10+ years, 3 doctors and no progress. Chronic stomach issues.

This post is very long, and thorough because I cannot do this anymore. This is ruining my life and I need this to stop.

I am a 23 year old man. 230 lbs, 6’6” active and healthy. I do not smoke and I rarely consume alcohol. I live in Texas. I primarily eat a diet of simple foods consisting of red and white meats like beef and chicken, dairy and eggs, breads and noodles/ pasta, and vegetables. For the more complex meals or unhealthy ones - I make sure that they are very plain and I eat them in moderation. As for what liquids I drink, I am less stringent and consume a fairly large amount of caffeine. I try my best to stay away from sugar in my beverages - so if given the opportunity I drink something with alternative sweeteners. I drink coffee frequently. I also drink energy drinks - no more than 1 a day, and try to not have one every day. I probably consume about 4 or 5 in a week. And I try my best to stay away from soda. In the event that I do, it is always diet if it is an option. I regulate the amount that I eat very diligently. I am an active individual who works out and plays sports regularly. I work out 30 minutes to 1 hour a day everyday at least, this is outside of practicing a sport. I am currently working to become a professional athlete - and am currently working in the professional regulatory body of my sport and I practice it frequently. I do not take any supplements and do not take any prescribed medications on a daily basis. I do use over the counter medications when necessary in the proper doses.

I have not always been a healthy individual, and would say that I am still not physically fit or impressive by any means. I grew up living a very latent lifestyle, and eating whatever my parents bought - which usually was based on a very remedial understanding of a healthy diet and lifestyle.

I have suffered from stomach issues for 10+ years, which consists frequent diarrhea, and constipation which varies and occurs very randomly. Some days I go to the bathroom upwards of 20 times - or until I have nothing left in me. It is exhausting. I do not have mucus or blood in my stool, in the event there is blood is from an abrasion due to wiping. I frequently experience acid reflux which has now become worse and is prevalent as very frequent belching, sometimes of which feel as if I am about to vomit. This has gotten so bad that I do everything I can to reduce the amount of air that gets in my stomach, including my recent effort to try and entirely eliminate my consumption carbonated drinks. I will burp non stop for an hour if I drink something carbonated. When I have very extreme bowel movements it is almost always urgent - within a 5 minute time from my stomach starting to feel pain or irritation. I usually need to urgently use the bathroom within 10 to 30 minutes of eating. I almost always have a very bad bowel movement in the morning, almost as if my body is ridding itself of what I ate in days prior. I am constantly bloated - going to sleep every night with a large puffy stomach and waking up with a much smaller one. I lose and gain weight, very easily.

In 2024 I could not take it anymore and visited the first GI specialist. He came to the conclusion that it was irritable nerves in my stomach and prescribed me medications to calm my stomach. I then had a endoscopy & a colonoscopy which were done by two doctors simultaneously. They found irritation in my gut. I was prescribed very strong antibiotics (large mg metronidazole) to kill any bad gut bacteria. This did not work. I also almost killed myself by accidentally consuming alcohol while taking said strong antibiotic. After this I became incredibly depressed about this problem. In early 2025 I was told I have C-DIFF by the next GI specialist I have seen. He had me do many stool tests, all of which were negative - aside from C-DIFF which was positive. I have absolutely no idea how I could have gotten it. I was put on another set of very intense antibiotics. I had my internals scanned to see if there was anything structurally wrong with me - and nothing came from that thankfully. The problem remained, and In late 2025 I had a pre cancerous polyp removed by the same GI specialist in a colonoscopy. For a couple months after this I felt somewhat better but still had some issues. I went on a month long vacation to Tokyo in 2026 and started having irritation again mid trip. I have gone back to the chronic issues I had previously and the third and most recent GI doctor I have used has yet to do anything at all. I just went through multiple stool tests again and all have been negative. Including C-DIFF. The doctor also had me tested for Giardia due to the frequent burping, however this test came up negative. During the process of collecting a sample for this test I noticed some small short hair sized consistent white strings in my stool. I have not noticed this in my stool ever, more than likely because of how toilet water obfuscates your view of your waste and I have never had an itch or irritation. I understand this could have been toilet paper residue but I am a pretty clean person so this is unlikely.

I am on the verge of being completely hopeless. I cannot give up because this could legitimately kill me, but I can’t deal with this any longer. What on earth do I do?