Terrified I have a Parasite??

[sleepymusician]

Hi everyone - I found this site a few weeks ago and it has helped me so much in calming me down when I have been pretty much having panic attacks over symptoms. I know, googling symptoms is a bad idea, but I can't stop myself, it's obsessive...

Anyways, I've decided to make an account because I am sitting here, in tears, terrified that I have a parasite infection. About two weeks ago I had a really nasty stomach flu (at least, that's what I think it was), consisted of really nasty diarrhea, fever, some abdominal pains and so on...
Of course, HA got the better of me and I endlessly googled, self diagnosing myself with meningitis, bowel cancer, an IBD, diabetes, leukaemia... After experiencing some heavy rectal bleeding I went to my GP, had blood tests back (which all came back normal, causing me to cry my eyes out with relief) and sent off a stool and urine sample too, though I haven't received results from the stool sample back.

The diarrhea has stopped, I'm putting on weight again, though my anxiety is still really intense. I'm still getting occasional short abdominal pains (along with various other pains around the body), but they don't last for longer than five minutes...

I have passed a few stools in the past week which have had white specks in them. I wasn't sure what it was, and google said parasites. Of course, I freaked out, but more reliable sources said it was more likely to be mucus, so I wrote it off as that.
However, today, I just had a BM and when I wiped (sorry, this is probably a bit tmi) there was this... kind of flat, red-orange thing on the toilet paper?? It was about 1.5cm long and maybe 0.5cm wide. I can't seem to find anything on the internet that looked like it, no parasites looked like it either... I'm so afraid, I can't stop crying. Has anyone else had anything similar to this??? Or anyone have any idea of what it may be?? I'm 17, female, and generally was in very good health before this stomach flu hit me with the most unbearable anxiety and panic.

I keep telling myself, I was wrong about all the other diseases my brain suggested to me, but that horribe phrase "what if" still prevails in my mind...

Thank you in advance for any responses, sorry this post is quite long, but I feel a little better getting it out of my system...

EDIT: I had an apple for breakfast this morning, is there any chance it could have been undigested apple peel? I read somewhere that that's possible...

[lleo2211]

Are you sure the thing you found on the toilet paper wasn't part of something you had eaten. Having suffered from Parasites for several years I don't think I've heard of anything like that.

The parasites I've suffered from have always been little white specks which you can see wiggling, Pin worms or threadworms. They don't harm you at all so don't be terrified. But they are very annoying and it's not a nice feeling knowing they are there at all.
But I've eventually gotten rid of them (fingers crossed) by cutting out refined sugar in my diet, As they feed of this they starve and disappear.
No tablets from the doctors or anything helped me for more than a week or two.

I know it's hard not to keep googling, But it really is a seriously bad thing to do. I know from experience.

Try not to get worried, That will just make your body worse. :)

[sleepymusician]

It might have been something undigested, yeah... I'm trying to think of what it might have been. There's no way that the apple I had for breakfast, come to think of it, could have gone through my digestive system that quickly. Maybe some onion that I ate yesterday? Not sure...

I sent a stool sample off to the doctors about two weeks ago, I'm going to phone for the results today and see what they say.

Thank you very much for your reply, it was reassuring to read! I'm pretty sure my anxiety is causing most of these symptoms, as my abdominal pain only comes in very short bursts and I don't think it's serious...

Oh, one more thing - The stool was pretty light coloured too (but not to the point of being white), does that signify anything, or??

[lleo2211]

If your stool is just slightly light coloured don't worry, It's normal to have different shades. Mine are. This will depend on what food you've eaten as well I would think.
Only if the stools are very off colour and stay that way would I think there is any problem.

[sleepymusician]

Ah, I got a letter from my local surgery today telling me that the "stomach flu" I thought I had was actually food poisoning! Needless to say I'm extremely relieved having received a proper diagnosis and knowing that I don't have a 50' worm living in my intestine, haha.

The weird object I found was just a bit of undigested food, I'm pretty sure now - (My stool today had nothing of the sort in it!)

I feel like I can finally properly sleep at night now, knowing that death is probably still some time away for me (touch wood)

[lleo2211]

I'm glad you can put your mind at rest.

Have a great Weekend.