Major Health Anxiety over Stomach Isssues

[Mark801]

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope everyone is doing well. I’m logging back into this account after a long time as I’ve had some recent concerns that’s scaring me and causing a rut in my mind. For the last few months I’ve been having off and on constipation and I’ve noticed my bowels have fluctuated from 5 on the Bristol scale to either thin stools, flat stools sometimes and then back to 5 on the Bristol scale. I’ll go a day not going at all when constipated to twice a day when back to normal. The logical part in me tells me that this is diet related as I’ve been working on being a healthier version of myself. But the other part of me has been obsessing over either colon cancer or stomach cancer due to me seeing it pop up everywhere on social media in young adults.

The reason I’m posting this is my most recent flare up of constipation started this Friday and I’ve been in a mental rut since. My lower stomach and back feels as if there’s a tight band around it and I can’t fully expand it. It makes me feel like I’m bloated even though I have been using the bathroom. I’m also freaking out because the wife and I indulged in Indian food on Sunday, specifically chicken Tikka Masala and today my poop is red! It looks like there’s visible bright red particles versus blood but despite that logical thinking I’m still thinking the worse because my stomach has been feeling tight and uncomfortable for days. I also want to add that I’ve been doing a lot more weight training too and I did squats with 90lbs of weight on my shoulders a week ago but that shouldn’t cause this feeling of tightness/heaviness in my stomach right?

I just recently had a full CBC check up including an EKG and Echocardiogram back in January 2023 with no concerns other than slightly elevated cholesterol by my GP. He did mention that I tested positive for H Pylori and recommended that i visit a gastroenterologist. I plucked up the courage today and booked an appointment to see a gastroenterologist this Friday but I am sitting here at work scared witless that I have something seriously wrong with me. I’m 33 years old with no major health concerns and I’ve been hospitalized with anxiety over my heart when k was 18 years Old. I’ve always had heartburn issues and had gastritis when I was 18 but nothing that ever required medication. Does anyone ever experience the symptoms below and do any of you think this sounds serious? Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.

Current Symptoms:
Tight feeling in my Lower stomach and back.
Lower Stomach feels heavy
Weird bowel movements
Either Constipated
Or going 2-3 times a day
Red bowels after eating Indian food
Sharp random stomach pains
Stomach feels like it’s burning (off/on)
Obsessively Checking my Bowels for issues
Obsessively reading articles on Colon and stomach cancer
Intrusive thoughts and thinking the worse.

[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

[Mark801]

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope everyone is doing well. I’m logging back into this account after a long time as I’ve had some recent concerns that’s scaring me and causing a rut in my mind. For the last few months I’ve been having off and on constipation and I’ve noticed my bowels have fluctuated from 5 on the Bristol scale to either thin stools, flat stools sometimes and then back to 5 on the Bristol scale. I’ll go a day not going at all when constipated to twice a day when back to normal. The logical part in me tells me that this is diet related as I’ve been working on being a healthier version of myself. But the other part of me has been obsessing over either colon cancer or stomach cancer due to me seeing it pop up everywhere on social media in young adults.

The reason I’m posting this is my most recent flare up of constipation started this Friday and I’ve been in a mental rut since. My lower stomach and back feels as if there’s a tight band around it and I can’t fully expand it. It makes me feel like I’m bloated even though I have been using the bathroom. I’m also freaking out because the wife and I indulged in Indian food on Sunday, specifically chicken Tikka Masala and today my poop is red! It looks like there’s visible bright red particles versus blood but despite that logical thinking I’m still thinking the worse because my stomach has been feeling tight and uncomfortable for days. I also want to add that I’ve been doing a lot more weight training too and I did squats with 90lbs of weight on my shoulders a week ago but that shouldn’t cause this feeling of tightness/heaviness in my stomach right?

I just recently had a full CBC check up including an EKG and Echocardiogram back in January 2023 with no concerns other than slightly elevated cholesterol by my GP. He did mention that I tested positive for H Pylori and recommended that i visit a gastroenterologist. I plucked up the courage today and booked an appointment to see a gastroenterologist this Friday but I am sitting here at work scared witless that I have something seriously wrong with me. I’m 33 years old with no major health concerns and I’ve been hospitalized with anxiety over my heart when k was 18 years Old. I’ve always had heartburn issues and had gastritis when I was 18 but nothing that ever required medication. Does anyone ever experience the symptoms below and do any of you think this sounds serious? Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.

Current Symptoms:
Tight feeling in my Lower stomach and back.
Lower Stomach feels heavy
Weird bowel movements
Either Constipated
Or going 2-3 times a day
Red bowels after eating Indian food
Sharp random stomach pains
Stomach feels like it’s burning (off/on)
Obsessively Checking my Bowels for issues
Obsessively reading articles on Colon and stomach cancer
Intrusive thoughts and thinking the worse.

Anyone?

[Scass]

I think if you tested positive for h pylori then that would be the cause, I’m surprised they didn’t give you a prescription then? Good luck with your appointment.

[golddustgirl1000]

I’m dealing with similar issues- I had a new iud placed in Jan… the Dr forgot to order my normal low dose one… so I agreeded to the higher one as it was on a specific day of cycle that I waited all month for for insertion… 2 weeks later out of nowhere I had a day where I could not stop going to the bathroom. Smaller than normal, sometimes almost so soft it doesn’t seem like it fully comes out and I get stuck going all day as it comes out in broken up segments. It’s been almost 3 months now… I started taking soluable fiber and I’ll have days when I’m normal for 4-5 days then a day or two where it’s smaller/ a lot all over again. No blood . I eat extremely healthy, always have and work out a lot - I’m 33 as well . I’m trying to start keeping track and it seems like it’s worse when period or ovulating…
My suspicion is the iud and higher hormones started this and now my anxiety isn’t helping but I’ve coursed I’ve googled high and low and found one person say they had that issue … I’m worried about the dreaded you know what as well..

[golddustgirl1000]

Sometimes IÂ’ll get a weird burning low too- but canÂ’t tell if itÂ’s cramps or not.. it only lasts a day and correlates with period

[Jonathanbrsc]

Curious, do you drink milk?

[golddustgirl1000]

Me? No..the only dairy I consume is a high quality feta and it’s sheep’s milk. I cut dairy a few years ago

[Jonathanbrsc]

Try cutting that out for a while, see what happens