Health Anxiety Replapse

[Mark1974]

I don't post on here very often (I only joined about six months ago), but for some reason my health anxiety is through the roof this past week due to abdominal issues.

Now I have had right sided abdominal pain on and off for since 2014, after a few tests (blood, ultrasound) the they diagnosed me with a non-alcohoic fatty liver and I was told to change my diet and lose some weight (to date I have lost 3st and kept it off give or take a pound or two which fluctuates a little as I would expect).

After that diagnosis I was ticking over quite nicely until until February 2016, when after a nasty episode of excruciating abdominal pain and I ended up spending three days in the Infirmary (they suspected gallbladder or appendix issues, but in the event I was diagnosed with a hiatus hernia after ultrasound, CT scan and gastroscopy). The fatty liver issue was still present but no other issues were found and I was sent home.
I stopped worrying about the abdominal pains after that, as I had been checked thoroughly and I just lived with the discomfort. In 2017 I had a flare up again and some toilet troubles, so I had an endoscopy which came back normal, and again I stopped worrying about it.

So in July of this year it flared up again and I was doubled over. Doctor sent me off for a new ultrasound of the whole abdominal area, stool / urine / blood tested and all normal then, and again in September when tested again.

So why am I worrying about it again now? If the tests from only a few months ago were normal, what are the chances of anything nasty happening in the interim? I am worrying about it because my stools have been an odd two colour over the last couple of days. I am not a prolific examiner of stools, but do have a look down the pan before it is flushed away, and for the first time ever I've noticed they were two tone in colour. The first part was a normal brown colour, the second part was a sandy brown colour (and the same has happened today). Is this worth me worrying about, or is it just probably something I've eaten? I can't recall ever having a sand coloured stool before so it is bothering me a bit (aside from my normal abdominal pain under the right rib cage I don't have any other symptoms, am eating OK and my weight is the same as it has been for months) I daren't look online as it will probably tell me I've got a terminal illness or something.

[Aussie11]

Hi, I wouldn't worry too much about the stool colour you mention. Whilst I've had my stomach troubles it's always a bit weird looking, probably due to anxiety or stress meaning things move through quicker etc. It sounds like you've had some pretty thorough testing as well which is reassuring, and they all sound very recent. Could be more of a diet issue which is tricky to work through as you have to do so much elimination diet stuff to work out what doesn't set you off.

[Mark1974]

I’ve had blood tests today and everything was normal (liver functions, bilirubin etc). He said pancreatic function was slightly higher than normal but not enough to cause concern

[Mark1974]

I'm still in the abyss of health anxiety and I can't get out of it - since I last wrote on this thread I spent three days in hospital at the beginning of the month with the abdominal issues. Another ultrasound showed the same results as the one I had in June (i.e. nothing to report apart from two harmless kidney cysts). They blamed the issues on possible IBS or acid reflux from my hernia and sent me away with another batch of omeprazole.

So I gave it a fortnight to see if matters died down, but I have pain in both ribs, right by the sternum and went to the doctors again on Friday and they sent me off to the chemists to try some peppermint oil. However my ribs have got progressively worse since, feels like I've been punched in them and they are very tender. Has anyone else had this before, especially with reflux? I am at my wits end, I am reluctant to go back to the doctors yet, as I've been 10 times this year (which is excessive, but half of them were follow-ups from the previous one, and almost all related to this).