NYT Diarrhea, constipation, pain, bloating: We asked experts why the virus causes these issues and what to do about them. Food used to be a daily source of joy for Sarah Carter. A self-described “vegetable head” in San Mateo, Calif., she loved perusing farmers’ markets, tending her garden, cooking elaborate meals and exploring Bay Area restaurants.
That changed in October 2023, when Ms. Carter, 36, had Covid for the first time. Her main symptom, diarrhea, became so relentless that she had to take an ambulance to the emergency room. Her blood pressure and heart rate spiked from severe dehydration, and she needed intravenous fluids to treat it. She was sent home and endured three more days of diarrhea before she finally felt like herself again.
That is, until April 2024, when she felt as if she “inherited a new GI system overnight,” she said. Nearly everything she ate, even bland foods like applesauce and toast, set off diarrhea. She also has had bloating and pain so severe she sometimes feels as if acid is running through her intestines.