Bowel Changes - Cannot Stop Crying - Please Help

[glittery]

Dear All,

Hope you are all doing well.

I am 23 years old female.

I cannot stop crying for my recent bowel change which has been going on for 3.5 weeks now.

I started a 5 day course of antibiotic on the 22nd of Jan for my sore throat. While I was on the antibiotic, I started having diarrhea. The diarrhea stopped after my antibiotic ended, but I had 2 more days of constipation. The constipation perhaps caused me to bleed a little from my rectal area.

I got better for that and everything was normal for another week until.... a week ago. I started bloating and started having a diarrhea again which had mucus all over and the diarrhea & the mucus was all green.

Now the green color, pain and bloating has gone away but the diarrhea is still here. Sometimes in the morning my stool gets normal, sometimes its soft, sometimes its watery.

I never had any of these before, and I cannot stop crying. I am thinking of the worst situation ever. I suffer from general anxiety and OCD anyway.

Googling symptoms and reading stories of young people dying is killing me inside.

I want a normal life again.

I went to a doctor. He checked my stomach to see if he can feel lumps or tenderness. He did a digital rectal examination. And he thinks they are all fine. He gave me a blood and stool test telling me he thinks it is probably an infection or so. He will call me again in a week or so.

I cannot stop crying. I don't want to die. I want to live so bad. I want to be with my mom, my little brother, my boyfriend..I want to love them so much.

I can't believe everything was so normal just 3.5 weeks ago.

[BlueIris]

Everything is still normal - the only thing that's changed is that you're having a massive anxiety flare.

You probably already know this, but you need to stop Googling. Your GP isn't worried, which means that you have no real need to be worried, either.

[glittery]

Everything is still normal - the only thing that's changed is that you're having a massive anxiety flare.

You probably already know this, but you need to stop Googling. Your GP isn't worried, which means that you have no real need to be worried, either.

I hope you are right. Thank you so much for your reply. Can anxiety and OCD really effect people this much?

[Midnight-mouse]

I hope you are right. Thank you so much for your reply. Can anxiety and OCD really effect people this much?

Yes, definitely.

Also antibiotics can ruin the good bacteria in the gut for much longer than the time you take them for, try some probiotics of some kind. And a kind diet for your bowels.

Positive vibes,

Mouse


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[glittery]

Yes, definitely.

Also antibiotics can ruin the good bacteria in the gut for much longer than the time you take them for, try some probiotics of some kind. And a kind diet for your bowels.

Positive vibes,

Mouse


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you for your reply. I don't know how to manage the anxiety anymore. I think I need to see a doctor to manage my anxiety too. Reading people's stories of dying from similar symptoms has made me very upset.

I have taken yogurt as a probiotic, and they didn't help much. Lets hope my doctor will give me something good.

---------- Post added at 21:35 ---------- Previous post was at 19:16 ----------

I just wanted to add that I am also having my period from today... maybe this is making it worse as I get diarrhea, anxiety, and all during my period.

[WhereIsMyMind]

Period poos are definitely a thing and they're horrible
Hormones affect everything, including your digestive system. So while that might be the cause, it may well not be helping for the time being.

The trouble with googling is that you're only going to find stories of people dying because nobody writes stories about how their diarrhoea was nothing to worry about (unless on a forum like this one).

Someone else on here had problems after taking antibiotics quite recently. As said above, they destroy good as well as bad bacteria so you can end up with a gut imbalance which can cause bowel changes.


How long did you take the yoghurt probiotic for? It takes time to work - for me it was 7-10 days of taking a probiotic drink daily to notice a difference and that's with minor upset. It could take longer if the imbalance is worse.

[glittery]

Period poos are definitely a thing and they're horrible
Hormones affect everything, including your digestive system. So while that might be the cause, it may well not be helping for the time being.

The trouble with googling is that you're only going to find stories of people dying because nobody writes stories about how their diarrhoea was nothing to worry about (unless on a forum like this one).

Someone else on here had problems after taking antibiotics quite recently. As said above, they destroy good as well as bad bacteria so you can end up with a gut imbalance which can cause bowel changes.


How long did you take the yoghurt probiotic for? It takes time to work - for me it was 7-10 days of taking a probiotic drink daily to notice a difference and that's with minor upset. It could take longer if the imbalance is worse.

Thank you for your reassurance. I agree that most of the stories in Google are just very rare situations.

I took probiotics just three times, stopped when I could not notice any difference. I guess I will start again.

I am just really sad, and feel upset when I think it is taking too long to get fixed, it keeps alternating between normal, diarrhea (mostly), constipation, etc.

I never had this going on for so long.

My anxiety makes me worried that things will go worse, and I keep looking for symptoms in my body. I just hope and pray that things get better soon.

My diarrhea isn't that bad so far. I go three or four times, and it is mostly soft stools and sometimes diarrhea.

I keep losing control of my anxiety.

[Carys]

It sounds to me like your gut bacteria isn't getting back to the healthy state it should be in, and when one bacteria is killed (by the antibiotics) and another takes over it can lead to all sorts of digestive issues. Probiotics could be helpful, and can take a few weeks, but if its not settling then you should perhaps ask for a stool sample to be done spo they can ascertain what is out of kilter?!

[glittery]

It sounds to me like your gut bacteria isn't getting back to the healthy state it should be in, and when one bacteria is killed (by the antibiotics) and another takes over it can lead to all sorts of digestive issues. Probiotics could be helpful, and can take a few weeks, but if its not settling then you should perhaps ask for a stool sample to be done spo they can ascertain what is out of kilter?!

Yes, doctor did ask for a stool sample. It will take few more days for the result to come back which is making my anxiety worse. I haven't tried any medicines or anything to ease my digestive issues tbh, because I am worried it might make it worse.

[Carys]

This is quite common after an anti-biotic course, honestly, don't worry they will sort it out! You aren't going to die, you aren't going anywhere! This is just 'one of those things' that we all have to face in life, a dodgy stomach for the moment, which you will look back on as a memory in a short while I'm sure.