I'm a 29 year old guy, and I've had an anxious stomach for as long as I can remember--all the way back to gradeschool. It seems to have gotten worse with age, my symptoms align pretty well with IBS-D...when I'm having a flareup (which tends to last months) it's not uncommon for me to have diarrhea 5 times in the morning before my stomach calms down. This makes work in the morning pretty miserable. Immodium usually helps, but it takes a while to kick in.
I also get stomach pains, gas, and mucus in my stool. Generally, my stool is formed--I just go a lot and have urgency, but I would say I experience loose stools more than the average, non-IBS person. I'm about 10 pounds underweight and have a hard time putting on weight. When I'm having a flareup, I tend to lose my appetite due to stress.
In 2014, I had a colonoscopy with multiple biopsies, and that turned out normal. I also did some blood tests (for Celiac) and a CT scan where I had to drink that blue stuff. Everything came back fine.
A year later, when I was having a particularly bad flareup, I went back to my gastro doc and he told me that although he thinks I have IBS, one final test he could try would be the small bowel follow through with a barium swallow. I went ahead and did that (the stuff gave me diarrhea instantly) but that came back normal as well.
What concerns me though, the final thing I can't seem to shake, is I have red eyes a lot of the time. I've been to eye doctors for this, and asked my gastro, and neither seem concerned. Generally, when I'm having this issue, which happens a lot, one eye at a time is red. Usually the inner white of the eye and some of the outer. Over the course of the day, it fluctuates. I can look in the mirror and see that my eye is completely back to normal, and then a half an hour later it looks like I have pink eye again. It's rarely both eyes at once, but it happens to both.
I had a good year last year...no stomach issues or red eye issues. Last week I had bad diarrhea at work. Then over the weekend I had hard constipated stools, and now today, my eye is red and I'm having bad diarrhea.
I'm seeing a new doctor next month, but I doubt I'll do the tests again. I really respect my last doctor and his opinion, but I just want to talk to someone else about it because I'm not sure what to do.
Do the eye symptoms point to something like Crohn's? This scares me pretty bad.
(Other notes: I’ve never seen blood. I had Cdiff over the summer because of an antibiotic I took for a finger infection, but Flagyl cleared it up. My “good year” I was on an antidepressant, but I’m not sure if that was the reason my stomach felt better. I do tend to have high anxiety.)
I also get stomach pains, gas, and mucus in my stool. Generally, my stool is formed--I just go a lot and have urgency, but I would say I experience loose stools more than the average, non-IBS person. I'm about 10 pounds underweight and have a hard time putting on weight. When I'm having a flareup, I tend to lose my appetite due to stress.
In 2014, I had a colonoscopy with multiple biopsies, and that turned out normal. I also did some blood tests (for Celiac) and a CT scan where I had to drink that blue stuff. Everything came back fine.
A year later, when I was having a particularly bad flareup, I went back to my gastro doc and he told me that although he thinks I have IBS, one final test he could try would be the small bowel follow through with a barium swallow. I went ahead and did that (the stuff gave me diarrhea instantly) but that came back normal as well.
What concerns me though, the final thing I can't seem to shake, is I have red eyes a lot of the time. I've been to eye doctors for this, and asked my gastro, and neither seem concerned. Generally, when I'm having this issue, which happens a lot, one eye at a time is red. Usually the inner white of the eye and some of the outer. Over the course of the day, it fluctuates. I can look in the mirror and see that my eye is completely back to normal, and then a half an hour later it looks like I have pink eye again. It's rarely both eyes at once, but it happens to both.
I had a good year last year...no stomach issues or red eye issues. Last week I had bad diarrhea at work. Then over the weekend I had hard constipated stools, and now today, my eye is red and I'm having bad diarrhea.
I'm seeing a new doctor next month, but I doubt I'll do the tests again. I really respect my last doctor and his opinion, but I just want to talk to someone else about it because I'm not sure what to do.
Do the eye symptoms point to something like Crohn's? This scares me pretty bad.
(Other notes: I’ve never seen blood. I had Cdiff over the summer because of an antibiotic I took for a finger infection, but Flagyl cleared it up. My “good year” I was on an antidepressant, but I’m not sure if that was the reason my stomach felt better. I do tend to have high anxiety.)
