Hey everyone. I found this forum a couple days ago while googling something and have been lurking.
For over a year now I have been experiencing diarrohea and soft stools almost without a break. I remember every day walking home from school I would be desperate to go and it would always be D. I would also go (at least) in the morning and after eating a hot meal for dinner. Then I started to need to go, D, in school too, which is obviously embarrassing when there would usually be other teens in there, and I could not always have access to the toilet - I'm just glad I was able to when I reaaaally needed to go.
I started to take Immodium when I was having bad days, 1-2 maybe once a week during school. After a while I started to experience pain too but I just kind of brushed all of this aside as maybe a mild bug or eating something bad.
This has all progressed over the last year, to the point I have a dull ache in my stomach all of the time. Sometimes it is much less than an ache and more of a horrible pain, with some sharp stabbing pains or pains that make me double up. These wake me up occassionally too. Sometimes it also feels like my stomach is burning.
I also have constant soft stools. In the weeks that I am in school, I will take 3-5 Immodium a day for 5-6 days because I just have a fear of having to desperately rush to the toilet during school and there being someone else in there who has to hear and smell me. The school have made a card for me to flash when I need to go in lessons, or to show to teachers if I have to use a staff toilet should the student ones be locked (they do this often, blah). However I still feel embarrassed to use this. With the Immodium, though, I don't really need to go at school anymore, only after a hot meal still, or once in the morning. I don't ever really get D anymore but I still rarely have a normal stool, and if I need to go, I really need to go within the next minute or I will have an accident, frankly.
I also get occassional ulcers, that are huge. I get a rash in the crook of my left arm sometimes, I think this is linked to when I eat something I shouldn't, like too much cream, strawberries or too much tomato. Lately I have also had reaaaally bad aches in my lower back, and my knees and ankles are sore.
Regarding what the doctors are doing, well. About January time I went to my GP for advice and she just told me to continue taking Immodium when I need it and hope it will all go away. Then when I saw my other doctor for some other problems, I mentioned all of this and he told me he is no specialist but he ran some blood tests (although I'm not particularly sure what they were, one was to check the white cell count). My GP later told me all the tests came back normal and so this meant I could rule out Crohn's disease - I'm sure that isn't right, but anyway. My other doctor then referred me to another paediatrician(sp?) who had "a special interest" in these things, but then when I got there he told me it was all down to stress from school, and gave me some Colofac and sent me away. My mum then got me referred to another doctor who was ACTUALLY a specialist, only to wait 2 months for an appointment and then be told he didn't take outpatients anymore and my file was just sitting on the side somewhere.
Angry, my mum then insisted I be referred to proper specialist and I got an appointment for the month after. She is an adult doctor but her secretary said she knew she wouldn't mind because it is an adult's problem and I would need to have be mature to deal with it anyway. Well, that appointment was on Monday and she was amazing. She didn't tell me what she thought it was (maybe not to put ideas in my head or something?) but she said the symptoms I was telling her made her think it was more than IBS. She sent me for some blood tests, they took 6 vials - which I thought was a lot but I've heard on here people saying their record is 3 times that XD - because they were testing for Crohn's, Colitis, Celiac (not sure how to spell the last two) and a few rare diseases, just to rule them out. I am also being sent for a scope (not sure if it is a colonscopy or endoscopy but she said it was to see the whole of my bowel I think?) and I am having this under GA, as she said it would be more uncomfortable and it's not fair to put me through it because of my age.
So yeah. This has basically been affecting my school life, social life and everything else life for the last year, and I can't keep feeling like I'm basically living off of Immodium and Paracetamol. I just kind of wanted to vent, get my story up here and see what everyone else thinks this might be. I applaud you if you read all of this anyway.
For over a year now I have been experiencing diarrohea and soft stools almost without a break. I remember every day walking home from school I would be desperate to go and it would always be D. I would also go (at least) in the morning and after eating a hot meal for dinner. Then I started to need to go, D, in school too, which is obviously embarrassing when there would usually be other teens in there, and I could not always have access to the toilet - I'm just glad I was able to when I reaaaally needed to go.
I started to take Immodium when I was having bad days, 1-2 maybe once a week during school. After a while I started to experience pain too but I just kind of brushed all of this aside as maybe a mild bug or eating something bad.
This has all progressed over the last year, to the point I have a dull ache in my stomach all of the time. Sometimes it is much less than an ache and more of a horrible pain, with some sharp stabbing pains or pains that make me double up. These wake me up occassionally too. Sometimes it also feels like my stomach is burning.
I also have constant soft stools. In the weeks that I am in school, I will take 3-5 Immodium a day for 5-6 days because I just have a fear of having to desperately rush to the toilet during school and there being someone else in there who has to hear and smell me. The school have made a card for me to flash when I need to go in lessons, or to show to teachers if I have to use a staff toilet should the student ones be locked (they do this often, blah). However I still feel embarrassed to use this. With the Immodium, though, I don't really need to go at school anymore, only after a hot meal still, or once in the morning. I don't ever really get D anymore but I still rarely have a normal stool, and if I need to go, I really need to go within the next minute or I will have an accident, frankly.
I also get occassional ulcers, that are huge. I get a rash in the crook of my left arm sometimes, I think this is linked to when I eat something I shouldn't, like too much cream, strawberries or too much tomato. Lately I have also had reaaaally bad aches in my lower back, and my knees and ankles are sore.
Regarding what the doctors are doing, well. About January time I went to my GP for advice and she just told me to continue taking Immodium when I need it and hope it will all go away. Then when I saw my other doctor for some other problems, I mentioned all of this and he told me he is no specialist but he ran some blood tests (although I'm not particularly sure what they were, one was to check the white cell count). My GP later told me all the tests came back normal and so this meant I could rule out Crohn's disease - I'm sure that isn't right, but anyway. My other doctor then referred me to another paediatrician(sp?) who had "a special interest" in these things, but then when I got there he told me it was all down to stress from school, and gave me some Colofac and sent me away. My mum then got me referred to another doctor who was ACTUALLY a specialist, only to wait 2 months for an appointment and then be told he didn't take outpatients anymore and my file was just sitting on the side somewhere.
Angry, my mum then insisted I be referred to proper specialist and I got an appointment for the month after. She is an adult doctor but her secretary said she knew she wouldn't mind because it is an adult's problem and I would need to have be mature to deal with it anyway. Well, that appointment was on Monday and she was amazing. She didn't tell me what she thought it was (maybe not to put ideas in my head or something?) but she said the symptoms I was telling her made her think it was more than IBS. She sent me for some blood tests, they took 6 vials - which I thought was a lot but I've heard on here people saying their record is 3 times that XD - because they were testing for Crohn's, Colitis, Celiac (not sure how to spell the last two) and a few rare diseases, just to rule them out. I am also being sent for a scope (not sure if it is a colonscopy or endoscopy but she said it was to see the whole of my bowel I think?) and I am having this under GA, as she said it would be more uncomfortable and it's not fair to put me through it because of my age.
So yeah. This has basically been affecting my school life, social life and everything else life for the last year, and I can't keep feeling like I'm basically living off of Immodium and Paracetamol. I just kind of wanted to vent, get my story up here and see what everyone else thinks this might be. I applaud you if you read all of this anyway.
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