IBS and blood in poo, worried!

I suffer badly with health anxiety and spend hours every day researching my symptoms and fretting like mad that I have some form of advanced cancer.

I have suffered with IBS D for the past 3 years which consists of morning urgency and a couple of loose motions every morning. After that I feel fine for the rest of the day unless I’ve eaten something to really upset me (a lot of rich food).

I have now had two instances (2 months apart) where I have been adamant there is red blood. The first was on the toilet paper and the second was on the Diarrhea. I am now in a complete frenzy of panic.

The amount was very small, just 4 tiny visible streaks. Gross but I got it out and inspected it and prodded it with some toilet paper, it just transferred as an orange stain! There was also 3-4 chunks of bright red pepper from food I had eaten over the previous couple of days. Is it possible that some of the pepper came out so mushed up it looked a bit liquify rather than a solid chunk!?

There has been no blood since that motion, even when I went again twice afterwards (triggered by anxiety) there was no blood.

I have of course been to the doctor, who is adamant all is ok but has referred me to a gastroenterologist and for CBT.

I’m so worried, all I can focus on is dying. I am getting married this year l and have so much fear that I won’t even make it to my wedding.

Info: I’m a 25y/o femail, healthy weight, have had full bloods, stool tests and fecal calprotectin, all of which came back negative.

I have not yet had a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy which I why I am so worried.

Please help!

Hey

First thing you have to do is stop researching symptoms on the internet. There is nothing worse for you than looking at fatal conditions that you don't have. You already have all the actual medical tests that there's nothing wrong, so why are you spending time looking for imaginary reasons that you're dying? This is the single biggest cause of your anxiety, and you are doing it. It has to stop. Everybody does it at one point, but you have to stop.

In terms of the blood, it's very common with IBS. It doesn't signify anything fatal, it's just something that happens. I've had it on and off for 30 years now.

Also, when you say things like 'all I can focus on is dying', those thoughts tend to cement themselves into your psyche. You need to stop using language like that because those thoughts have no place in the mind of a healthy 25 year old woman who's about to be married. Focus on your wedding, and a happy future. You'll find it hard, but practice. When you have a negative thought say 'NO' out loud. In a sense you have to retrain your brain to think 'normally' again and it takes time.

You are completely in control of this, it's just breaking bad mental habits.

And remember, never Google. You are banned!

Thank you for your reassuring response. I know google is so detrimental to anxiety but it’s so hard sometimes. I’ve found myself reading through all the stories on young people with Bowel cancer who had similar symptoms and ended up with stage 4 Bowel cancer and not long to live, which has given my so much fear.

I think my main worry is that I haven’t had any camera testing in the past as my doctor didn’t deem it necessary. Hoping the gastroenterologist will give me further tests.

Yes it's hard, but you have to stop.

It's not possible to live a normal life whilst googling symptoms of worst case scenarios of diseases you don't have. As long as you google, you will suffer. There are no exceptions to this. Is stopping harder than living in fear like you do now?

In my younger days I had several bouts of profuse bleeding from the bowel due to bouts of IBS, where the walls of the bowel became overactive and began contracting at a fast rate. This caused the mucus lining to pull blood through it which was expelled along with the bowel motion (mainly diarrhea). After a few hours it completely stopped. A colonoscopy revealed some inflammation of the bowel wall, which was all benign in nature. I was in my mid thirties when it first happened.

At the time, I was scared to death, my Dr sent me for a colonoscopy, which put my mind at ease, then I worked out what was happening. If you have IBD (as well as IBS), it is quite common to get bleeding.

Mine was ultimately due to autoimmune activity, I was diagnosed with CFS several years later. Taking a low dose amitriptyline solved the issue for me.

Also a suspected IBD sufferer who had the scare this morn. Have had around 4 days of constipation/hard stools due to my "Safe" foods i.e. white bread, pasta etc but today after eating pizza and salad last night had a normal stool but rather loose accompanied by very uncomfortable gas and intermittent cramps. Checked the colour as I usually do and saw the last bit had an entire line of blood. I flushed the chain and it didnt remove the last part(TMI sorry) but the blood was removed ...so strange, I dont curently have hems so hoping its just a one off

I agree with anketyjoe.
I have IBS and do get bouts of red tissue from blood on certain unexpected occasions.

Most of the times is if I hold my poo in for too long.

You are being referred to a gastroenterologist, so that's good! He/she will advice you on dealing with your ibs and stuff.

Yes, some young people can get it, most to reasons like genetics.

All sources I’ve seen in the internet say IBS doesn’t cause bleeding, has anyone actually been told it can by a specialist in the bowels?

Dr.Google isn't the best source, you don't always know the source or who is writing it.

I'm not sure if IBS can cause bleeding but my ex-bf used to suffer with it and it turned out to be an ulcer, he was vomiting blood too. Strong medications can cause bleeding too.

Try not to panic. Wait until your colonoscopy, the good thing about that is you *should* get your results soon after the procedure.

A pharmacist once told me blood in the stools is quite common, try and breathe and realise there's more of a chance of it not being serious than it being serious, sad you are struggling though.