Diarrhea setting off my anxiety again!

[rainbow]

I haven't posted for a while as my anxiety has been improving a bit. Over the last two years i've been worrying about my bowels. There has been loose stools, diarrhea, harder stools and normal stools. Yesterday morning I woke up and had two episodes of diarrhea within an hour. Fine for the rest of the day but just a while ago I had an urge to go and again it was full on diarrhea. My son had diarrhea two nights ago,just the once but I think it's just a coincidence as it doesn't feel like a stomach bug.

I'm just so worried about why this has happened. I have'nt had diarrhea for about 7 weeks and I was starting to feel a bit better because of that, now I feel thishasset me back.

---------- Post added at 16:56 ---------- Previous post was at 15:04 ----------

Anyone have any reassuring thoughts?

---------- Post added at 19:49 ---------- Previous post was at 16:56 ----------

Maybe I shouldn't have posted. Think it's time to delete my account. How do I go about doing this?

[nomorepanic]

Hi rainbow

Why do you want to delete your account?

[faraway11]

hey rainbow :)
i get this too, my bowels will be fine for a while then every so often i get random bouts of diarrhea, sometimes constipation but mostly diarrhea. no reason for it, no stomach bug, dodgy food etc, i just put it down to irritable bowels. You may just have IBS. Im sure if it was anything serious after 2 years you would know :) try not to worry too much as you might make it worse but if you're really panicking go to the drs for some peace of mind :) hope you're feeling better soon!:yesyes:

[MyNameIsTerry]

Rainbow,

I think the worse the anxiety, the highly propensity for symptoms. And obviously are reaction to them.

I found I was pretty sensitive to food when my anxiety was really bad. I struggled terribly with just eating and even drinking water because I felt the changes in my body and would add more panic to that.

But what I also have noticed through these stages is that my body was more sensitive to foods I ate without the panic. For instance, one night I ate an apple crumble dessert. Within minutes I was on the toilet with the runs. Not being a HAer, this wouldn't worry me in the way it does you as to me the symptoms are just scary but without the worry of any greater reason behind them, and my mum mentioned my diet had been without fruit for some time so once I start on them the extra fibre may do this anyway.

I found the same with other foods and the volumes of food. But as my anxiety has decreased through these stages I have also found this to go away. I've found the same with other anxiety symptoms such as twitches.

So, perhaps you ate something that led to this? How do you feel? If you feel ok, well as ok as you do with the runs, then you are ok. If you have a bug or food poisoning you tend to feel pretty ill with it.

[Anxiousamyj]

My anxiety gets set off by my bowel movements all the time. Anytime there's diarrhea or anything else weird, I panic a little. I've learned to cull it so it doesn't completely make me lose control of my anxiety. My stomach has been weird lately as well, but my husband has a way of putting it into perspective by reminding me that i've been this way pretty much the entire 17 years we've known each other. It's just how I'm wired up, I guess, probably the same with you. My husband had diarrhea several times a day for 4 days recently and didn't bat an eye. This sounds like a small victory, but it's huge for me: I havent been inspecting my poop at all, just wiping and flushing. I check for blood (which I've never seen), but otherwise just move on. There's a huge range of normal when it comes to BMs, although Dr. Google will tell you theres a very narrow range of normal, and if you're outside that, there must be a terrible disease at play. That's simply not the truth at all.

[Jarofflies]

Diarrhea can just be a symptom of IBS too. I'd only look into it if it was all day every day. Could hat be something you ate too or a bug

[paranoid-viking]

Here is a classical excample of you can not win in health anxiety. Yes, diarreah is, when you google found in dangerous diseases, BUT it is also the most common physical symptom found in anxiety. When you are extremely afraid diarreah happens as your bowel muscles tightens itself.

[Fishmanpa]

Hi rainbow

Why do you want to delete your account?

I don't think the OP actually wants to leave. It's a desperate cry for reassurance. This has happened before on the boards with various members. The result is the same. People begin to respond, offer the reassurance and the OP stays.

Just an observation...

Positive thoughts

[Lola-Lee]

Tracey,you are not feeling well,your kindness on here over the years would be missed.
:hugs:

[pulisa]

The need for instant reassurance with HA is very powerful. It's very difficult trying to sit anxiety out but it's a way forward and you do learn gradually how to reassure yourself without being reliant on an internet forum for responses which may or may not be what you want to hear.

I have IBS-c and slow gut motility generally but this week I've had the opposite as I've got a really challenging experience next week which scares me sh*tless (pardon the pun):D. Diarrhoea doesn't mean cancer, Rainbow. You've had this fear for so long so logically you know that you have a bowel which can be "unpredictable" and nothing more sinister.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Or perhaps feeling upset when already upset when a thread isn't answered despite all others may be?

It's hardly just an anxiety thing, it's something upset people do...

Best to always sleep on it and approach the situation when less emotional. In Cognitive Distortions it's called Emotional Reasoning so it's obviously seen as a problem for us with mental health problems.

Hope you feel better now, Tracie. :hugs: Remember how many people offered support on a previous thread? Don't read info a slow thread, that previous one showed people cared.

[nomorepanic]

Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your post was moved from its original place to a sub-forum that is more relevant to your issue.

This is nothing personal - it just enables us to keep posts about the same problems in the relevant forums so other members with any experience with the issues can find them more easily.

Please also read this post:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=213239

[rainbow]

Thank you all for the replies. Part of me was annoyed that nobody was replying to my post but I also think that coming on here makes me worse.