Supplemental Zinc Stops Chronic Diarrhea - Red Meat Does Not?

youngsinatra

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Hello everyone,

I am baffled that zinc supplementation is the only thing I‘ve yet discovered that resolves my chronic diarrhea / IBS-D. But after stopping it my diarrhea comes back in a few days. Weird enough, even if I eat a lot of red meat which is rich in zinc, I cannot replicate the effects of supplemental zinc. It simply does not stop diarrhea.

Antibiotics, low FODMAP, natural antimicrobials, supplements and elimination diets did not do much for my diarrhea, and some of them caused it to become even more severe like antibiotics.

Anyone having a idea for the mechanism?
I hope somebody with diarrhea finds this helpful. I lost hope in fixing my diarrhea and started zinc supplementation lately for other reasons and I am happy with this effect on my GI tract.
 
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Hello everyone,

I am baffled that zinc supplementation is the only thing I‘ve yet discovered that resolves my chronic diarrhea / IBS-D. But after stopping it my diarrhea comes back in a few days. Weird enough, even if I eat a lot of red meat which is rich in zinc, I cannot replicate the effects of supplemental zinc. It simply does not stop diarrhea.

Antibiotics, low FODMAP, natural antimicrobials, supplements and elimination diets did not do much for my diarrhea, and some of them caused it to become even more severe like antibiotics.

Anyone having a idea for the mechanism?
I hope somebody with diarrhea finds this helpful. I lost hope in fixing my diarrhea and started zinc supplementation lately for other reasons and I am happy with this effect on my GI tract.

Gosh sorry for your troubles Sinatra. First of all why not eat your weekly canned oysters for your zinc? My little dog has been having trouble the last month with diarrhea, and I finally got her back to normal with activated charcoal. Maybe give that a try for a few days.
 

Vins7

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Hello everyone,

I am baffled that zinc supplementation is the only thing I‘ve yet discovered that resolves my chronic diarrhea / IBS-D. But after stopping it my diarrhea comes back in a few days. Weird enough, even if I eat a lot of red meat which is rich in zinc, I cannot replicate the effects of supplemental zinc. It simply does not stop diarrhea.

Antibiotics, low FODMAP, natural antimicrobials, supplements and elimination diets did not do much for my diarrhea, and some of them caused it to become even more severe like antibiotics.

Anyone having a idea for the mechanism?
I hope somebody with diarrhea finds this helpful. I lost hope in fixing my diarrhea and started zinc supplementation lately for other reasons and I am happy with this effect on my GI tract.
What you are saying about antibiotics caused become even more severe, have you considered yeast overgrowth instead of bacterial?
I dont know about the reasons Of your improvement with zinc.
 
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youngsinatra

youngsinatra

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Gosh sorry for your troubles Sinatra. First of all why not eat your weekly canned oysters for your zinc? My little dog has been having trouble the last month with diarrhea, and I finally got her back to normal with activated charcoal. Maybe give that a try for a few days.
I tried AC and it does wonders if I ate something that causes endotoxin build-up. I don‘t have access to quality oysters where I live. I normally have a total of 30-40mg of dietary zinc intake.
 
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I tried AC and it does wonders if I ate something that causes endotoxin build-up. I don‘t have access to quality oysters where I live. I normally have a total of 30-40mg of dietary zinc intake.

"You won’t have to eat them on the ½ shell. Canned oysters actually contain more zinc than the raw ones.

So why not grab a can of oysters and enjoy a mid-afternoon snack? Of course, it would be better to have something to go with it, and since apples and onions contain quercetin, maybe I could entice you to make an oyster-onion spread for apple slices.

1 oyster raw 5.5 mg zinc (.4 mg copper)

1 oyster canned 8 mg zinc (.4 mg copper)

3 oz. beef liver: 5.2 mg zinc (14 mg copper)

Oysters on the half shell with hogwash recipe:

Oysters on the Half Shell With Hog Wash Recipe"

These are a lot better than I had imagined! I sauteed up some today.
 

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youngsinatra

youngsinatra

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Two 10-day courses of penicillin VK.
Before that I also had GI problems, but since then watery diarrhea became the norm.
 

Gustav3Y

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I have not taken that one before, but with stuff like Augmentin haven't had diarrhea issues, actually helped, not that I have taken it for diarheea.
 

redsun

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Hello everyone,

I am baffled that zinc supplementation is the only thing I‘ve yet discovered that resolves my chronic diarrhea / IBS-D. But after stopping it my diarrhea comes back in a few days. Weird enough, even if I eat a lot of red meat which is rich in zinc, I cannot replicate the effects of supplemental zinc. It simply does not stop diarrhea.

Antibiotics, low FODMAP, natural antimicrobials, supplements and elimination diets did not do much for my diarrhea, and some of them caused it to become even more severe like antibiotics.

Anyone having a idea for the mechanism?
I hope somebody with diarrhea finds this helpful. I lost hope in fixing my diarrhea and started zinc supplementation lately for other reasons and I am happy with this effect on my GI tract.
Unlikely but its possible your requirements for zinc are higher than what you are currently obtaining from foods. You have to look at absorption inhibitors (e.g. phytates), increased requirements due to loss e.g. sweat (and diarrhea increases losses btw), diseases that can worsen zinc absorption such as IBD or other gastrointestinal disorders.

Two 10-day courses of penicillin VK.
Before that I also had GI problems, but since then watery diarrhea became the norm.

Take a B-complex for a while and see if it goes away as antibiotics can deplete most of the B-vitamins.
 
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youngsinatra

youngsinatra

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Interesting. The serotonin-antagonism from Cypro would definitely help with diarrhea. Zinc is also a potent anti-serotonin.
 
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youngsinatra

youngsinatra

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If Zinc would not on the clock cause me headaches and nausea whenever I take it, I would agree with that.

Yes probably depends on your individual zinc and copper status. Zinc can raise histamines, which causes headaches.
 
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youngsinatra

youngsinatra

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The diarrhea came back over time sadly. BUT I actually found out that the cause of the diarrhea is the non-filtered espresso I drank every damn day (4-8 each day), made with my italian barista machine.

I switched to paper-filtered coffee for a week now and now I don‘t have any digestive issues anymore! I think it‘s due to the coffee oils or so. I still enjoy coffee, but I am sad because I have such a premium barista machine at home and now only use a basic cheap paper filter pour-over.

Btw, I made the connection to the coffee filter, because I almost immediately got the runs after drinking espresso from home, but at work I began to drink lots of filtered coffee and didn‘t have this effect at all. Also seems like the filtered coffee does not cause such an increase in anxiety like espresso does, even tho I make really strong filtered coffee. This all makes sense to me because I often connect gut irritation with anxiety. (I have IBS)
 

Rock_V

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@youngsinatra Is your espresso machine hygienic? I remember reading once that coffee machines can harbour mould species, which could cause GI problems I would imagine.
 

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