Hello all, I am new to this board, 40 years old and female.

Anyway...for the last 6 months I have been having very small almost like rabbit pellets BM's. Usually they are mixed in with some normal length and size pieces.

I finally got so worried that I ended up going to a Dr. and I had a colonoscopy on March 5th of this year (2006). They found nothing during the colonoscopy and was told to use Metamucil.

What is happening is that I have become very regular and the stools are very easy to pass. That is a good thing. The thing that worries me still is that they are NOT forming into regular size banana-like stools. This has gone on every single day for the last month if not months. I am consistent with my water drinking (64 oz every day) and I take Metamucil every morning and evening. Why can't I seem to have normal bulky stools? I keep thinking I am doing everything right, and even going every morning upon waking, but I get on the commode and first thing that happens is little pieces coming out one at a time. Instead of having 2 or 3 regular 3 to 4" stools, I am getting 12-15 quarter size pieces among maybe one 2 inch piece. It's driving me crazy.

I can't think of what else I might be doing wrong, or should be eating. I eat pretty good. Salads like every other day. The only thing I may not be adding so much of is fruit, but still, why all of sudden (well that last 6 months) would the pellety bm's start? I can't stop worrying about it, even after having a normal colonoscopy, normal bloodwork etc.

any advice appreciated.

Not enough water is getting into your stool. The fiber will draw more water from your intestine into your stool. Maybe you could make an effort to add more fiber to your diet in addition to the extra water you are drinking. High fiber cereals and breads, plus fruits, veggies and beans, are all great ways to bulk up in addition to Metamucil. Try to get at least 30-35 grams of fiber per day. Keep drinking tons of water too...that is really important when upping your fiber intake.

My only suggestion is make sure that you drink enough water with the dose of psyllium. Small pellet size stools usually means you are not getting enough water with the dose of psyllium. But, 64 ozs daily should be enough.

If you are regular that is certainly very good. Your colon is just extracting too much for your water intake.

The water soluble fiber that you added sorta slows down your transit time-- Insouble fiber like all fruit, veggies and the bran in cereals speed it up. As you know you need a combination of both insoluble and soluble fiber --- you just have to try various combination to produce tubular stool about a quarter in diameter---

Gee -- We all eat so differently!!

God Bless~~~Harry

Has anything stressful gone on in your life?Could be IBS here.

Has anything stressful gone on in your life?Could be IBS here.

Well yes...I wasn't going to say anything about the stress, because I really didn't think it was IBS. I don't have ANY pain associated with this, never have. I don't have bloating, and since I changed my diet and added more water, I'm not really constipated. I am mostly just concerned with these small non-bulky sized stools.

But back to stress. Yes, highly stressed. It began really in August of 2005 when I fell down the stairs and broke my ankle in 2 places. I was told at the ER that it was sprained. For 2 mos. I forced myself to walk on this so called sprain, thinking it was only that. I ended up going back to a different dr. 2 mos later and was then found to have 2 major fractures. I was faced with having to re-break my ankle in a 2 hour surgery. I had never had surgery before, and was scared to death to go under anesthesia. This is really when my constipation issues began because of the pain medicines I was on for over 4 mos off and on, not to mention Morphine, Demerol, Percoet and Anesthesia during the surgery and after. Vicodin for 2 mos. on crutches for 6 weeks etc. So yes, I was very stressed. I didn't start walking normally till end of December.

But see, I keep thinking that I am all past that now. To be honest with you, I have not felt "back to normal" physically since the ankle surgery. I can walk normally, but still have minor pain. I don't take any pain medicines and haven't for over 3 mos or more. I am wondering if I am still under some stress. I do worry about alot of things, I had to have some tests that kind of worried me lately--colonoscopy, endometrial biopsy, bloodwork, mammogram that were on my mind 24/7 until I would get negative results back, then I would breathe a sigh of relief. I can't seem to relax though, but sleeping fine....I didn't think any of that had anything to do with why my stools can't seem to form a normal size. Any thoughts?

any other ideas about the stress thing?

It can be a number of things, as others have said. I haven't seen mentioned that it can be one of the symptoms of diverticulosis (one of the few I had, BTW).