Is Diarrhea From Fruit Juice Cause By Bacterial Overgrowth?

Ben

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I have no symptoms of bacterial overgrowth, except diarrhea from fruit juice. Whole fruit does not cause diarrhea for me, only fruit juice.

So something is interfering with the process of my intestine removing the water from the stool. But what? I drank liters of orange juice per day with no abdominal pain or negative symptoms.

Except when I was physically active right after drinking it, but apparently the cause is the physical activity. And it hurts at the left side of my lower stomach when I do this.

I spend 1 hr+ in the restroom each day, however, and suffer of fatigue, particularly in the morning. Maybe I am losing electrolytes as a result of diarrhea. Although thyroid does not help, tianeptine does.

However, tianeptine is very effective (80%+ efficiency) for IBS symptoms. It reduces serotonin in the digestive tract, this is how it works. It also warms me up better than anything else, and makes me feel better than any other food or supplement. However, despite the IBS study, tianeptine does NOT prevent my diarrhea.

Why does my digestive system choose not to remove water from digested fruit juice? If I stopped my diarrhea somehow, I would probably retain electrolytes better and have more strength. But what do I do? Should I take calcium to slow down my digestive system (it has the opposite effect to magnesium, producing constipation rather than diarrhea)?

Can bacteria be held responsible here? Would "the carrot" help? I only have a problem with gelatin, when I eat a big dose of gelatin at once, I get irritable. But not sugar. I love fruit juice so much, I drink it all the time and I don't want to quit it. It's my best anti-stress food. Plus I get diarrhea from the least amount of milk, but not cheese, so I don't have many options. If I stick to whole oranges, I will eat a miniscule amount of calories per day, which will slow my metabolism. Plus, I don't digest the pulp completely.

The acidity can't be held responsible since I add baking soda for neutralization, and that can't be held responsible either because I get diarrhea regardless. Again, no irritation. The fruit juice just seems to go through me. But I get thirsty, so I drink a lot of it, I don't overhydrate, the fruit juice seems to go right through me.

Some sources say sugar is responsible, but I get no diarrhea from raw fruit, which has fiber that feeds bacteria. Potatoes and massy foods help reduce the diarrhea, but I think it's important to address why water isn't getting removed from fruit juice in the first place.

Does anyone or is anyone capable of drinking liters of fruit juice per day without diarrhea? Maybe the intestines just aren't designed for this. Or maybe my digestive system is just underactive. I have no clue, so please tell me how your intestines would respond to that.
 

kiran

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My guess is inflamed gut. I have similar issues, especially after exercising my abs. Perhaps the activity exacerbates the inflammation?
 

Jennifer

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I was having diarrhea after drinking juice. I had a Genova comprehensive stool test done and it showed I had an infection, got put on minocycline and haven't had diarrhea since. I've been drinking at least 2 liters of juice daily for almost two weeks now without any problems. No stomach sloshing, gurgling or pain in my lower abdomen.

For context, along with the diarrhea, I was having gnawing pains in my lower abdomen and a rash on my face.
 

nikotrope

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When I eat junk food I get constipated but when I am strict I get loose stools. I didn't reach any conclusion but it may be the low fat part of the strictness (when I have full fat milk I think it's okay but I didn't test things very far).

It got better when I supplemented with vitamin k and caffeine (to try to fix my liver). I don't know why, I just know that I am more thirsty and from the scale it seems I evaporate more water during the day (I don't exercise).
 

tara

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@Ben, I assume you are buying juice, not making it yourself?
Have you tried different kinds and different brands? May have something to do with the quality of the fruit that the juice is made from, eg unripe or overripe, or additives, or the way the fibre is handled in the juice making process? I know some brands work better for me than others, though I don't generally get diarrhea. If you haven't already tried it, you could do a day or two just with your own hand made juice to see if you are ok with that - might give you more data.
 
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Ben

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Jennifer said:
I was having diarrhea after drinking juice. I had a Genova comprehensive stool test done and it showed I had an infection, got put on minocycline and haven't had diarrhea since. I've been drinking at least 2 liters of juice daily for almost two weeks now without any problems. No stomach sloshing, gurgling or pain in my lower abdomen.

For context, along with the diarrhea, I was having gnawing pains in my lower abdomen and a rash on my face.
Interesting. How do you think I should get a stool test done?

I have rosacea and acne on face and chest and back, which responds to antibiotics.
 
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Ben

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nikotrope said:
When I eat junk food I get constipated but when I am strict I get loose stools. I didn't reach any conclusion but it may be the low fat part of the strictness (when I have full fat milk I think it's okay but I didn't test things very far).

It got better when I supplemented with vitamin k and caffeine (to try to fix my liver). I don't know why, I just know that I am more thirsty and from the scale it seems I evaporate more water during the day (I don't exercise).
Sounds like it helped your liver and your metabolism is up, increasing sweating.
 
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Ben

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tara said:
@Ben, I assume you are buying juice, not making it yourself?
Have you tried different kinds and different brands? May have something to do with the quality of the fruit that the juice is made from, eg unripe or overripe, or additives, or the way the fibre is handled in the juice making process? I know some brands work better for me than others, though I don't generally get diarrhea. If you haven't already tried it, you could do a day or two just with your own hand made juice to see if you are ok with that - might give you more data.
All brands of OJ, and all different kinds of juices cause diarrhea for me. The lower quality OJ had no worse effect than the highest quality.
 
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Ben

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kiran said:
My guess is inflamed gut. I have similar issues, especially after exercising my abs. Perhaps the activity exacerbates the inflammation?
Maybe the ab motility causes the digestive tissue to stretch, and therefore increases stress in addition to the inflammation that fruit juice may cause.
 

Jennifer

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Ben said:
Jennifer said:
I was having diarrhea after drinking juice. I had a Genova comprehensive stool test done and it showed I had an infection, got put on minocycline and haven't had diarrhea since. I've been drinking at least 2 liters of juice daily for almost two weeks now without any problems. No stomach sloshing, gurgling or pain in my lower abdomen.

For context, along with the diarrhea, I was having gnawing pains in my lower abdomen and a rash on my face.
Interesting. How do you think I should get a stool test done?

I have rosacea and acne on face and chest and back, which responds to antibiotics.
You could check with your doctor about getting a comprehensive stool test done, but if you have rosacea and acne, I would think you most likely are dealing with a bacterial overgrowth.

The good thing with getting the stool test done through Genova is that they can tell you exactly what bacteria you're dealing with and recommend the antibiotic that kills off your particular overgrowth. Of course, I ended up on Minocycline which is what Ray recommends so you may just be better off getting a prescription for one of the tetracyclines from your doctor and save yourself the $500 for the stool test from Genova.
 

YourUniverse

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During the day, Ive only been eating fruit, with a soft cutoff of ~7pm, where Ill have meat, milk, etc (and continue with fruit as desired)

My bowels turn basically endlessly. It's annoying, but my energy is very good.

If I continue to eat lots of fruit, will the bacterial overgrowth (that I assume is the cause of the endless bowel movements) eventually heal itself?
 

peter88

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Bumping this thread. Most juice reliably gives me loose stools and acid reflux while I can eat any kind of honey, whole fruit, maple syrup etc with no problems. What gives? Is it the way fructose is professed?
 

peter88

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I was having diarrhea after drinking juice. I had a Genova comprehensive stool test done and it showed I had an infection, got put on minocycline and haven't had diarrhea since. I've been drinking at least 2 liters of juice daily for almost two weeks now without any problems. No stomach sloshing, gurgling or pain in my lower abdomen.

For context, along with the diarrhea, I was having gnawing pains in my lower abdomen and a rash on my face.
Did the minocycline cure the problem with juice for good or did it come back when you stopped the antibiotic? I’ve been intolerant to juice and dairy since I got very sick from bad raw milk.
 

Jennifer

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Did the minocycline cure the problem with juice for good or did it come back when you stopped the antibiotic? I’ve been intolerant to juice and dairy since I got very sick from bad raw milk.

No, once I stopped taking minocycline (I was on it 6+ months), my symptoms returned with a vengeance. I remember what juice I was drinking at that time I posted that and I’ve since learned that I’m allergic to all but a handful of fruits and that juice contained ones I’m allergic to. You experience loose stools and acid reflux even with freshly pressed juice/fruit you’ve juiced yourself?
 

peter88

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No, once I stopped taking minocycline (I was on it 6+ months), my symptoms returned with a vengeance. I remember what juice I was drinking at that time I posted that and I’ve since learned that I’m allergic to all but a handful of fruits and that juice contained ones I’m allergic to. You experience loose stools and acid reflux even with freshly pressed juice/fruit you’ve juiced yourself?
That's definitely the main reason I've never touched antibiotics. I've heard people that still haven't recovered from certain antibiotic usage.

The fruits I get bad intestinal burning from is OJ and pretty much all bottled juices on the shelves. Lots of frozen fruits too probably because they are picked when they aren't ripe. Its very hot right now and I've started drinking 2-3 liters of fresh pressed OJ and I've been dealing with poor sleep, heart burn and loose floating stools. I was gonna blame it on eggs but its definitely an issue with unripe oranges/acidity. The nausea goes away after stopping the OJ for as couple days.

Honeydew and cantaloupe doesn't give me the acid reflux issues but they make my throat itch. Where I live doesn't offer too many types of ripe fruit which is unfortunate so I may have to try something like coconut water for hydration. I stopped drinking bottled water because I don't crave it but I need a lot of fluids when its over 100 degrees everyday.
 

Jennifer

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That's definitely the main reason I've never touched antibiotics. I've heard people that still haven't recovered from certain antibiotic usage.

The fruits I get bad intestinal burning from is OJ and pretty much all bottled juices on the shelves. Lots of frozen fruits too probably because they are picked when they aren't ripe. Its very hot right now and I've started drinking 2-3 liters of fresh pressed OJ and I've been dealing with poor sleep, heart burn and loose floating stools. I was gonna blame it on eggs but its definitely an issue with unripe oranges/acidity. The nausea goes away after stopping the OJ for as couple days.

Honeydew and cantaloupe doesn't give me the acid reflux issues but they make my throat itch. Where I live doesn't offer too many types of ripe fruit which is unfortunate so I may have to try something like coconut water for hydration. I stopped drinking bottled water because I don't crave it but I need a lot of fluids when it’s over 100 degrees everyday.

Ah, okay. Your experience is similar to mine. Do you own a microwave? If so, and you want to give honeydew and cantaloupe another try, after you juice them, microwave the juice for up to a minute or more and see if this prevents the itchy throat? It sounds like you have an oral allergy to them and by microwaving the juice, you denature the offending protein. Do you tolerate watermelon and live in the US? The watermelons have been surprisingly good this year. I’ve been having one a day and lots of Thai coconut water to stay cool.
 

peter88

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Ah, okay. Your experience is similar to mine. Do you own a microwave? If so, and you want to give honeydew and cantaloupe another try, after you juice them, microwave the juice for up to a minute or more and see if this prevents the itchy throat? It sounds like you have an oral allergy to them and by microwaving the juice, you denature the offending protein. Do you tolerate watermelon and live in the US? The watermelons have been surprisingly good this year. I’ve been having one a day and lots of Thai coconut water to stay cool.
I actually do have a microwave I just never really use it so ill have to give that a try, thanks for the suggestion. I haven't eaten watermelons in years but from what I remember I didn't have any problems with it, it was just hard to find ripe ones. I think I read before that watermelons are in a different family than honeydews/cantaloupes so people usually don't get the same allergenic symptoms.

What brand of coconut water do you find the best? I bought some harmless harvest and surprisingly it tastes pretty good and I don't notice any bad effects.
 

Jennifer

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You’re welcome, @peter88. :) My favorite brand of coconut water is Symbiosis:


It’s too expensive for me to have as my sole source of coconut water so my other staple is Harmless Harvest.
 

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