Cyclospora has been making the rounds all over my internet and in my friend group chats, too ;)
The Stomach Bug That Started It
What I'm not seeing people talk about is what can happen after the infection is gone.
For the blissfully un-initiated, during a Cyclospora infection, the symptoms look a lot like IBS: urgency, diarrhea, cramping, nausea, bloating. For most people, within a few days the infection clears, symptoms go away, and life goes back to normal.
But not always.
Why won’t cyclospora symptoms go awaY?
Sometimes a stomach bug is the turning point when you realize, "You know...my stomach has never really been the same since then."
Whether it was Cyclospora from the salad you grabbed for lunch, norovirus that tore through the office last winter, or food poisoning on vacation, an infection can sometimes leave people dealing with what's known as “post-infectious IBS”.
What that means is, basically, the original infection is gone, but the digestive tract hasn't completely settled back down. The gut lining may still be irritated, the microbiome may have shifted, or the immune system may still be reacting. That's one reason someone can continue dealing with bloating, urgency, cramping, or unpredictable bowel movements months after they were "supposed to be better."
I remember working with a client whose digestion was never quite right after a trip to Central America.
A stomach bug changes the gut environment
She came to me months after she got back, and while she was feeling better than she had during the trip, things had never returned to normal. She was still bloated, often crampy, and never knew what her digestion was going to do on any given day – sometimes needing emergency bathroom trips, sometimes nothing for days.
When we ran a stool panel, we found there were still signs that her gut hadn't fully recovered. There were low levels of E. coli present, along with markers showing her gut immune system was still activated.
When I see results like that, it's no surprise she’s still struggling months later!
I think this is one of the reasons an IBS diagnosis misses the mark. If the symptoms started after a stomach bug, but nobody ever asks about that stomach bug again, it can feel like the whole thing is a big mystery. But sometimes the most important clue isn't what's happening today. It's what happened 6 months or 6 years ago.
If your digestion has never quite been the same since a stomach bug you hoped would pass, my door is always open. You can leave a comment here, or send me an email directly: juliet@nutritionriot.com