Hi everyone. I guess I'll go through a little bit of background first, but I'll try and keep it short. I'm a 24 yo male, and I'd like to think I'm fairly healthy. I don't smoke and only drink on occasion. The only thing I have is seasonal allergies and occasional asthma. I've pretty much been a nervous type of person my entire life. I unfortunately fret and worry about a lot of things, including my health. It's never been overly debilitating, but I just notice it from time to time.Anyway, about 2 months ago I started having this strange chest pain in my right side sorta between the ribs. I had a chest x-ray done, and it was normal. I also have a sensation of something being stuck in my throat that comes and goes too. I went to an ENT who scoped my throat and didn't find anything, and said it may be from reflux. About a month into this, and about a month ago I started having an occasional feeling of gurgling in my abdomen and slightly in my groin, and sometimes my lower rib cage. This is usually followed by the need to go to the bathroom. I don't have diarrhea too badly, but I'd say it comes and goes and maybe I have it 3 to 4 times a week. The rest of the time my stools are pretty solid and normal colored. I have noticed some other abnormalities though. Maybe once or twice every 5-6 days I'll have this same sensation followed by the need to pass gas. When this happens and I go to the bathroom, all I see is an small clump of mucus followed sometimes by diarrhea, sometimes not. There's also a cloudy type looking liquid (mucus?) that comes and goes but mostly after the solid mucus comes out. Also, on occasion along rwith the gassy feeling, I'll notice that my stool has a lot of air bubbles along with it. Again, this comes and goes too. I don't really have too many stomach pains along with this, only occasionally, and they aren't too severe, just more noticeable. I don't see any blood in the stool and don't have a fever. I pulled my groin over the summer on the right side so that hurts from time to time with this as well. I'm hoping it's not something more serious than IBS like Crohn's, but I can't be sure. I've already been to the doctor a lot over the past couple months and am running out of money and my insurance isn't great right now. I haven't brought up any of the stomach situations since they've been kinda new. I'm not sure if the chest/throat is related to my stomach, but I'm quite worried. I'm wondering if the worry has brought on the stomach problems or if it's related in some way. I don't really know what to do right now. Does what's going on with my stomach seem to be IBS related? Or should I be more concerned about it? If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I appreciate any feedback on this.
Could This Be IBS? Scared.
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Hi bud.Your symptoms could be IBS. You may also be suffering from excess stomach acid or GERD (gastro eosophageal reflux disease) this could be causing the chest problems you are getting.It is possible to have both IBS and GERD. Mucous and gas are both pretty common in IBS.Worry/anxiety will definately make any IBS symptoms more severe.Try keeping a food diary to try and identify and foods that cause these symptoms.You may also have a food intolerance rather than IBS (thinking her lactose/gluten).Over the counter remedies such as pepto bismol can help with excess stomach acid.Your stools really don't seem like to much of an issue but if diarrhoea develops you could try loperamide (Imodium)..i think this can be bought without prescription.IBS symptoms vary from person to person greatly!Hope this is of some help.Your Dr should be able to diagnose IBS without the need for costly investigations such as upper endoscopy or colonoscopy (though for your peace of mind and as a precaution he/she may well suggest these. Without weight loss or visible blood or pain i would say these are not warranted at this stage .CheersNick
Thanks for the reply riddick. I'm currently taking Prilosec for reflux, and that seems to be helping the t throat burning I was having. Strange thing is, this seemed to all start with a simple post nasal drip from allergies. Then it turned into the chest and throat thing. Then came the digestive symptoms. I think the symptom I'm most scared about is the fact that the area around my anus constantly feels moist and slimy almost. That and the fact that if I wipe the area sometimes I can see little white flecks that look like skin. That and the whole air bubble in the stool thing. Those don't seem like IBS symptoms, which is why I'm scared it's something more serious like Crohn's.
jaboop does anyone in your family have crohn's? my mom had crohn's so i think its possible if i didn't eat right that i could get ithttp://www.biblelife.org/leakygut.htmhttp://www.biblelife.org/bowel.htmtry researching these 2 links you may find out what your problem is much faster than a doctor
Hey guys thanks for the replies. No one in my family has any history of any intestinal disease. I feel a little better today. The gurgling/gas only happens now after I eat a lot, and it goes away after I have a bowel movement. It seems to start up later in the day, usually like after dinner and goes until about 9-10 at night. The diarrhea has stopped for the most part and the mucus seems to have gone down a little bit too. Does it sound like IBS to you guys, or should I be more concerned?
No I wouldn't be that concerned if your symptoms seem to be waning off. Try using some digestive enzymes.. they may relieve the remaining symptoms.
Hi again everyone. Just thought I'd give a little bit of an update. I've gone into complete panic mode again basically. After a few days of not feeling all that bad, the past few have been horrible again. I'm still not experiencing much pain, and not really any diarrhea. I just have a rumbling sensation that goes on every so often that becomes quite annoying, and I still have the mucus and cloudy liquid come out every once in a while. I'm pretty much convinced it's something serious like Crohns or cancer. Does IBS produce all of these things too? I have no idea. Anyone have any clue?
Well depending on really how often "a while" means here:
you might want to go back to the Dr. and have your concerns addressed. Might be worth the $ to you since you seem to be in a "complete panic". So give that some thought.Also give some thought to getting your anxiety treated. You might feel so much better about everything if you do. In the meantime have a look at our Symptoms page:http://www.ibsgroup.org/symptoms
Thanks BQ for the reply. I have had anxiety issues in the past. They seemed to have gone away, but this little episode seems to have brought the feeling back again from time to time. After looking at the symptoms page I don't really seem to have the symptoms of anything else other than IBS. I just finished a two week course of Prilosec which seemed to make my stomach symptoms worse. I think I might end up going back to the doctor in a couple weeks if this stuff continues. Guess I don't really have a choice at this point. In the meantime, does anyone else have a rumbling sensation, I mean one that you can actually feel with your hand, in your abdomen with IBS? This is one of the symptoms that has me most worried. That and this stupid cloudy liquid.
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Normal healthy people have a lot more gas than most of us believe.IBSers sometimes seem to have more gas than usual, but a lot of times it is they just have problems with the normal volume of gas (enough for and average 14 farts a day). Some IBSers find a diet that reduces gas volume and/or probiotics that can reduce gas production do help.IBSers don't seem to move the gas they have around as effectively so that can increase symptoms of IBS. Rumbling is a normal thing the colon does (every person's colon is always making noises) but IBSers do sometimes seem to have more noise issues than they did before (although they may just notice it more, like someone with a panic attack is much more aware their heart is making beating noises even though it does it all the time, not just during a panic attack).
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