Is this a return of IBS or should I be worried?
Posted , 8 users are following.
Okay, I'm a 20 year old male and was diagnosed with IBS at the age of 12. I was overweight, anxious and stressed a lot which really messed with my stomach. However, around the age of 15 I lost weight and grew in Confidence thus almost completely ridding me of my IBS symptoms. However, in June of this year, I had a sudden onset of Diarrhea one day. I would go to the toilet and once done I felt like I could go again. This felt like it could have been some kind of infection or bug. It went on for a week or two and really began to worry me. From then on I began obsessing over my bowel movements and worrying about having some serious underlying problem which was causing this diarrhea. The diarrhea did, however, clear up and completely stopped; only it left with IBS like symptoms again. Symptops, some of which I didn't really have last time, that are very IBS-like, such as: Bloating, occasional stomach pain, light brown mucusy looking stools, and i've had nausea once or twice. I should state, however, that during the past month or so I have been severly stressed and my anxiety is sky high. My first thought when I wake up is "I might have cancer" and my last thought before I go to sleep is the same. I've lost a few people close to me and I was constantly arguing with my Mother around this period too which really stressed me out the point of feeling depressed.
My stools, however, change so much. Which makes it hard to pin-point what could be wrong with me. They started a yellow kinda colour, and broken up. Then when I was relaxed and not really thinking about it, they would go back to normal colour but would be broken up and rough looking, and fairly easy to pass. When I would get really worried I would then pass diarrhea (which I know is because I'm nervous about my health), and then I'd go back to the mucusy looking stool.
Over the past few days I've really tried hard to relax, and surprise surprise no stomach pain, bloating or mucus in my stools. I had a small bout of constipation which pased with in a day and then I finally passed what looked like a normal poop. The colour had gone back to normal and the shape was kinda healthy looking. However, after this when I go to the toilet I pass what looks like a normal stool (smooth-ish, fairly long) but it has broken up pieces of stool around it, some of which looks quiet flat looking. It seems odd that I can have a normal stool with something that is abnormal looking around it. If anyone has been through something similar I'd really like to hear from you. The Dr said it could just be my IBS flaring up again, but didn't really do much else other than a blood test. Which came back clear apart from my liver results being "slightly raised"?
Apologies for this being all over the place, but my head kind of is at the moment as I've been so anxious about my health. I've just moved into my own place and I'm waiting to start uni, so I've had nothing to do with my time other than sit around by myself thinking I'm dying, which can't be helping my mental health at all. I think i've convinced myself I've had three different types of Cancer in the space of 2 month... haha.
Thanks,
Shaun
0 likes, 18 replies
Fireid13 shaun95
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shaun95 Fireid13
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I'm hoping it is just IBS. I've read about IBS PI (post infection) which could of occured after my bout of diarrhea.
Fireid13 shaun95
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david44367 shaun95
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shaun95 david44367
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shaun95
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philippa61759 shaun95
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shaun95 philippa61759
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Shaun
philippa61759 shaun95
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At this stage, I had an eighth opinion and this time the doctor suggested there was no point in putting me through all the same tests again since no new symptoms had appeared in three months and my pain was no worse. He finally diagnosed me with IBS and then I had a Calpractin test to look for Crohns or Colitis which was negative.
He didn't prescribe anything but I tried Buscopan myself which helped. I remembered that my brother was put on Buscopan for his IBS and it worked for him.
david44367 philippa61759
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Good to know there is someone else out there with same experiance - although not pleasnt for either of us is it
: David
philippa61759 david44367
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The main thing for me is to try and cut down on stress which caused the IBS in the first place. That should be a challenge.
dan38655 shaun95
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I get to sounding like a broken record on this forum, but the only (and reliable) thing that I have ever been able to do to get things fully back to normal was to cut back drastically on the food for a couple of days, a short fasting.
I kind of feel like kicking myself for a lot of needless worry, for the loss of sleep and for the useless doctor visits over the years. Stress played a part, but the fasting always took care of things ans so is my go-to cure for all things related to gastro discomfort.
shaun95 dan38655
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lee05569 shaun95
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I have spent several weeks trawling through countless forums in a bit to rid me of my anxieties however, this is the first website I've registered to just so I can respond to your post. I literally could have wrote that myself. In the last couple of months I have managed to convince myself that I have colon, stomach and most recently brain cancer!
At the moment I'm suffering a lot with my bowels and have been for several weeks. What's really frustrating is that I play tricks on myself all of the time. I was suffering from pains in the top of my stomach for two weeks or so, like a hot knife being placed under my chest and lots of gas. Naturally, I thought "this is 100% stomach cancer". I lost sleep, I drove my partner mad and my obsessive checking of my stools for blood (oh yes with my bare hands) lead me to seek a doctor's advice. A test of my faeces showed no blood and he prescribed me with omeprazole for indigestion and told me to stop eating at 10pm every night which I have to do due to my job and obviously the pain subsided.
But still my brain won't accept this (they call this confirmation bias). Even though I'm in no pain I am now back to checking stools again looking for blood and obsessing over every movement thinking that the cancer is further down in my colon. Back to losing sleep, back to the headaches (which I have started to worry is brain cancer) and back to feeling constantly anxious and obviously very loose stools. It's all I think about from the moment I wake up to the moment I close my eyes. I want to believe that this persistent anxiety is causing my loose and more frequent motions... but there's always that seed of doubt which at any given moment can grow into a huge tree that metaphorically suffocates me! Ha
The irony is I have a degree in psychology and anxiety runs in my family, both sides have it severely. The objective voice in my head is telling me that both of us suffer from anxiety. I am starting to realise that the stomach is very emotionally sensitive and if your worrying as much as me then why wouldn't our stomachs be affected. Of course they are going to be! It would be odd if they wasn't. I went on holiday for a week last month and was fine for 6 days. I don't know why my brain can't accept this is all obviously anxiety!
But then there's that horrible doubt then you can never quite get rid of. I'm sure we will be fine mate - just know that your not alone.
Lee
philippa61759 lee05569
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shaun95 lee05569
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Couple of month ago I thought I had head and neck cancer because of a swollen lymph node under my chin, I obsessed over this too and guess what? The stomach problems subsided! Because my mind was on something else. It's crazy!
I went to the Doctor's yesterday, told him how scared I was that it was cancer and he said "There's really more chance of you getting run over"... especially at my age. I said "I know but you always hear of people having it overlooked and diagnosed with IBS" and he said I need to stop worrying as much because it seems like that is bringing on these flare ups. Which I feel like I already know deep down, I just like confirmation aha. He just seemed sure it was my IBS, but there's always that thought in the back of my mind of... what if?! He gave me a pot to take a stool sample in tomorow and prescribed me some Colofac. Immediately as soon as I left I had my appetite back and my stomach felt settled... So that makes me believe more that it's all in my head. However, I'm not just worrying about taking the pot in and getting the results back!
I really know how you feel too, mate. It takes over your life! I feel like I'm programmed now to just be worried as soon as I wake up for no reason now. And it's gonna take some time to get over that. Like you said with your holiday though, it goes away when you're relaxed and not stressed so maybe we need to look into sorting the anxiety more than the IBS. I used to suffer from it at school because I was worried about going to school and didn't like the place. So imagine what kind of stress we're experiencing by thinking "I'm dying" every second of the day! It's like the ultimate thing to be worried about haha!
Shaun