What should I do? Please help!
Posted , 3 users are following.
This story starts the beginning of April, I started taking 50mg of sertraline for anxiety, mostly health anxiety. Around 10 days later I started experiencing a change in bowel habit where I was going multiple times a day which was not normal for me. Because I have health anxiety I started panicking and went straight to the doctor who said it was a side effect of the sertraline and it would get better.
Its been two months and it has been getting better but not the same as before and ive had a blood test and fit test which both came back normal. But recently on some days I'm going to the toilet like 4-7 times a day and its only a little pieces of stool that come out and I dont know what to do.
Is the anxiety causing this? I have been feeling kind of anxious because of this whole situation but this has never happened to me before.
I don't know what to do, I spoke to the doctor last week who was convinced its just a long term side effect of the sertraline because of my negative results but I can't help but worry. I dont want to go back to the GP again because i feel like im constantly bothering them but at the same time im worried. I have no other symptoms, Im not experiencing any pain or no obvious signs of blood in stool except for the occasional bit of blood on the toilet paper which I think is just cause of the constant wiping. I haven't lost weight and don't feel any different except for the anxiety. The rational side of me is telling me its just anxiety but the anxious part of me is telling me its something more serious.
Thank you for reading this far
Gina
0 likes, 2 replies
Millie12345 Gina4004
Posted
Hi Gina, i also suffer from severe anxiety, which effects my bowel, and bladder, im constantly in the loo, i have had many tests all come back negative, the constant need for the loo is the adrenalin going through our bodies, this adrenalin keeps us on hyper drive, and in turn the need to go so often, i never believed it in the beginning but anxiety puts so much worry into our minds and in turn effects our bodies in so many ways, medication can also effect our toilet habits, but if like me your tests have all come back normal then we need to try to except it hard as it may be, we need to try to find things to do to help us relax, i have found meditation music brilliant which i downloaded off of you tube, or having a relaxing bath, i know this is easy to say but we must and we can get through this, we just have to find the strength to believe in ourselves, and in turn the physical things that we experience will eventually sort themselves out, i hope you are ok, and wish you all the best for the future, here if you ever need a chat. x
susan47967 Gina4004
Posted
i too have tummy issues associated with sertraline. at one point I was going to the loo 7+times in the morning, and everything was liquid diarrhoea. i spoke to my gp and did lots and lots of research and bowel problems are a regular thing with sertraline. im over four months into sertraline and still coping with bowel issues. for me i had to cut out all gluten, lactose, alcohol (iwasn't drinking much) and excessive sugar, which has helped a lot.