Morning bowel issues?

[ktdid2000]

Hi all - I had been doing pretty good with my health anxiety save for a couple of scares this past year with breast lumps (which turned out to be cysts).

Now for the TMI part - I have a new symptom hitting me out of the blue, for the past 2 weeks I've been having "loose" stools, sort of like a shapeless pile (sorry, TMI!). I mostly have them in the morning right after I wake up with a little watery diarrhea mixed in. Later in the day they are normally back to my small, soft stools with actual pieces instead of the loose pile. It's normal color and everything else - no pain, just weird consistency.

It's freaking me out because it's happening every day. Originally I thought it might be a stomach virus, but after going on for a week I started to get worried. I called the doctor for an appointment to get it checked out, but decided to postpone it after I had a pretty normal stool the same afternoon I called for the appointment. Now after 2 weeks of this I am officially back on the health anxiety train.

I keep telling myself that this is what happens to me when I get stressed (we've been in the middle of a move along with 2 crazy kids with TONS of upheaval which I don't handle very well) and that it's happened before but the consistency of it makes me worry that something is wrong.

I guess I'm going to have to make an appointment to get it checked but I'm probably just going to think they missed something like most of us HA sufferers do and continue on this path until things get back to normal down there.

Sorry for the long winded post - does anyone else get tummy issues when you're stressed/anxious and how do you handle it or get things back to normal?

I don't have IBS that I know of, but I certainly do have an emotional stomach or whatever you might call it - where I get tummy upsets when I'm stressed.

Thanks!

[steve_p]

My doc diagnosed me with IBS when I was really suffering from panic/social anxiety. He prescribed something to ease my stomach pain but told me it was all caused by my anxiety/stress. I took pepto as needed and sometimes immodium but it was always worse before I had to fly or go to a work meeting, which told me it really was my anxiety causing it.

When I got past the worst of my anxiety, my IBS literally disappeared.

[ekkko]

Hey, I actually registered just so I can ask you this.
How did it go with your problem?
Because I've been having the exact same issue for a couple of months now. Specifically the part where bowel movements tend to normalize later in the day (whenever I have them - I mostly don't) is what seems to stand out and is hard to match with anything I read online.
Occasionally I'd have a completely normal day, even few in a row sometimes, but then it's back to what you described.
I also notice having a lot noisier gut in the days and nights prior to having loose stools.
Went to a doctor who suggested IBS, but ofc you can't really know w/o colonoscopy and I don't want to spend several days in the hospital during the latest covid boom...
Beyond that I'm healthy, but an anxious personality, in my 30s, don't sleep well, etc.

[Pkstracy]

I have what op described and it's IBS, it can do all sorts of odd things to your poo,