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Panic symptoms before bowel movement

Posted , 117 users are following.

sasical72
sasical72

Hi there

For a couple of years now I have been having a very strange happen to me, it used to happen occasionally but now it is every time I go for a bowel movement.

I will be happily going about my business or working or whatever when suddenly out of the blue I get this horrible feeling which is hard to describe, like a sinking feeling or impending doom. My fingers go tingly, I have difficulty breathing, shaky, fast heart rate...and then I need a bowel movement immediately. If I go I start to feel better after while, if for whatever reason I can't go right away it feels as if I will die.

anybody else with anything similar?

12 likes, 302 replies

302 Replies

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  • alex123456789
    alex123456789 sasical72

    Edited

    Hi,

    I've had this same problem for 2 years now following a car accident and injury to the neck. i strongly believe it's vagus nerve related.

    I've noticed it's worse when I have a lot of gas and burping and right before my period. I read through all the comments and I'm going to try the no preservatives, no additives, no added sugar diet someone else mentioned. I wonder if the gut not being able to easily break those foods down causes the excess gas and thus irritation to the vagus nerve?

    • sasical72
      sasical72 alex123456789

      Posted

      No harm in trying that, let us know if you have any improvement. Good luck!!

    • alex123456789
      alex123456789 sasical72

      Edited

      one thing I did notice helped me a lot was getting my vitamin D levels up. It still comes back occasionally but definitely not as severe as it used to be.

    • sasical72
      sasical72 alex123456789

      Posted

      Thank you for that! Mine aren't that low but I will certainly make sure to improve them just in case

    • alex123456789
      alex123456789 sasical72

      Posted

      It's winter now so I haven't been able to get any sun in a few months. I've been using a vitamin d lamp but that hasn't helped. I was tested for vitamin d and it was low and after about one week I noticed a big improvement and after 2 weeks I was feeling a lot better from this. The vitamin d lamp doesn't seem to have the same effect though so now I'm struggling with this again. I wonder if it could have been the heat from the sun relaxing tension and thus muscles?

  • jamie35166
    jamie35166 sasical72

    Edited

    Hi im jamie and i have felt like this for years its so hard to describe but its absolutely horrible. people have mentioned a sense of doom which i would say is exactly how it feels and also cant concentrate scatty eyes, heart racing, feeling faint, feeling sick, and i always feel this way before a Bowel movement but once i go the symptoms dissapear but unfortunately after i get extremely tired 😴 i dont get it all the time its mainly if im out socialising or somewhere out of my comfort zones. be so nice if anybody had any ideas on how to improve it.

    • sasical72
      sasical72 jamie35166

      Posted

      Hi Jamie,

      OMG!! I didn't mention this but I also can't concentrate and scatty eyes. Although I have improved somewhat, I am still trying to find a solution so that it doesn't limit my life.

      Sorry for TMI that will follow...I have definitely found a correlation with sticky poop. When it is well formed my symptoms aren't so bad but when it is mushy and sticky, my symptoms are terrible. Anyone else found this?

      Jamie have you had tests? seen doctors?

      xx

  • justinR73
    justinR73 sasical72

    Edited

    I'm relieved i'm not the only one that has similar experience of this. I do sometimes get panic when i feel a bowl movement is about to happen. i have pain in my stomach and then, i burn up. i feel panicky in that moment. when this feeling happens before a bowel movement i get relief afterwards although i feel wiped!

    Although, sometimes i'm panicky "after" a bowel movement. its like a rush of heat after having been and mild nausea, sweating. my stomach briefly complains then everything settles down and i feel wiped out.

    thank god this doesn't every single tine before or after a bowel movement. i put this doen IBS for which i have. my family have IBS also.

    • sasical72
      sasical72 justinR73

      Posted

      When I started with my symptoms it was always before a bm and then I would I would feel better. But with time, I also feel bad after, until everything "settles". It usually takes between 15 and 30 minutes for me to feel better and stop thinking something terrible is about to happen to me.

    • leo24686
      leo24686 sasical72

      Posted

      thats me exactly, and shakes afterwards i guess because of adrenaline

  • leo24686
    leo24686 sasical72

    Edited

    Wow i finally found someone with the same problem, i am a 27 year old male and this exact thing happens to me, i am usually constipated and the panick and impending doom hits and after i have BM which is usually diarreha things get better. Anybody found out what it is?

    • sasical72
      sasical72 leo24686

      Edited

      Not really, I have.posted on other forums and followed threads about it. There seems to be quite a few people who have this and there have been some suggestions here and there, but nothing definite. I still pray for the day that someone will say oooooh that?? and have a solution haha, but to this day nothing.

      And every time that someone suggests something I do try it.

      Let's keep this thread alive and hopefully one day we will find a solution and all feel better 🙏

  • alice52225
    alice52225 sasical72

    Edited

    I may have found the issue - for me at least - NICOTINE.

    Was difficult to pin down the association with vaping because the symptoms didn't happen every time I vaped and when they did happen, they happened 15 min - 1 hr after vaping, so it wasn't obvious. Can't say for certain whether the cause is nicotine -> physical symptoms -> anxiety or just nicotine -> physical symptoms that mimic anxiety. Doesn't really matter if it all goes away!

    I'm only a couple days into nicotine free and haven't had an episode, so it's not a 100% answer yet but I will come back and update whether or not I remain symptom free.

    In the meantime - can anybody else point a finger at nicotine? Any other smokers, vapers, nicotine gum chewers here?

    • elizabeth94112
      elizabeth94112 alice52225

      Posted

      Hello Alice,

      I also vape. However I've vaped for 10+ years. Plus, this sometimes happens in the middle of the night so, although it my be in your case, I don't think it's the culprit in mine.

      Good luck and leave an update. (If you haven't already) lol...

      Elizabeth

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