I was on Atkins many years ago, back in college, with fantastic results and don't really remember any side effects. I'm 30 now and, of course, since then I've gained the weight back and then some.

I decided to go back on Atkins to see if I could lose weight again. I'm almost to my third week and have lost only 10 pounds so far (a disappointing amount considering I have 50 or more pounds to lose).

The following will be graphic:

The truly worrisome issue, however, is that just this week I've developed daily diarrhea. I have not had a normal bowel movement in many days. Not only is every bowel movement loose but the urge to defecate comes on very suddenly (sometimes soon after eating, sometimes completely out of the blue) and I have a very short amount of time to rush to the bathroom to have explosive diarrhea. Not very much comes out, either.

I was on the induction phase of Atkins for 2 weeks without these symptoms and now in this third week I've been having urgency to defecate as soon as I wake up in the morning and proceed to pass loose stool followed by later in the day, usually after eating but not always, feeling the urgency to defecate and again passing loose, sometimes explosive, stool. Every bowel movement this week has followed this pattern (urgency to defecate followed by loose, sometimes explosive, stool).

I even went to the emergency room where they ran a blood, urine, and abdominal CAT scan with contrast all of which were normal.

Could it be the low-carbohydrate diet causing this diarrhea after 2 weeks without such issues? I'm only 30 years old and do not want to have to wear diapers or fear leaving the house due to these urgent bowel movements. I'm very concerned, please help. Thank you.