Bowel problems

[Littlekel84]

Hello, im 38 years old. Most of my adult life i have suffered with mild constipation probably more so after the birth of my son 18 years ago. Anyhow, a little over 6 weeks ago i woke up feeling very bloated and i assumed as my period was due within a week or so that maybe it was due to that. Period then arrives and goes. Still bloated all day every day but when i eat ANYTHING i become even more bloated and very uncomfortable. I am 5.2 and weigh 8 stone exactly so not overweight or induldging in too much of the naughty stuff. I dont drink alcohol either, i think i last had a drink around 2 years ago and probably another 2 years before that and so on. Anyway everyday i empty my bowels in the morning and then all day everyday after the first emptying of bowels i have this huge urge that i need to empty my bowels again and again and again. Sometimes nothing comes out and sometimes its just a little bit of mucus but the feeling is sort of like a rush that i need to get to the toilet about 15 plus times a day. Almost feels like although i have been in the morning properly i am still not emptied or havr that satisfied feeling. I also feel nauseous some mornings and then after most meals that i eat mild nausea and a feeling of uncomfortable bloat and a tender to touch stomach. I am having a CT Colonograpy tomorrow morning to investigate. I know that my gp 2 weeks ago took a stool sample and im guessing she only checked for celiac which was negative. Any suggestions as to what this might be? Im a little worried but im glad that i have acted on my symptoms pretty soon to have investigations. Xxx

*bump

Can anyone help?

You obviously need to get this checked out but I had very similar symptoms and checks, over years, all fine apart from minor indications of inflammation etc and the only way I have found to improve it is to entirely stop eating bread. It is now much better.

Thank you so much for your reply. It will be 2 weeks this wednesday since my colonography so im hoping to have the results this week. Maybe i really need to stop the bread altogether and see if that helps. I dont eat bread every day but i wake up with bloating everyday and it never goes away. Its been nearly 2 months since this started happening. X

Have they checked your calprotectin levels?

You'd need a blood test for coeliac screening, it can't be done from a stool sample. It may be they were checking your sample for calproctin levels?

The coeliac blood test does sound like a good idea. You need to be eating gluten at two meals a day for it to be accurate so don't cut out gluten from your diet. The nausea is classic coeliac symptom but it could also be lots of other things.

I have similar symptoms, I feel the need to go often throughout the day and have a bloated, gurgling gut, which will not shut up at times (even wakes me during the night!). I can feel quite nauseous and burp quite a bit too. I have had IBS for years but it all got worse when I got to around your age (I am 49 now) so not sure if my hormones were making things worse?
I still haven’t had much luck with getting to the bottom of things. I had a ct scan, a colonoscopy and gastroscope in 2019 but nothing showed up. I had a capsule endoscopy 6 weeks ago and like you am still awaiting results.
I hope you manage to get somewhere with it, sorry I have no answers but understand how horrible it is.

I had the same at it turned out to be colitis. The consultant said that what you eat has very little affect on things, so I wouldn’t worry about cutting things out unless you have been advised, and it better to do that under supervision so it can be done properly.

No they have not done this. They only tested for celiac which was neg xxx

Thank you for all your replies. So i had the colongraphy results for the large intestine which has come back normal for tumours or polyps. Im not sure what i should do now as i still have the bloating and the mushy stool, slight nausea after eating and tender lower belly. Do i ask my gp to investigate further or do i just see if all this passes? I am happy there isnt any nastys (tumours) but cant help but think they are missing something as i know my own body and being so small and having a flat belly to this bloated for 2 months is surely not right. Ps i am always tired too, i could sleep all day everyday if i didnt have a job xxx

I don’t have any problems of IBS, but my husband does so I know how awful it can be.

However, I am short. I use a small foot stool when I use the loo. It puts your body in a more natural position, and helps with evacuation. Our body was designed for squatting. I’m not suggesting this will solve your problem, but it might help a little.

It might be SIBO, it's diagnosed by a breath test

I experienced something similar..turns out to be a lactose intolerance. If I accidentally ingest normal milk or cream, my tummy and bowels let me know immediately

They need to test the fecal calprotectin. This can tell the levels of inflammation, if you're passing mucus then it may be high.

I have a stool testing tube to do on monday morning and its the calprotectin as someone else has mentioned above. Lets hope this might indicate what the problem might be x

@RedorangeyellowBLACK Have you had your results back yet? Xxx

@Qwill I dont have lots of pain though and have not lost any weight so would that be a no for UC? I have more of an uncomfortable of heaviness and my stomach kind of sticks out. Infact my stomach kind of swells all over & also sometimes sticks out more on the left and then the right. Strange i know xxx

@kingsleysbootlicker What causes SIBO? I have never heard of it xxx

@Micsays Can i become intolerant to lactose all of a sudden? Xxx

Yes, mine happened suddenly.

@Littlekel84 There's lots of different causes and it's a lot more common than doctors seem to realise. It's worth testing for if you have IBS type symptoms, even just to rule it out

Get this checked out. Ovarian cancer is a very unlikely but possible cause of similar symptoms. It's most likely to be IBS-C but the doctor can then give you proper dietary advice and support

Have you asked for a scan of your ovaries?

@YukoandHiro Yes i had the pevic ultrasound and also ca25 bloods and that was all good xxx

Not in writing but the secretary called me late last week to say they have all come back ok. That’s obviously great in some ways but I’m back to square one yet again because the symptoms are still here, in fact they are getting worse, I spent yesterday crying with the frustration of it all. Btw, I think I may have SIBO but it’s a bit controversial. I’ve seen about 5 gastroenterologists and only one said it could be a possibility, the others have all dismissed it. One said the tests are very unreliable, which is why I haven’t yet purchased one (hard to get them on the NHS but you can do them at home via private companies such as Healthpath), he also said they have done the ‘gold standard’ test for SIBO (which is a small intestine aspirate) on people with gut issues and those without and the results are often the same in the non issue section too! I still tick most of the boxes for the symptoms of SIBO.
Have you tried giving up all dairy for a while? I used to be vegetarian and ate all diary products with no issue then all of a sudden I would have awful diarrhoea within an hour or so after consuming any dairy products.