A friend has got me worried - anxiety at a high.

[reddevil]

I went to see doctor yesterday about my symptoms in general.

I have been experiencing stomach pains and very runny diarrhoea.

He told me to stop taking lansoprazole, which I was taking to help with my sickness feeling and burping, as this medicine can cause those symptoms.

So, I stopped taking them (last tablet was Thursday morning) and today is Saturday and I’m no better. The doctor said it should be better over the next few days and if the same Monday then I’m to perform another stool sample, not sure why because I did one two weeks ago and no bacteria was present.

I went away feeling ok but then a friend said to me that his dad has these problems and it was caused my ulcers in his colon, which he had to have removed and currently has a bag connected etc.

I’m very worried as I currently have ulcers in my mouth, always suffered with them and my stomach ache and runny diarrhoea is still present.

My doctor told me that diarrhoea will cause stomach pains because the body is used to solid passing through.

I’m 33, could I get ulcers at my age down there or could it take more than two days for the lansoprazole to leave my system?

I tool these tablets before and I had very runny stools but not stomach pains like these.

Any help would be appreciable as I'm worring over somekind of cancer.

Red

[northern_sky]

Friends eh? First tell your friend to stop worrying you! Then try not to worry (hard I know!) but you're not your friends Dad and your friend isn't your doctor.

[Magpie]

Yup, I agree with Northern Sky! What's more, you're seeing the Doctor already which is good, and it seems he's being pretty thorough so whatever is causing it will get sorted out soon. There are loads of things that can cause these symptoms, if it's not your meds it will probably be something similarly easy to treat. Hope you feel better soon!

[reddevil]

I'm getting myself in a mess because I've never experianced this before, especially diarrhoea for 5 days.

Obviously I'm thinking of the negatives, which is hard not to do.

I guess there is no blood in the stools, which is a positive but not much more to go on.

Red

[pinkscrumpy]

Hi Redevil

Haven't posted on here for a while but check in every day.

I couldn't believe it when I saw your post. I to for the last 6 days have been suffering from stomach pains and very watery diarrhoea. Like you there is no blood present, but have convinced myself I have bowel cancer.

The stomach pains are quite high up, sort of rib cage way and feel gripy. What are yours?

Obviously if we are both suffering, it can't be anything sinister.

Was going to give mine another week as I know diarrhoea can last up to 3 weeks. Let me know how you get on

regards

[ItWillPass]

I am not sure what your friend is talking about, because I did have an ulcer down there, and I took some medication, and was told to not eat spicey foods for a little while... and that was it. Those were my symptoms, but I took an antacid for 2 weeks, and ate bland foods and I was 100% better. The doctor never seemed concerned about it... She kept saying it was "just" an ulcer...

[reddevil]

Hi Redevil

Haven't posted on here for a while but check in every day.

I couldn't believe it when I saw your post. I to for the last 6 days have been suffering from stomach pains and very watery diarrhoea. Like you there is no blood present, but have convinced myself I have bowel cancer.

The stomach pains are quite high up, sort of rib cage way and feel gripy. What are yours?

Obviously if we are both suffering, it can't be anything sinister.

Was going to give mine another week as I know diarrhoea can last up to 3 weeks. Let me know how you get on

regards

Hi,

My pains are in the stomach, it feels like the pain you get when you need the toilet, very anoying.

Red

[dizzy]

Redevil as long as ur not getting blood in ur stool thats fine! i had diaorhea for a month non stop, im much better now tho..dont worry about it. take care

[reddevil]

Dizzy,

Did you also get stomach pains?

Doctor told me today that diaorhea will cause stomach pains...!

Red

[lass]

Hi Red,

I think your friend may well have been talking about a condition called ulcerative colitis. It is an inflammatory bowel disease. I know quite a lot about it coz my father has suffered for years with it, and I have a good friend who also has it.

The symptoms are chronic diarrhoea with blood and mucus, along with abdominal pain. Usually treatment is with steroids; it is very unusual for part of the colon to be removed. However, what I understand of bowel ops, sometimes damaged or diseased bowel is removed and a bag is used until the surgery has healed. It is rare for someone to be left with a bag permanently.

The condition comes and goes - sufferers can go for a long time with no symptoms and then it can flare up. As I say, when it flares up it is usually treated with steroids.

The bleeding is significant as the condition is as it sounds - many ulcers inside the bowel and these bleed and cause pain and irritation.

It doesn't sound like this is what you have, but I'm sure if your GP has concerns he will send you for further tests. Having been tested for it myself, this would usually involve blood tests (especially to check if you are anaemic) and sigmoidoscopy / colonoscopy.

It takes some time for the digestive system to settle down, and some (like mine!) are more delicate than others. Try not to worry, it is more than likely caused by the medication. Or IBS maybe? (This is what I suffer with).

And regarding the mouth ulcers, I get these too. They can be stress related - as can abnormal bowel movement - or they can be a lack of B vitamins, and this can also be related to abnormal bowel movements.

I hope this helps and if you need any more information I'd be happy to help if I can.