| A problem that has affected my social life for years.
I am 23 years old and a college student. This problem has been affecting me for a couple years. I have no idea what is causing it, I do not know whether it is a mental condition or a physical condition. I am finally trying to take action by seeing doctors and writing down symptoms as they occur day to day. I believe it to be some kind of digestive problem. I believe it could be due to the excessive amount of alcohol I drank as a teenager. Usually the symptoms occur when I’m in public places. The main symptom is I feel as though I am passing gas without even realizing it. Usually the symptoms after I think I notice it, I have shortness of breath, and I just feel weak over all. As if I am not getting enough oxygen or that my heart is not pumping enough blood to all the parts of my body. My ability to think straight is affected, almost like its an anxiety attack but I am able to keep it unnoticeable. It could be the other way around where the shortness of breath, etc. symptoms occur first, and then the feeling as though I am uncontrollably passing gas or creating an odor although it may not even be from my rectum, possibly through each exhale or through my skin. Could it be a cardiovascular problem which affects my ability to control the gas? It’s hard to explain to a doctor what the symptoms are because I almost don’t even know myself, just that I feel as though I am passing gas without even noticing it and it usually and only occurs in social situations with more that a couple of people. I’ve tried explaining it to a doctor while I was in juvenile hall for a small incident when I was around 16 and he prescribed to me Paxil, which is an anti depressant that seemed to make me not think about it, but I am unsure if it actually cured the problem since the problem could actually a physical one.
11/21/07 – Almost everyday, the symptoms occur when I am sitting for long periods and I am surrounded by people. Most of the time they are worse in movie theaters, school, just about anywhere social. Today when I got to school, everything was ok in the beginning. I did not feel any symptoms. Then the class took a tour of the gym, the symptoms began. I felt as though I was passing gas or an offensive odor that everyone around me noticed and the tour had to be cut short because it was that bad. But the main thing is, I am not even sure if was even passing the gas or creating an odor. I had shortness of breath, my cognitive abilities were severely affected, I felt that my heart was not pumping blood, my rectum felt moist which usually triggers the though that I am omitting odors but its not always that feeling that triggers it, and I basically just feel as though everyone thinks that I have some stomach disorder or I simply just pooped in my pants or pass gas uncontrollably.
If anyone has any idea of what my problem might be, whether it’s a psychological problem of a physical problem or disease, any opinion would be greatly appreciated and would help me on my next step on trying to cure myself.
A little background of my lifestyle: growing up, I wasn’t living to healthy, probably very unhealthy infact. I’ve been binge drinking since I was probably 15-16, some nights where the alcohol was way too much for me to handle. I’ve also smoked a lot of cigarettes since I was 14 and probably was chain smoking around 16-19. I am 23 now and I have been cigarette free for exactly a year on 11-18-07. I do notice an improvement on my shortness of breath. I do occasionally drink still, sometimes a lot in a night. Maybe these habits caused these symptoms that I am experiencing. I also wanted to say that I used methamphetamine for about 3 years, from 16-19 and I think they symptoms began when I started using. I have not used meth for 4 years now but the symptoms are still here. I do not know what it is or what it was that caused it. I would ask my wife if she thinks I pass gas uncontrollably and she always tells me no. I am worried that it could just be a mental problem that I’ve picked up somewhere along the way. The main symptom is thinking people are noticing that I am passing gas, gas in which I am not noticing that I am passing, and thinking that they’re conversations are about me passing gas in which maybe I really am..or not… I really don’t know…
I am passed all the bad habits, I was just around the wrong people as I was growing up. I have my whole life planned out now. I want to open businesses etc. I am getting my degree this Dec. in business administration. All the classes that I’ve taken, I had to sit through class and experience all these symptoms some days being worse than others. I have just 4 classes left, 3 of them are online but one is at school and I still experience the symptoms in class. This problem also affects me at work. I would prefer to work in a place that does not have a lot of people around, like a warehouse, just so I would not experience the symptoms or have people notice my symptoms. I really want to fix this so I can live a normal life and proceed further with the dream that I created for my success in business. Am I crazy? Is there a disease or digestive problem that this can be associated with? Please someone let me know… -Vu | 
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