Recently I have been having diarrhea (which is rare for me) but before that my stools were very narrow (almost pencil-thin). I do have hemorrhoids, which could account for the narrowing. There is no hidden blood in the stool as I have been tested for that. I do take stool softeners, but have discontinued them, thinking they were causing the problem. Three years ago I had a colonoscopy which was all clean. I am due to have another one in two years, as there is colon cancer in my family. Any ideas? Thanks.

I would suggest calling your GI. It is not unheard of to go for a colonoscopy three years after your last one. You may have developed a polyp...hard to say for sure. The likelihood that it is cancer since you had a scope three years ago is small...but I would not go past the five year marker without a follow up scope. If you are worried, though, I would give your GI a jingle.

Good luck,
Cats

HI, having pencil thin stools can come from the anal muscle contracting or getting smaller. That can be due to an anal fissure. I had this happen to me 40 years ago and the doc said I had an anal fissure. Usually they are very painful, however, mine did not hurt. ( I did not find out until May that I actually had a fissure.) On the day I had my port put in the doc did a lateral internal sphincterotomy (which was a small cut in the anal muscle, done on the outside, thankfully not on the inside). That loosened up the muscle for a while, but I'm finding it getting tighter again and my stools are much smaller in diameter than they were back in May when I had it done. Just a thought... your case might be different.
BAMc.