Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Concerned about my husbands bowel habits and his general health!

2 replies

Mumma2Ro · 14/04/2023 21:04

Hi all
so a bit of background. My husband is 6’3 inches probably around 20 stone so is morbidly obese. He wears XXL/XXXL clothes now and is a size 40” waist.
he smokes 20 cigarettes a day, drinks beer quite often and eats rubbish. I cook healthy meals at home but when he is at work he will have lunches of McDonalds, chicken shop, or grab microwaveable meals from Asda.
in the evenings he will easily eat a whole bag of sweets and a family sized chocolate bar.
Anyway I’ve always thought he has some sort of IBS due to his bowel habits. When he needs a poo he has to go instantly, often in the middle of a meal. His poo is always ‘sloppy’ if that makes sense. In all the years I’ve know him he has occasional shit himself.
anyway the last week or 2 I’ve become concerned as he has had the shits on and off for about 10 days. The other night he got up 3 times in the night to go to the toilet. Then was his normal for a day then this evening alone he has been 4 times and has a stomach ache. Doesn’t feel sick or anything.
I lost a friend to bowel cancer last year so of course this is the first thing that comes to my mind.
I’ve told him on Monday morning he needs to ring the GP which he agrees to. I’m tempted to order one of those bowel cancer kits online that you send back, has anyone ever used them?
Also I really would like the GP to have a frank conversation with him about his weight and lifestyle, do you think if I sneakily call them once he has an appointment I can request this ?? Lol
ive tried talking to him over the years but he isn’t bothered. We have 2 young kids and I really want them to have their dad around for as long as possible!!

any advice ? Thanks for reading

OP posts:
JustDanceAddict · 15/04/2023 11:13

Any persistent change in bowel habit should be investigated esp in someone who is pretty unhealthy anyway. The GP will hopefully send him
home with the stool sample kit for a FIT and calprotectin test, they come back quickly so if there’s anything amiss he can be referred on.
Sounds more like his eating habits are having a bad effect on his bowels.

NoSquirrels · 15/04/2023 11:16

Also I really would like the GP to have a frank conversation with him about his weight and lifestyle

They will anyway. But it might not make the difference you hope. You say he’s been like this for 20 years and you’ve talked to him about it and he doesn’t care. I’m not sure the GP having a chat will be a magic bullet.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page