Anyone had tummy trouble for more than a week and it Hasn’t been anything serious. Worried.

[Caelano]

Me again.
In brief: loose stools on and off for about 3 weeks. For the last week it’s been loose stools every morning. Not going any more frequently, not diarrhoea, just loose. No visible blood. Was peeing more but that’s gone. Pelvic twinges and discomfort but I wouldn’t say it’s painful.
I’ve got a doctor appt sorted and will have bloods done so I’m dealing with it in a practical way but my head is taking me to dark places. I’m late 50s which just makes me think oh damn, is this where the bad stuff starts. I just need to hear that it’s not necessarily anything life threatening

This happens to me, I think it's hormonal in my case or if I slightly change my diet or vitamins such as magnesium or B2 that I take for migraine. Do you take/have changed any medications or even vitamins recently. I had a sigmoidoscopy done recently (part of over 50 programme) and all was clean as a whistle.You are doing the right thing seeing the doctor. Very unlikely to be anything sinister.

I have had it a couple of times for several weeks. Stool samples and blood test from doctor showed nothing and my doctor assumed it was an ibs flare up.

@SapatSea I have taken Vit D supplements since about august but not every day. That’s reassuring as you’re obviously in a similar age group to me, though I’m towards the latter end of 50s! That made me think it wouldn’t be hormonal, I was late with the menopause but even so, all done and dusted by 55. Or do the hormones still do weird things post- menopause?

@CakeIsMyFavouriteAndBest do you have a diagnosis of IBS? What I have seems very similar but can IBS come on later in life?

The best way to describe my symptoms is that none of it is anything I haven’t experienced before. It’s like a mild upset tummy with loose stools, discomfort (not pain) and generally feeling a bit off. If I had this for 2 or 3 days and then started to get better I’d think nothing of it. Been there before. It’s the fact it just seems to be the same, no better, no worse.

I do struggle with undiagnosed ibs but never before for 3 weeks continuously so I had a phone appointment with the doctor. She also recommended me eating light food like rice and fish to see if that would help. Definitely see the doctor and see if they can run some tests to rule out anything serious.

Push for investigation. This is exactly how my mum’s stomach cancer started. By the time it was eventually diagnosed she had four months to live.

I've had IBS for years and this sounds exactly the same. You need a diagnosis though, Ibs is a diagnosis of exclusion.

I wonder if it could be diverticulitis, my DM suffers from it but gets the odd flare up which passes. Occasionaly has to have antibiotics. Just one suggestion to ask about, could be so many things. Hope you get it sorted soon.

Has anything at all change in your diet. I went meat free a couple of years ago and was like this for about a month (fibre +++)

When's the appointment?

I wondered about diverticulitis.
Thankfully my bowels are pretty much back to normal, my appetite is returning (though I still want smallish meals rather than a pig out) and I feel generally brighter.
Had a pelvic exam where the doctor said things ‘looked and sounded normal’ which I guess is good
Waiting for blood results.

Update: blood and stool tests all fine. This included the CA125 marker test.
But I’m still not completely right. Not feeling I’ll, just not 100 per cent. Still getting tummy pains (not continuously but now and then.) I feel better when I’m active- exercising, digging the garden etc. Ok at night. The pains tend to be more when I’ve been sitting at a desk for a while. But it doesn’t feel muscular, it feels far more like something to do with my digestive system.

I’ll = ill