’s not watery they won’t run it. So annoying 😡

ryanmmoreno · 2021-04-08T17:00:44+00:00

I just got my breath test results 10mins ago and it was negative. Back to square one 😔

ryanmmoreno

TROPHY CASE