jeff1
03-10-2006, 09:41 AM
I am looking for input about my symptoms... from others who have may be experienced this. Here goes...
I am 39, male, good health. All my life, since I was a kid, I know my anxiety and stress levels have affected my bowels... mainly gurgling, loose, increased frequency for a few days while going through a stressful activity... then back to normal. Normal for me has always been a bm every 1 or 2 days, and every now and then "cloggers" as my son calls them... long (18" or so) and thick (1.5" may be). most of the time messy... (sorry so graphic...) When I have a bm coming, I generally "sweat" from the anus... especially when anxios or stressed. Not sure how else to describe it... but slight liquid discharge... has been like that for years and years (is this an IBS symptom? I have not seen it listed anywhere). I have also had hemmorhoids flair up on and off for over 15 years... one large (sometimes acorn size) external and according to a recent dr visit, internal also. Reflux has been a problem for 10 years or so, but i control it with diet and not eating near bed time (if I eat certain foods near bed it will keep me up when laying on one side). I was taking Pepcid Complete almost 3-4 times/week before I started watching my diet before bed.
I started noticing some changes back in Sept of last year... I am listing everything, even those things that are probably unrelated, just in case someone sees any significance in it...
1) For the last year or so I have noticed a full feeling in lower center abdomen mainly in the morning, reduced stream strength when urinating, and sometimes a feeling that my bladder still has urine in it, when I am finished peeing.
2) 8/05 while carrying a box I tripped and fell, catching the corner of a low file cabinet in my left side abdomen... sore for a couple days and then OK.
3) 9/05 sliced my finger on some glass and got a tetanus shot
4) 9/05 I started working out in a gym (lost about 20 lbs from Sept to Nov; then stable since) and my free session with a trainer had me doing things I have not done in a long time... like reverse twists and reaches with a medicine ball while on an incline bench... had sore abdomen when done. A week later I popped a muscle in my lower right abdomen getting out of bed one morning (sitting up and twisting to the left)... it was very sore for a couple weeks where I could not lie on my stomach or twist to the left without pain... it has healed and seems fine now.
5) 9/05 through 11/05 significant stress related to work, well above and beyond the normal... started drinking 3-4 cups of coffee a day (which I have since stopped)... before that it was 1-2 a week... started noticing the following:
- bouts with diarrhea (seemingly at high stress points), but also BAD diarrhea a few weeks ago when my general dr put me on Zithromax for a sinus infection... I mean, I ran to the bathroom a few hours after taking it... I have never had that level of urgency before even with IBS at it's worst.
- what I call constipation... still going every couple days, but harder and straining a lot at times... sometimes clumps of small pellets... during this time... sensation of incomplete BM. Tried Dulcolax a few times when I felt blocked up and each time it produced full BM... probably would have had the bm if I just waited anyway.
- All other times a loose stool (sometimes very loose and frayed, other times loose but smooth), with a lot of yellowish liquid on the tp while cleaning up.
- Hemorrhoids flared up worse than ever before
- Muffled sound when passing gas... not the normal sound, but like pinching the neck of a balloon while the air is rushing out as opposed to just letting it go and sounding normal.
- Squashed stool... sometimes flattened (both sides), sometimes long and pencil thin, other times more rounded (when it is more solid than loose).
- Gurgling in the abdomen: lower left mainly, mid left by hip, upper left under rib, sometimes upper and lower right side also.
- Bloating/gas: some days a lot of gas released... most days normal amount released, but feeling it is moving around in there.
- Similar sensation to reflux (mild burning) now and then behind the left hip and up under the left rib on side... less often but also occurring under right rib. I notice gurgling in these spots also. The feeling of gas or something moving through there.
- Sensation when I sit down like there is a small balloon in lower left abdomen... almost exactly between hip and belly button. Like I had to pass gas but was holding it in. But no gas to pass. Don't notice much when I stand... and it is so mild that if I am not thinking about it, I don't notice it. Can sometimes feel like a soreness goes down toward genitals even scrotum or up toward hip. This does not seem to be tied to bm or lack of it... although on some days when I had a real hard bm (i.e. pellets) I remember the soreness all up and down my left side being more noticeable. Even to the point of feeling it more when I twist or move one time.
- Now and then the sensation like a twitching muscle... like sometimes when I see a muscle on my arm or leg jump for a few minutes on it's own then stop after a minute or two... I feel this same feeling some times in my abdomen on the left side mainly. Pressing my fingers there I can sometimes feel it directly (not always).
- Sometimes the area just on top and behind my left hip is sore to the touch... i.e. top inside of the hip bone.
7) After a few months of the above (Nov time frame) the mind starts working and I start worrying that it is not just IBS/stress... and the worry compounds the stress.
I have never noticed any blood on the stool or in the toilet... only occasionally (1-2 times per year in scatter pattern on the tp while wiping after a few rounds of diarrhea or constipation).
So here is what I have done...
Saw a colorectal surgeon in early Jan... he did a digital exam and felt/saw the hemorrhoids... prescribed a steroidal suppository and told me to take Metamucil, drink a lot of water and come back in 2 weeks. I did, and when I went back he said he recommended some hemorrhoid surgery call PPH? And did not see the need for any further testing... since I was not happy with that advice I set an appointment with a Gastroenterologist.
I stopped taking the Metamucil since I think it was making things worse for me... but I cut out all soda and am drinking a lot of water each day... this has actually gotten me much more regular... with softer stool and no straining... once every few weeks it will be harder... and once with the Zithromax bad diarrhea, but other than that pretty regular, with yellow liquid on tp.
I saw my general dr in the mean time (time for a general physical)... they did full blood work, urine analysis and chest x-ray (I get every few years) and all came back normal. He also did some sort of finger tap test all around my abdomen and said he did not detect any masses (not sure how accurate that is).
Went to the Gastro 2 weeks ago... the nurse practitioner did a digital exam and quick stool test (which was negative). The Dr checked my abdomen and felt no problems. He was pretty sure I had IBS, but since I have had reflux problems too, he wanted to be thorough and do an upper and lower scope, which I have set for next week. He ordered another blood test and stool tests... all of which came back normal.
So, as I sit writing this... I feel the discomfort in my lower left abdomen... and gurgling up the left side... if I press around my lower left I do not feel any pain... just the feeling when I sit like there a gas bubble there but does not come out. Like I said, pretty constant... but when I am standing or sleeping I do not feel it... only when I am sitting and thinking about it... I know my mind play tricks and has faked me out before into thinking I had things wrong that were not... my understanding is that it takes a pretty large mass before you can actually feel it in your abdomen... and that even a partial bowel obstruction would be more pain associated with bm and relieved afterward...
I was very concerned about the flat/squashed stool... the first dr I saw said that the hemerrhoid swelling had constricted my anus and was causing that... and I see on this forum that people have said that colon muscle spasms from IBS can also cause that... but I am also wondering if an enlarged prostate can have the same effect... in combination with the hemrrrhoids, and be the cause of the stool and muffle gas sound when I pass gas.
Sorry this is so long... any advice or input would be greatly appreciated... I am going the route of ruling out anything serious as most people recommend... but just looking for real-life experience of others as a supplement for my dr's help.
Thanks in advance.
I am 39, male, good health. All my life, since I was a kid, I know my anxiety and stress levels have affected my bowels... mainly gurgling, loose, increased frequency for a few days while going through a stressful activity... then back to normal. Normal for me has always been a bm every 1 or 2 days, and every now and then "cloggers" as my son calls them... long (18" or so) and thick (1.5" may be). most of the time messy... (sorry so graphic...) When I have a bm coming, I generally "sweat" from the anus... especially when anxios or stressed. Not sure how else to describe it... but slight liquid discharge... has been like that for years and years (is this an IBS symptom? I have not seen it listed anywhere). I have also had hemmorhoids flair up on and off for over 15 years... one large (sometimes acorn size) external and according to a recent dr visit, internal also. Reflux has been a problem for 10 years or so, but i control it with diet and not eating near bed time (if I eat certain foods near bed it will keep me up when laying on one side). I was taking Pepcid Complete almost 3-4 times/week before I started watching my diet before bed.
I started noticing some changes back in Sept of last year... I am listing everything, even those things that are probably unrelated, just in case someone sees any significance in it...
1) For the last year or so I have noticed a full feeling in lower center abdomen mainly in the morning, reduced stream strength when urinating, and sometimes a feeling that my bladder still has urine in it, when I am finished peeing.
2) 8/05 while carrying a box I tripped and fell, catching the corner of a low file cabinet in my left side abdomen... sore for a couple days and then OK.
3) 9/05 sliced my finger on some glass and got a tetanus shot
4) 9/05 I started working out in a gym (lost about 20 lbs from Sept to Nov; then stable since) and my free session with a trainer had me doing things I have not done in a long time... like reverse twists and reaches with a medicine ball while on an incline bench... had sore abdomen when done. A week later I popped a muscle in my lower right abdomen getting out of bed one morning (sitting up and twisting to the left)... it was very sore for a couple weeks where I could not lie on my stomach or twist to the left without pain... it has healed and seems fine now.
5) 9/05 through 11/05 significant stress related to work, well above and beyond the normal... started drinking 3-4 cups of coffee a day (which I have since stopped)... before that it was 1-2 a week... started noticing the following:
- bouts with diarrhea (seemingly at high stress points), but also BAD diarrhea a few weeks ago when my general dr put me on Zithromax for a sinus infection... I mean, I ran to the bathroom a few hours after taking it... I have never had that level of urgency before even with IBS at it's worst.
- what I call constipation... still going every couple days, but harder and straining a lot at times... sometimes clumps of small pellets... during this time... sensation of incomplete BM. Tried Dulcolax a few times when I felt blocked up and each time it produced full BM... probably would have had the bm if I just waited anyway.
- All other times a loose stool (sometimes very loose and frayed, other times loose but smooth), with a lot of yellowish liquid on the tp while cleaning up.
- Hemorrhoids flared up worse than ever before
- Muffled sound when passing gas... not the normal sound, but like pinching the neck of a balloon while the air is rushing out as opposed to just letting it go and sounding normal.
- Squashed stool... sometimes flattened (both sides), sometimes long and pencil thin, other times more rounded (when it is more solid than loose).
- Gurgling in the abdomen: lower left mainly, mid left by hip, upper left under rib, sometimes upper and lower right side also.
- Bloating/gas: some days a lot of gas released... most days normal amount released, but feeling it is moving around in there.
- Similar sensation to reflux (mild burning) now and then behind the left hip and up under the left rib on side... less often but also occurring under right rib. I notice gurgling in these spots also. The feeling of gas or something moving through there.
- Sensation when I sit down like there is a small balloon in lower left abdomen... almost exactly between hip and belly button. Like I had to pass gas but was holding it in. But no gas to pass. Don't notice much when I stand... and it is so mild that if I am not thinking about it, I don't notice it. Can sometimes feel like a soreness goes down toward genitals even scrotum or up toward hip. This does not seem to be tied to bm or lack of it... although on some days when I had a real hard bm (i.e. pellets) I remember the soreness all up and down my left side being more noticeable. Even to the point of feeling it more when I twist or move one time.
- Now and then the sensation like a twitching muscle... like sometimes when I see a muscle on my arm or leg jump for a few minutes on it's own then stop after a minute or two... I feel this same feeling some times in my abdomen on the left side mainly. Pressing my fingers there I can sometimes feel it directly (not always).
- Sometimes the area just on top and behind my left hip is sore to the touch... i.e. top inside of the hip bone.
7) After a few months of the above (Nov time frame) the mind starts working and I start worrying that it is not just IBS/stress... and the worry compounds the stress.
I have never noticed any blood on the stool or in the toilet... only occasionally (1-2 times per year in scatter pattern on the tp while wiping after a few rounds of diarrhea or constipation).
So here is what I have done...
Saw a colorectal surgeon in early Jan... he did a digital exam and felt/saw the hemorrhoids... prescribed a steroidal suppository and told me to take Metamucil, drink a lot of water and come back in 2 weeks. I did, and when I went back he said he recommended some hemorrhoid surgery call PPH? And did not see the need for any further testing... since I was not happy with that advice I set an appointment with a Gastroenterologist.
I stopped taking the Metamucil since I think it was making things worse for me... but I cut out all soda and am drinking a lot of water each day... this has actually gotten me much more regular... with softer stool and no straining... once every few weeks it will be harder... and once with the Zithromax bad diarrhea, but other than that pretty regular, with yellow liquid on tp.
I saw my general dr in the mean time (time for a general physical)... they did full blood work, urine analysis and chest x-ray (I get every few years) and all came back normal. He also did some sort of finger tap test all around my abdomen and said he did not detect any masses (not sure how accurate that is).
Went to the Gastro 2 weeks ago... the nurse practitioner did a digital exam and quick stool test (which was negative). The Dr checked my abdomen and felt no problems. He was pretty sure I had IBS, but since I have had reflux problems too, he wanted to be thorough and do an upper and lower scope, which I have set for next week. He ordered another blood test and stool tests... all of which came back normal.
So, as I sit writing this... I feel the discomfort in my lower left abdomen... and gurgling up the left side... if I press around my lower left I do not feel any pain... just the feeling when I sit like there a gas bubble there but does not come out. Like I said, pretty constant... but when I am standing or sleeping I do not feel it... only when I am sitting and thinking about it... I know my mind play tricks and has faked me out before into thinking I had things wrong that were not... my understanding is that it takes a pretty large mass before you can actually feel it in your abdomen... and that even a partial bowel obstruction would be more pain associated with bm and relieved afterward...
I was very concerned about the flat/squashed stool... the first dr I saw said that the hemerrhoid swelling had constricted my anus and was causing that... and I see on this forum that people have said that colon muscle spasms from IBS can also cause that... but I am also wondering if an enlarged prostate can have the same effect... in combination with the hemrrrhoids, and be the cause of the stool and muffle gas sound when I pass gas.
Sorry this is so long... any advice or input would be greatly appreciated... I am going the route of ruling out anything serious as most people recommend... but just looking for real-life experience of others as a supplement for my dr's help.
Thanks in advance.