I'm living in an undiagnosed intestinal hellscape

edit: CURED I'm the original poster with an update. I'm feeling better now. I stopped taking Lexapro and my symptoms went away. It took a few weeks after stopping the Lexapro for my digestive system to go back to normal. Hopefully, this helps someone who comes across this post in the future and is suffering.

Scroll to bottom for a tl;dr summary of my symptoms.

37m 5'11'' 230lbs Caucasian

Primary Complaint: Chronic Intestinal Upset

Duration: 4+ Months

Existing Medical Issues: N/A

Current Meds: Wellbutrin, Naltrexone, Topiramate, PrEP

Smoke: Vape

No Drugs or Alcohol

Preamble:

I have a history of dieting, specifically intermittent fasting or eating one meal a day to lose weight. But I really don't think I could have fucked up my digestive system this bad as a result. I'm seeing a therapist who specializes in food who also doesn't think I have 'ruined' my digestive system by being bad to it. Maybe you disagree! If you do, you do! But I'm trying to get an opinion that doesn't take this into account too heavily. I guess I am leaving this piece of information here but don't want it to make anyone come to any knee jerk reactions.

I will begin with symptoms that began before my current symptoms that may or may not be related.

In January 2022, I began waking up in the middle of the night 2 - 3 times per night every three hours ravenously hungry and not able to go back to sleep without eating.

This happened every night without fail. It happened so regularly that I would keep food next to my bed to prepare to eat in order to go back to sleep. Often, the night eating would be so uncontrollable it would become a binge.

Every morning after the night eating, I would wake up extremely backed up with poop (having eating dinner and several times during the night) with intestinal upset and fatigue that would last for hours until I would poop. The poop was watery to soft. I would usually feel better after I pooped and would go on with my day.

My diagnosis at this time, which was both a self-diagnosis and one given to me by a therapist was Night Eating Syndrome, which is a type of involuntary eating disorder that hasn't been studied that much, but it has a something to do with distorted circadian rhythms and hunger cues.

I would like to stress that my current issue may or may not have anything to do with this - bodies are weird!

Here are my current symptoms. You can take into consideration the above symptoms or start here:

Beginning in July 2022, I began experiencing extreme chronic intestinal discomfort, lasting every single minute of every day. It feels as though pockets of gas and built up watery diarrhea and - I don't know - molten lava is constantly gurgling through my intestines.

It is daily and constant and it has been going on for four months now.

The type of food I eat or how much I eat has had no impact on the symptoms. No matter what, I am in agony every single day. The other major symptom is nausea. Every morning, I wake up feeling extreme nausea. The nausea dissipates after a few hours of agony, but lingers throughout the day. I am not hungry the entire day. The idea of eating makes me feel sick.

If I am lucky, I will be able to poop out watery diarrhea - and by watery I mean my stool is 90% water. Occasionally, there are small amounts of soft stool in it. On rare occasion, it is not watery but soft. My stool is never hard and normal and large.

The extreme intestinal upset lasts throughout the entire day, easing slightly and briefly in the evening. After I eat dinner and the food starts going through my intestines again, the symptoms come back. It almost feels like my digestive system is broken and not able to accept food.

No matter what, whether the symptoms are extreme or less so, it feels like there is a gurgling ball of something in my intestines that is making me feel sick and nauseas. Gas, perhaps. Sometimes I can feel a ball of something gurgling in a specific spot.

I am fatigued throughout the entire day every single day. If I didn't have to work, I would be sleeping the entire day. On weekends, I sleep entire days. On most weekends, I sleep 15+ hours. The only way I am able to stay awake is by drinking an absurd amount of caffiene.

I switched from Zoloft to Lexapro around the same time these intense symptoms started happening, and believed this might be the cause of my symptoms, but have now been completely off of it for three weeks, and the symptoms continue. I am not taking any medications that would be the cause of these symptoms. So it must be something else.

My blood results just came back and Glucose is Low, Urea Nitrogen is High, Creatinine is Low, Bun/Creat is High, Chloride is High, and Carbon Dioxide is Low. My stool test pathogen test came back negative for everything.

The healthcare system SUCKS and I am still waiting to get an appointment with a GI doctor.

I am suffering every single day. This condition has taken over my entire life. My entire life has been reduced to lying in bed and bearing through extreme intestinal discomfort and nausea. I have not left my apartment for months.

Weirdly, this week has been better but I think that's because I have been sleeping in every day.

tl;dr summary of my symptoms

• extreme chronic intestinal discomfort
• 3-4 months every minute of every day
• gurgling feeling inside intestines
• gas and bloating
• watery diarrhea
• morning nausea, lingers through day
• no appetite during day
• fatigue, sleeping 15+ hours
• stopped taking Lexapro three weeks ago, no difference
• blood test shows Glucose is Low, Urea Nitrogen is High, Creatinine is Low, Bun/Creat is High, Chloride is High, and Carbon Dioxide is Low
• history of intermittent fasting, but have been eating normally with no relief

I am hoping someone here can give me a lead on what might be going on.