Bowel cancer worry once again!

[MummytoJJL]

I'm really worried about this so I'm hoping someone can help calm me down. I've had piles since having children, my eldest is 8 so it's been a long time. When I had my youngest last year they flared up about a week before I gave birth but afterwards there was nothing apart from them feeling pretty big. In January of this year I was having a bowel movement and felt a pop looked down and there was a pool of blood on the toilet bowl but after this nothing had happened for a few months. Last week I had slight bleeding on the toilet paper which went after a day then yesterday I had the same but only had blood after wiping quite a few times so then I thought I aggravated them by wiping too much? Anyway today I'm having an awful day with my anxiety. Keep crying thinking I have bowel cancer and thinking the worst

[Catkins]

Does sound like piles. It also does sound like you irritated them by repeatedly wiping.

[MummytoJJL]

I'm now back to having really bad anxiety and after having a panic attack this morning I need help! The past couple of days I've had an upset stomach and both yesterday morning and this morning my poop was like mud. At first I blamed it on my diet being pretty bad over the weekend and drinking alcohol. But this morning I also seen red pieces floating when it was flushing. I've not had anything red and my diet has been bland all day yesterday to try and help. I did have red peppers on Sunday but would it take this long to digest? Is there anything I can do to make my stool more firm?

[ServerError]

Here's the thing - if a non-anxious person asked me how they might firm up their bowel movements, I'd have a few entirely non-expert bits of advice to give, like eat more fibre, try to tame your anxiety, that kind of thing. But in your case, as in so many cases of chronic anxiety, I'm not sure that simple reassurance is enough. I'd be pretty confident that the red you saw comes from the peppers and that your bowel movement not being - ideal, perhaps - is related to your diet/alcohol/stress. Serious bowel conditions usually present more unpleasantly than just a fleck of red or a bit of blood on paper. You sound to me like you're very stressed at the moment and have become hyper-focused on your bowels. I know from personal experience what anxiety can do to your bowels, as do many on here, I'm sure. My advice would be to try and counter your extreme thought processes with more rational ones - it's probably a bit of pepper, it's probably stress, it's probably a weekend of bad food and alcohol etc.

[MrLurcher]

I'm now back to having really bad anxiety and after having a panic attack this morning I need help! The past couple of days I've had an upset stomach and both yesterday morning and this morning my poop was like mud. At first I blamed it on my diet being pretty bad over the weekend and drinking alcohol. But this morning I also seen red pieces floating when it was flushing. I've not had anything red and my diet has been bland all day yesterday to try and help. I did have red peppers on Sunday but would it take this long to digest? Is there anything I can do to make my stool more firm?

Hiya, bowels are my main topic of worry. I've been on and off obsessed with them for aorund 3 years now, had numerous tests and been told it's IBS I have.

Anyway, regarding the red peppers thing. I have noticed flecks of red pepper skin in my stool a few days after eating it - I haven't noticed it with other foods. Maybe because it's red?! Or maybe it takes longer to travel? I'm not sure myself.

Regarding firming up stools, that's a constant battle I have with IBS, and it stresses me out from time to time. Some times it seems like nothing will firm them up, and then one day they'll just settle back to normal. I often find that it's not food but the worry and stress that causes the bowel issues, and then it becomes a vicious circle.

[MummytoJJL]

Well after the loose stools I'm now constipated! Does this at all sound worrying? How can I go from one to another in a day?

[ServerError]

Happened to me a few years ago during a period of high anxiety. I became fixated on my bowel movements and they went from being loose to being really firm to just not going at all. Are you drinking enough water? Has your anxiety killed your appetite and led to you not eating enough?

[MummytoJJL]

I'm drinking water through the day but probably not enough. I've managed to go to the toilet but it's only small amounts which is making me feel like I need to go all the time and now I'm really panicking as I know that's a symptom of bowel cancer