I just had to call a profesor and tell her that I could not make it to an examination! Sadly this is not the first time this has happened. I guess I just wanted to vent my primordial rage at my situation; but also I want to ask a, well, delicate question: does anyone ever get a bowel movement with these very thin peaces of fecal matter (I'm very sorry but this is what we're here for). I've had the feeling of incomplete evacuation for as long as I can remember, it makes me feel a bit queesy but it's something I've lived with without any problems. But since I moved to the U.K. from the U.S. about three months ago it seems to have gotten worse. I wouldn't doubt that it's stress related, as the NHS Doctor seems to think, but these little thin things scare me; that's a symptom of bowel cancer. (I'm only 19, turn 20 tomorrow--what a bithday, huh--cancer definatly does NOT run in either side of the familly and I am, I confess it, a hypocondriac.) Nothing has really helped me; I've tried the usual pepper-mint oil and psyllium and slippery elm powder, these help a bit more than all of the perscriptions my doctor gave me, but I still don't feel functional. Life outside of University or travel is imposable for me to think about, I'm too adventurous. (If the problem is stress related I shot myself in the foot; I study Arabic and am, hopefuly, going to the West Bank and Cairo this summer--how's that for stress!)I hope someone knows a remedy for stress-related pain and that someone can allay my admitadly paranoid views on cancer.Thanks for reading this tirade, I just had to get it out. Salaam (peace).