Scared about my symptoms

[Little Hedgehog]

Hello,
I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I'm very worried about my symptoms. It's embarrassing to talk about but I guess you don't mind. I'm a 33 year old male, non smoker and there is no history of IBD in my family.
I've had a several bouts of diarrhea lately. Like a single loose stool every couple of days. It's not continuous.
I also quite often have discharges (sorry for TMI) of mucus but that might be because I have hemorrhoids and anal fissures. I've had really a lot of gastroenteritis these past few years. They're usually mild, but they're quite frequent. 3-4 times per year.

But I can't shake the idea that I might have some form of IBD. We do have a family history of polyps so I had a colonoscopy when I was 30, which is almost 3 years ago now because back then, the Gastroenterologist wanted to be sure since I indeed was quite prone to infections. Everything was clear. Nothing to see, they took several random biopsies and all turned out fine.
I've had my stool checked in the lab countless times since then (almost every time I had gastroenteritis) last time being 2 weeks ago. It was fine. No blood. They never found anything abnormal in the past either. Except once, when I had a nasty bacterial gastroenteritis, but the presence of blood is normal then.

I also get my blood checked every 6 months, but it's always normal. Last time was in december and it was also normal.
Do I have reasons to think about IBD?
I do also realize that IBD can be treated and that people with IBD can mostly enjoy a normal life. I'm an avid indoor climber (I don't climb on rocks outsides, only indoors) and I also work out at home. I love seeinf friends and going out too. Will I still be able to do this if I do happen to have IBD?

Thanks for reading!

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Hi, welcome to the forum. First of all, nothing is TMI on here - we all experience "gross" stuff that maybe wouldn't be talked about in polite company, but can be freely discussed on here.

3-4 times per year is a lot to get gastroenteritis, so I think you're right to investigate further. What are your symptoms when you have gastroenteritis? You mentioned diarrhea, mucus, and typically no blood - anything else? Have you experienced anything along the lines of unintentional weight loss, night sweats, being woken up in the night due to abdominal pain and/or the urge to defecate? What about seemingly unrelated symptoms such as joint pain, eye inflammation, skin issues?

Another thought - when you're experiencing the gastroenteritis, do you have the stool tests and bloodwork done while the symptoms are still happening? Or is there a period of time in between when you experience the symptoms and when you have the tests? Also, have you noticed any pattern in things that you're eating and an increase in symptoms? Does the gastroenteritis happen at the same time every year or is it seemingly random?

 

[Little Hedgehog]

Hi, welcome to the forum. First of all, nothing is TMI on here - we all experience "gross" stuff that maybe wouldn't be talked about in polite company, but can be freely discussed on here.

3-4 times per year is a lot to get gastroenteritis, so I think you're right to investigate further. What are your symptoms when you have gastroenteritis? You mentioned diarrhea, mucus, and typically no blood - anything else? Have you experienced anything along the lines of unintentional weight loss, night sweats, being woken up in the night due to abdominal pain and/or the urge to defecate? What about seemingly unrelated symptoms such as joint pain, eye inflammation, skin issues?

Another thought - when you're experiencing the gastroenteritis, do you have the stool tests and bloodwork done while the symptoms are still happening? Or is there a period of time in between when you experience the symptoms and when you have the tests? Also, have you noticed any pattern in things that you're eating and an increase in symptoms? Does the gastroenteritis happen at the same time every year or is it seemingly random?

The thing is, the frequency of gastroenteritis has always been kinda high for me even when I did a colonoscopy 3 years ago, which was entirely normal, including the biopsies. Thinking back, 3-4 might not be entirely correct. 2-3 is probably more accurate. I've always been very sensitive for it. If there is an epidemic going around, unless I wear a gas mask all day, I can't escape it.

When I have gastroenteritis, it's usually just diarrhea. And some mild stomach pain. Nausea is rare (my gut might be sensitive, but my stomach can withstand anything it seems) and I think I haven't puked since I was 16 years old . I very rarely have fever with a "regular" viral gastroenteritis. I did have high fever when I had a really bad bacterial (campylobacter) infection last September, but I typically don't have fever when I have viral one. Viral gastroenteritis is also usually very mild with me and lasts just a couple of days. I've even had gastroenteritis's that lasted just half a day.

I don't think I ever have night sweats, except of course, when I'm running a fever for something else like a common cold. I don't get waken up by abdominal pains or to go to the bathroom, except, again, during that bout of campylobacter.

The blood work was done, I think, when I was feeling fine. I usually just do this routinely every 6 months. I did it once 3 years ago in the middle of a gastroenteritis, but it turned out normal.
The stool samples however, are usually done during a bout of gastroenteritis but never showed any blood in it except, like I mentioned, during that bout of campylobacter. Hell, the sample I took two weeks ago wasn't even because I had diarrhea, it was because I had some mucus discharge. But that one was also still without any blood.
I remember I submitted a sample of the mucus itself too a couple of months ago but it didn't contain anything abnormal. The doc said it was probably my hemorrhoids flaring up (I have those very easily too, just like my mom and her father).

I don't really have skin issues. Well, I do have a dry skin during winter time, but that's always been the case ever since I was a child and it's only during winter. For the rest, nothing abnormal. I used to have eye inflammations during summer time due to severe allergies, but ever since I took those shots that immunizes your body against those allergens years ago, that has stopped. I still do get some red eyes occasionally during really bad allergy periods, but it's very mild and really only during peak allergy seasons.

Imagine it turns out I do have IBD... if I follow the treatment and don't miss my medication, can you still have a good life? Would I still be able to go indoor climbing (just not making it too intense) and enjoy going out with buddies?
I also heard IBD usually develops in your teens or twenties and that if it does develop later, it will usually be more mild. Is that so?

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

From what you described, you don't really have any of the "red flag" signs of IBD. I'm not a medical professional by any means, and I don't know what your symptoms would indicate, but it doesn't sound like IBD. Most people with IBD will have at least one of the following - blood in the stool, fevers/night sweats, getting up in the night to go, unexplained weight loss. It sounds like you don't have any red flag symptoms, which is good - it means you likely don't have IBD. With getting gastroenteritis that often, you may have something going on, but it doesn't sound like IBD to me.

If you did have IBD, absolutely yes, you can still have a good life. I have IBD and I feel like my life is fairly normal. In a good week I work out in the gym 4-6 times per week with no issues. I work a full-time 40 hour per week job, I have a house and do yard work and I have a dog and a cat and a husband and hobbies and friends. There are a few limitations, like certain foods I can't eat, and I need to take my medications of course, but it's not a bad life by any means. I have an aunt (related by marriage) who also has IBD and she's basically my role model - she does yoga every day and she travels the world and just generally has an amazing life! So yes, it's absolutely possible to still live a good life even with a chronic illness.

So please don't worry too much. Yes, some things in your life may change if you have IBD, but that absolutely does not mean that life will be bad or over. My life has in some ways changed for the better, honestly - I'm more appreciative of things. I go to the gym a lot more now than I used to before I got sick - I really appreciate being able to do a workout now, I never used to enjoy working out until I was shown how important my health is, now I love working on my fitness and physically pushing my body towards better health. I laugh a lot more, too - I appreciate how important humor is and how it's okay to laugh at some of the things I go through. I appreciate the people in my life who help me out - everyone from my husband, to my co-worker who has UC and listens to me vent, to of course the wonderful people here on the forum. I even appreciate my pets more - my cat is like the best cat ever and she comforts me when I'm not feeling well. My dog is a ridiculous goof who entertains me when I'm feeling down.

I hope that helps. It sounds like you have a lot of health anxiety. Because of that, I advise you that when you read things on the internet about IBD (including on this forum), take it all with a large grain of salt. People tend to write or speak about the bad times - most people don't come on the forum to gush about how wonderful remission is or how great they're doing, people come to the forum because they're suffering or scared or in pain and need support. For every scary story you read on the internet about IBD, I promise you there are many other happy IBD'ers doing well out there.

 

[Axelfl3333]

Cat,s totally right Dr Google never gives good news and I,d advise to try and steer clear go with your doctors advice and as cat says the vast majority of ibd sufferers with medication and some lifestyle changes are fine.i,m lucky with mine go the gym a lot,walk the dogs and have a mega holiday booked for later in the summer and still go out and about pretty much as normal.good luck

 

[UnXmas]

If you're managing to have a good life now, despite your symptoms, if you did have IBD, it's possible you could actually have improvements in your quality of life with the right treatments. But even if you had IBD and it got worse, it's very unlikely that you'll have to give up socialising or sports or anything else. You'll have bad periods, but you'll have a normal life.

That said, I agree with Cat that, while you don't sound like a typical case of IBD, it does sound like something is up with your digestive system. Besides the one where you had campylobacter, were your other episodes of gastroenteritis diagnosed as that by a doctor, and by what means? If a doctor diagnosed them just based on your symptoms and basic blood/stool tests, there may be some other underlying issue the doctors have missed.

If you are consulting "Dr. Google", as Axelfl puts it, be aware that IBD will keep coming up in your searches because it's so common. There are an awful lot of digestive disorders out there, so you need to find a doctor who is more likely to consider less common conditions and the possibility of atypical presentations, and who can decide if further tests are needed.

Try not to worry. While blood tests are not able to diagnose many specific conditions, they do give a general picture of your state of health, so if you have been having them regularly with mostly negative results, it's unlikely anything serious is going on.

 

[Little Hedgehog]

Hello everyone,
Thanks for the support. I've been having alternating diarrhea and firm stools for a little more than a week now. I have diarrhea once or twice, then a day or two of firm BM's, then diarrhea again, etc. It keeps alternating between the two. I've also had slight fever for a few days and generally not feeling so well. I don't have any cramps though. Maybe some very mild pain here and there, but no continuous cramps.
I know this can't just be irritable bowel syndrome: I know my gut well enough to know that if I have several bouts of diarrhea, it usually means there is something wrong. I normally never have diarrhea unless I have an infection or if I ate something my gut disagrees with (like fast-food). It never happens "just like that" or because of stress or anxiety. I've had way more stressful and anxious perdios in my life and I never had diarrhea because of it.

And yes, the previous gastro-enteritis' have all been diagnosed by just a typical exam at the GP and a stool test. When it was viral, the test would come back negative, when it was bacterial, it was positive.
I have an appointment with a gastroenterist next week. I think that never hurts. I spoke to him on the phone briefly and he said that, since my colonoscopy (which checked the colon and the ileum) was entirely negative 3 years ago, including the randomly taken biopsies, it would be very unlikely that I have IBD.

Anyway, I heard that even if IBD can develop at any age, it usually does during the teenage years or in the twenties. Is it true that if it does develop after that, it's usually in a milder form?

 

[UnXmas]

I know this can't just be irritable bowel syndrome: I know my gut well enough to know that if I have several bouts of diarrhea, it usually means there is something wrong. I normally never have diarrhea unless I have an infection or if I ate something my gut disagrees with (like fast-food). It never happens "just like that" or because of stress or anxiety. I've had way more stressful and anxious perdios in my life and I never had diarrhea because of it.

This is exactly how I used to think when doctors would tell me my diarrhoea was caused by stress like that was a fact, or tell me everybody gets diarrhoea when anxious - except I had not only never had diarrhoea from stress, I never got it from eating the wrong thing either. Don't let doctors or anyone else tell you something you know isn't true. Howevert clever a doctor is, there are some things that it is not possible for them to know better than you. Sometimes I wonder what all the doctors who said those things to me would think if they knew I now have an ileostomy and nearly died from a perforated bowel.

There are a lot of things that could be causing your symptoms besides IBD though. Although you know your body better than anyone and you know that something's wrong, you will still need tests to tell you what that something is.

 

[2thFairy]

Sometimes I wonder what all the doctors who said those things to me would think if they knew I now have an ileostomy and nearly died from a perforated bowel.

Yep. I have a long list of doctors and acquaintances who I'd love to go back to and say "I told you something was wrong. Now do you believe I wasn't faking it?"

 

[Little Hedgehog]

Thought I'd check in: I went to see the proctologist today. An appointment I had even before my on-and-off diarrhea symptoms began.
Says I have several hemorrhoids, which is something I think runs in the family as my mom, grandfather and sister have this as well, and some very superficial fissures. But these fissures are really not deep at all. Probably due to having to wipe very often since I go to the bathroom 3-4 times per day (80% of the time it's firm stools, but I guess being a sportsman and eating 3000 calories per day plus having a fast metabolism explains my frequent bathroom visits ) and the toilet paper at work being close to sand paper.

For the rest, there is nothing bad to see down there. No fistulas or other perianal problems and no inflamed rectum and IIRC, I understood that IBD can often cause inflammations in the rectum.
He also said it's quite common for hemorrhoids to discharge mucus which can sometimes even be quite substantial.

Still have a visit scheduled with the gastroenterologist though. I still want to investigate and have just a checkup.
At least I know it can't be colon cancer since these cancers can be detected years before they actually become dangerous and my colonoscopy 3 years ago was all clear.

My stool sample also came back as totally negative without the presence of any blood. So it might just be that I had a mild gastroenteritis for a few days and that my gut became very irritated because of it and that my anxiousness sustains it.

 

[UnXmas]

Hi Little Hedgehog, that sounds like good news, though I know you still have to deal with haemorrhoids and your other symptoms which aren't fun. Did the proctologist give you any advice about treating the haemorrhoids? Or about treating the diarrhoea with anti-diarrhoea medications like loperamide? And it sounds like taking your own toilet paper to work would be a good idea.

I hope the gastroenterologist appointment goes well. Keep monitoring your symptoms and get things checked out if anything concerns you.