Worried

[phil06]

The past few weeks I have become obsessed with the worry of dying and googled after life things and the deeper I think about it the more anxious i get.

I've had loose stools for a few years worried it's not normal but if it was serious would i know? I don't go to the doctors much so I fear things not being disgonised anybody else have this fear? :blush:

[Oosh]

If you don't normally visit your doctor why not drop in for a check over.

I'm sure loose stools is nothing at all. I wouldn't be worried. There are lots of people out there who find it hard to go at all.

Everyone gets worried about death if they focus on it. There is no point wasting the time you're alive worrying about when you'll die.

The only thing we are aware of is life. You won't be aware of death, only life.

Enjoy today. Thoughts about death should make you value what and who you have in your life today.

I'm the same. I just don't think about it.

Get a check up to ease your mind then live a healthy lifestyle.

[Dazza123]

If you have had toilet issues for a few years, if there was something seriously wrong don't you think after a few years other, more serious symptoms would have appeared?

It could be diet related, IBS on and off caused by stress, anything really. But if it was anything serious I'm sure a few years on you would have noticed.

You are just focusing on it because of your anxiety, it will pass, I used to suffer with it but it went after a while.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Are the loose stools a lot Phil or just here & there. Loose stools can easily be caused by anxiety, its part of the fight/flight response afterall.

If its all the time though, it would be worth a visit to determine what it is. It could be something like IBS which is something you can take action against.

Googling is fine unless its a trigger like it is for the HA guys. If it triggers you, avoid it until you at a stronger place so that you can tolerate it more. I don't have HA, but when I was at my worst I would find Googling hard but as I got to a better place, I know longer catastrophize when Googling.

[phil06]

Yes I get loose stools quite often I use to go about 4-5 times a day when I did some driving lessons but that was a couple of years ago. I know spend about 20 mins a day emptying my bowels until I feel more complete usually just go once per day.

I just feel depressed about thoughts of dying how can I get over it?

[MyNameIsTerry]

There are 2 issues there, one physical and one mental.

Anxiety causes loose stools but I've had it for 8 years now and my loose stools were not constant and I had months of terrible anxiety. So, maybe this is dietary or a different problem such as IBS. I would visit your GP about this. Ignore all the adverts, they just appeal to the worst cases and cause anxious people problems. I'm sure FMP would tell you how things are in that area as he has been through cancer. Over a matter of years I would expect it would have advanced a lot so this seems really unlikely but it could be something like IBS, gluten or lactose issues, etc so a GP visit is a good start.

If you got a diagnosis, you would know whether there was something to treat or not. That would give you a confirmation for this problem and give you some direction on how to work on it as opposed to running it over & over in your mind that you could be dying.

Thats one way to try to handle it.

Other than that, it comes back to doing what we need to in order to reduce our anxiety. So, its going to be things like Mindfulness which includes acceptance. MBCT is NICE recommended and Mindfulness has scientific studies backing it up as a way to manage physical pain so it could help you.

Why not give it a try? I know when we spoke before that you found acceptance really hard. I'm the same, how can you get past all the physical symptoms? Its very hard and I'm not there yet but I have better periods so I must be able to do it...its just you spiral when it swings back to the symptoms. Acceptance is only one of the 8 tools explained in Mindfulness so why not learn a larger practice that has other elements that you may take to quicker and perhaps this will allow you to get acceptance easier?