clear jelly stools

for those of you that didnt read the title, THIS IS A VERY BLUNT POST that some may find gross, sickening, nasty or just downright offensive... but i gotta ask

short medical history:

RNY 2007 (lost from about 255lbs to 121lbs before deliberately eating more to gain up to about 125-130lbs because i looked sick at 121lbs - have maintained weight loss since then)

endometrial ablation a couple of years before that (period-free since then)

liver enzymes elevated since about 6 months post-RNY (have had MRI & ultrasound of liver, all come back completely normal & DR has no clue why enzymes are elevated since lives appears to be completely a-ok)

as of about 4 months ago exactly, my period decided come back (the ablation was still successful because i hardly have ANY "flow" - we're talking just enough where i have to wear something to keep from soiling myself, i could wear a junior tampon for 24 hours & probably be okay flow wise), but i have all the SYMPTOMS of a period otherwise, irritability, achey hip joints, a little stomach upset, bloating, etc just like before my ablation only the cramp parts aren't as bad.

the SAME exact time-frame when my period returned, i started slowly gaining weight (not a lot, it's about 1 - 1.5 lbs per month).  i KNOW it is not a change in diet im just in denial about or "not noticing" because i still journal every single thing i eat/drink & there has been NO change in diet.  i am up to about 138 lbs.

also, the SAME exact time-frame, i started having SEVERELY itchy armpits.  seriously itchy, like im talking i could claw the blood out of them itchy.  (there is NO visible rash or even any redness - unless i have just clawed it obviously.)  this has progressively gotten worse over the last 4 months.  it started out sparadic & now it is pretty much constant.

over the last couple of weeks, i have been having a large amount of clear, jelly-like poop.  i still have "regular" poop.  but sometimes i feel the need to fart & try but only clear (sometimes even water-like) "jelly" comes out.  it is COMPLETELY odorless - when i have these "sharts" or "bowel movements" there is NO smell what-so-ever.  there is no COLOR to them what-so-ever.  it looks just like grape jelly would texturally, only it is clear.  after researching on the internet, i am fairly certain that this is "mucus". 

for the last 2 weeks to a month, the glands/nodes in my neck have been slightly swollen and i have had sinus pressure in my cheeks that i have had to take tylenol & allergy/sinus pills daily for.  (this paragraph may just be a coincidence, but figured id mention it.) 

so when you cross reference all those symptoms (except for the sinus part), i figure it's an overload of candida fungus in my body.  i figured an anti-fungal couldn't hurt so called my regular DR who called me in one (3 days of Diflucan 200 mg) which i started today. 

to help with the elevated liver enzymes (and possibly help w/ the mucus stools which are weirding me out), i also bought some milk thistle which everyone knows helps the liver and lowers enzyme levels in the blood.

so i figured id throw my issue out there & see if anyone else had any thoughts on any of this?
 

i will also add that i am in NO pain at all at any time (abdominal or otherwise) and i dont have any hard/firm masses of any kind in my stomach

I would say probiotics but I think this is above my pay grade.
would be interested to know what you find out though !!

Your elevated liver enzymes could be in relation to a systemic infection....so, please check with a pharmacist who knows about OTC herbals, and how they interact with meds before taking milk thistle and diflucan together. I would also second the probiotics, and add fiber supplements.

I have a terrible time with massive diarhea for the past 6 months or so. At the same time, I have tested positve for yeast in my urine 4 times during the same time frame. Going back to June of 2011 I started with major kidney stones and had 3 surgeries - so I have been on and off antibiotics - so this is when it all started. With each surgery, I also had IV steroids which with all the antibiotic and steriods - and I have a weakened immune system this is probably where the yeast came from.

So, I went on Diflucan the first time - 200mg for 10 days and sure enough the bladder infection went away and so did the massive diarhea - I mean massive (it would last for 5 or 6 hours and mounds and mounds but not clear. I would have to flush 2 or 3 times to get it down) It was amazing that the difflucan helped. When I asked my urologist and infectious disease doctor they all said you are supposed to have yeast in the bowels and it made no sense. Well, 2 weeks later they repeated the urinalyis and culture and it was different bacteria and I went on cipro for 10 days. A week later I went for another culture and sure enough it came back yeast. this has gone on for the past few months and I just finished my 4 th prescription for diflucan but this time for 2 weeks. I got in 1 week to repeat the culture. I still have kidney stones which doesnt help either.

you have to be careful with difflican because it elevates liver enzymes - I know mine go up every time I take them and they go down after I stop them which is they wont let me take them more than 2 weeks.

There are candida specialists but they are hard to find - there is a book "The Yeast Connection" you might want to get and it has very interesting information with a diet to follow to kill of the yeast if you want to try - it is low in everything - no carbs, no wheat, no everything - I cant remember it all - it is basically just protein and vegetables.

the other thing i can suggest is to ask a gasto enterologist for digestive enzymes - that is what my gastro doctor wanted to give me = he said it would decrease the diarhea. He also said possibly questran if it is bile in the stool - did you already have your gallbladder out? If so, that could be the problem - your liver cant' lake over the function of the gallbladder and it is pouring bile into the intestines causing the diarhea - questran helps that .

i have no diarhea at all.  i have normal stools, then at times i have totally clear jelly "stools".

diflucan is the first thing ive tried and ive only taken pill 1 of 3 since i just started my 3 day rx yesterday - but i have already seen improvement in my underarm itch. 

since my liver enzymes are already elevated for god-only-knows-why, i started milk thistle yesterday also (and plan to stay on that for a while just to see if it lowers the enzymes).

i DO have my gallbladder out

finished final of 3 diflucan pills today. 

itchy armpits are completely gone.

jelly stools are not.  but im continuing with the milk thistle so we'll see. 

update:

i have taken colace daily since i stopped chewing sugar-free gum approximately 6 weeks ago.  (i didnt take it before then because the sugar alcohols in the sugar-free gum already have a laxative quality.)

i stopped the colace 2 days ago.  the clear jelly poop has stopped and i am having regular bowel movements now (w/out the colace or the sugar-free gum). 

so im all good now

(saw DR yesterday about the swollen neck glands & horrible sinus pressure in my nose & cheeks.  i was diagnosed with bad sinus infection & fluid behind my ears.  im now on antibiotics & decongestants for that - so that was unrelated coincidence.)

so thanks everyone for input/advice - im all good now!

keeping y'all updated since y'all wanted to be

day 2 of antibiotics.  pain in cheeks starting to get worse again (so maybe sinus infection needs stronger antibiotics? or stronger decongestnts? waiting to hear)

worried that candida yeast infection may come back on antibiotics, but so far no sign of that (but DR said will call me in diflucan again if it does).

stools still doing well (completely normal, no constipation or diarhea or clear jelly/mucus stools now that ive stopped the daily colace - so many i just need no stool softeners or sugar free gum or any "help" to have natural bowel movements.  the only reason i started the daily colace was because i figured id NEED them after stopping chewing so much sugar free gum for so long, but i guess not.)

weight is starting to fall back off already even though candida yeast infection has been gone for just a few days - so i guess what i read about candida yeast infections contributing to weight gain could be true (i read that an internal/gastric candida yeast infection - which is what i believe caused my armpit itching and contributed to the mucus in my stools - could cause or contribute to weight gain since candida yeast can cause an interuption in normal bowel movements and actually lower metabolism).  since ive had several, definitely more than "sufficient" sized bowel movements (not just clear jelly) over the last few days, im feeling better bowel wise, etc and the 5 lbs or so ive put on is already starting to come off. 

so if i can just get this sinus infection cleared up (without getting the yeast infection back), ill be good.  keep ur fingers crossed!

ps.  i REALLY understand u women now who have had vaginal yeast infections before.  i am almost 40 years old & had never had a yeast infection of ANY kind before until this candida yeast caused that armpit itching i had.  holy cow.  no wonder women hate yeast infections.  if my hoochie itched like that, id want to kill someone!