newbie, hypocondriac, now it's colon cancer!!!

[triceps]

Hi vinbaker. I know I promised I wouldn't suggest this again but DLT would really help you. Look how much better you did when you paid less attention to your stool characteristics. Again I challenge you to not look at just one stool as a starting point.

 

[vinbaker]

Hi vinbaker. I know I promised I wouldn't suggest this again but DLT would really help you. Look how much better you did when you paid less attention to your stool characteristics. Again I challenge you to not look at just one stool as a starting point.

Thanks triceps
it's funny to read our own messages, i mean there is a logic-me that reads my messages and your answers and laugh about me

 

[vinbaker]

I would suggest eating more bland foods for the next several days. Don't cut out fiber totally but I would cut back on it. Too much fiber can certainly cause loose stools.

Also, as I have mentioned many times - everything you are experencing I have experienced with my IBS. I know it is very difficult to let go of but the more you worry about it, the more the IBS will flare up. It is a vicious cycle

thanks robby. Did your IBS got better through the years? did you totally get over your colon cancer scare?

 

[RobbyH]

Hi vinbaker. I know I promised I wouldn't suggest this again but DLT would really help you. Look how much better you did when you paid less attention to your stool characteristics. Again I challenge you to not look at just one stool as a starting point.

I agree but having gone through what vinbaker is going through, I understand how difficult it is to use the DLT.

 

[RobbyH]

thanks robby. Did your IBS got better through the years? did you totally get over your colon cancer scare?

For the most part I have gotten over it but I will admit that if I have a flareup of IBS, my mind automatically goes back to CC. Fortunately, I have my IBS under control most of the time - I have had it so long I know what to avoid what will set it off so I just don't eat those things. Also, for me, skipping a meal or not eating good for a day or two will set it off.

 

[vinbaker]

For the most part I have gotten over it but I will admit that if I have a flareup of IBS, my mind automatically goes back to CC. Fortunately, I have my IBS under control most of the time - I have had it so long I know what to avoid what will set it off so I just don't eat those things. Also, for me, skipping a meal or not eating good for a day or two will set it off.

I still don't understand what is to be considered IBS... I read a lot of horrible symptoms on the net, that thank god i never experienced. In my case is just having a more "sensitive" bowel. I've always been delicated, one of those that if i don't eat good food i pay for it. But now it's like it happens more and more, if i do the wrong move, i pay

still my symptoms mainly reflect in the stool...

P.S. what helped me to be more calm was the Bowel UItrasound, that i thought was a useless exam, but then i read that it has 80-85% of possibilities to discover a cancer in the bowel

 

[RobbyH]

IBS effects folks differently. For me, it has been the loose stools - very little pain, etc - just loose stools. I was diagnosed with a mild case of IBS in 1995 and it has basically stayed mild at worse case for these nearly 25 years. Some folks have IBS and have pain, cramping, bloating, loose stools, etc and it plays havoc with their life.

 

[vinbaker]

IBS effects folks differently. For me, it has been the loose stools - very little pain, etc - just loose stools. I was diagnosed with a mild case of IBS in 1995 and it has basically stayed mild at worse case for these nearly 25 years. Some folks have IBS and have pain, cramping, bloating, loose stools, etc and it plays havoc with their life.

So you basically have the same symptoms i have

 

[RobbyH]

So you basically have the same symptoms i have

When mine flares up - yes

 

[vinbaker]

I probably always had IBS, because i remember easily causing myself loose stools since i was youbger

 

[RobbyH]

Mine started in my mid 20s, got worse in mid 30s and early 40s but has really calmed down over the years. Part is due to me knowing things that can cause a flare up and avoiding them. It takes time to manage it

 

[vinbaker]

Well,

i try to stay "clean", but really i can't take it more than 2 days. I've been freaking out again, since the consistency of my stool has been mushy, not hard, unformed. Most of the times is like that, especially in the last 2 days.
I just don't understand what's real and what's not. What is a change in bowel movement? When i read about colon C symptoms the people who had it always talk about going MORE OFTEn to the bathroom, and that never happened to me. Did my stool change or i've always had periods of mushy, unformed stool?
The bloating is practically gone, i never had it again, if a symptom disappear is it a sign it can't be something so serious?

Freaking out again.

I never said it but i'm a writer and i have a book to finish. Just can't work like this, i was not able to write since long time now.

 

[vinbaker]

And again... Was the bowel ultrasound a reliable exam? can i really feel safe after that?

< ---- me now

 

[RobbyH]

With IBS it is very common to have mushy stools - mine will do that when I have a flare up. "Change in Bowel Habits" is hard to define but most doctors consider it to be a change in stool such as diarrhea or consitpation that lasts longer than 2-4 weeks.

I had a doctor that said - if you have a serious issue causing a change in bowel habits, those habits almost never go back to normal without intervention.

Again, mushy stool is common with IBS and will usually stop once the IBS has calmed down.

As far as what you have experienced in the past compared to now - none of us can answer that.

Can you believe the ultrasound? I would say yes but I am not a doctor BUT I will tell you that if a doctor suspected something, he would have already suggested more tests. I would accept the results of the ultrasound and try to get it out of my mind. Don't be surprised if you continue to have loose stools until you get over the fear

 

[vinbaker]

Thank you Robby.
I always thought the Change in bowel habits is what you say, not much the consistency of the stool (unless it's watery stool), i believe is more about you start to go a lot (diarrea...I read of people with cancer that started to go 7-8 times a day) or you stop to go for weeks.

[QUOTE="RobbyH, post: 33947, member: 3250"
Can you believe the ultrasound? I would say yes but I am not a doctor BUT I will tell you that if a doctor suspected something, he would have already suggested more tests. I would accept the results of the ultrasound and try to get it out of my mind. Don't be surprised if you continue to have loose stools until you get over the fear
[/QUOTE]

I read a study about the ultrasound, saying it can catch most of the bowel problems and occlusions (big polips-cancer), buti still, you know, anxiety is not logic.

I was remembering today, when i spend time in south america, my stool is always better formed, so i thought about my diet there, and i think the difference may be a powder i drink when i'm there, made of flour and other ingredients. I can't find it here in italy, i'm trying to see if there's a similar product. It's called Cerelac, made by Nestle. I used to have shakes with it, with bananas, eggs and sometimes peanut butter.

 

[vinbaker]

Hi guys.

nothing, can't feel better.

I still look at my stool, i never find it normal, there is always something i consider wrong. Yestarday and today i found something like a orange oil in the water, i read it may be steathorrea, maybe something i ate.

Now i've been thinking that i am always feeling tired lately, dizzy...that maybe i am anemic cause of the cancer ... 2 weeks ago i did a quick test (the one you buy online) and no anemy was found.

it sucks to feel like this

 

[Future PA with HA]

@vinbaker im 100% thinking that the dizziness and tiredness is from anxiety and not cancer! As for the consistency- your gut is very linked to your brain and how you’re feeling. I also just read that digestion is affected by how you feel when you eat and if you’re stressed that could be causing the altered stool consistency.

Try logging your stool for a month or a few and see if there are patterns! Maybe record your mood and diet as well

 

[vinbaker]

@vinbaker im 100% thinking that the dizziness and tiredness is from anxiety and not cancer!

Yes, me too i think it's the anxiety. In the few moments i don't think about it, i feel better.

About my stool, i really don't know what to think anymore. Sometimes i think i always went like this, that is just that now i'm paying attention to it and before i was not.

maybe i should try to focus on the good things : 1- never saw blood 2- no bowel movement changes in the times i go every day, i'm still really regular 3- the meteorism is gone

 

[vinbaker]

Oh i forgot to say that now my fear is sliding a little bit to the Pancreatic problems, since i read pancreas problems can give you unformed fat stools...

 

[Future PA with HA]

@vinbaker i went through the pancreatic scare as well! What I read is that stool changes is a late symptom so you would have jaundice and more than mild back pain if that was the fact. It could be mucus or fat from fast digestion, or just food like you thought!