Sionnan

Help, constant anxiety over symptoms

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Hi, I'm a 22 year old female with high levels of anxiety about health, life, and pretty much everything.

Recently I've been having anxiety over what appears to be red in my stool. I don't know if it's food or what, but it's causing me to panic every which way and Dr. Google isn't helping. It kind of looked like flecks and it only seemed to be really noticeable after wiping. I'm also experiencing some irritation with my anus, so it's led me to be a bit worried.

Some background though, I experienced this today, and yesterday I had pizza and a taco with a few tomatoes in it, as well as being constipated and straining recently due to stress from a large assignment over the weekend, to which I even had a panic attack over at work which was embarrassing. I've also had stomach/bowel problems ever since I was a child, according to my mom, and pretty much everyone in my family is either A. Allergic to dairy, eggs, gluten, and B. Have some form of IBS (which I also probably have because I get stomach problems depending on what I eat,, not to mention anxiety causes issues.) I have no family history of cancer, save for my grandfather getting Leukemia in his late 70s. The females in my family also have a history of having some type of reproductive problems, my sister PCOS, my mom has a "fluffy uterus," a few of my cousins have endometriosis. Heck, I probably have some problems but I just haven't been formally diagnosed and it's usually solved with my BC pills. (Note: My dad also died from a weird heart mutation that gave him congestive heart failure, which I have been tested for and do not have, as well as most of my mom's side having diabetes. But that's a story for another day.)

I could be panicking for no reason, but there's this underlying fear and it's causing problems with focusing in school, work, or other life activities, as well as causing depression which I'm prone to.

I've seen this type of thing before, too, but I feel like I can always trace it back to something red I ate the day before. 

I'm also seeing a new doctor next week, and I feel like I should tell her about these problems to get some reassurance. But some talking sense to would be nice, as I feel like I'm driving myself up a wall with this worry.

Thanks for reading this far! 

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28 minutes ago, Sionnan said:

Hi, I'm a 22 year old female with high levels of anxiety about health, life, and pretty much everything.

Recently I've been having anxiety over what appears to be red in my stool. I don't know if it's food or what, but it's causing me to panic every which way and Dr. Google isn't helping. It kind of looked like flecks and it only seemed to be really noticeable after wiping. I'm also experiencing some irritation with my anus, so it's led me to be a bit worried.

Some background though, I experienced this today, and yesterday I had pizza and a taco with a few tomatoes in it, as well as being constipated and straining recently due to stress from a large assignment over the weekend, to which I even had a panic attack over at work which was embarrassing. I've also had stomach/bowel problems ever since I was a child, according to my mom, and pretty much everyone in my family is either A. Allergic to dairy, eggs, gluten, and B. Have some form of IBS (which I also probably have because I get stomach problems depending on what I eat,, not to mention anxiety causes issues.) I have no family history of cancer, save for my grandfather getting Leukemia in his late 70s. The females in my family also have a history of having some type of reproductive problems, my sister PCOS, my mom has a "fluffy uterus," a few of my cousins have endometriosis. Heck, I probably have some problems but I just haven't been formally diagnosed and it's usually solved with my BC pills. (Note: My dad also died from a weird heart mutation that gave him congestive heart failure, which I have been tested for and do not have, as well as most of my mom's side having diabetes. But that's a story for another day.)

I could be panicking for no reason, but there's this underlying fear and it's causing problems with focusing in school, work, or other life activities, as well as causing depression which I'm prone to.

I've seen this type of thing before, too, but I feel like I can always trace it back to something red I ate the day before. 

I'm also seeing a new doctor next week, and I feel like I should tell her about these problems to get some reassurance. But some talking sense to would be nice, as I feel like I'm driving myself up a wall with this worry.

Thanks for reading this far! 

Sounds to me it's what your eating causing the colors. Journal your foods and stools for a week

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I would be willing to bet that most changes in stool and bowel movements are caused by something in one's diet. It can take a few days or more for some things to digest and come out, so it could be something you ate yesterday or something you ate three or four days ago. That's why Jgriffin's suggestion to keep a log of what you eat for a short while can help, because you may not remember everything you've eaten in the past week otherwise.

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Thanks for the responses, I'll definitely keep track of what I eat and see if anything red coincides with what I ate beforehand. I assume tomatoes, tomato sauce, beets, red food coloring and similar things cause a red color to trigger in stool? Just based on some searches I did a while ago.

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22 minutes ago, Sionnan said:

Thanks for the responses, I'll definitely keep track of what I eat and see if anything red coincides with what I ate beforehand. I assume tomatoes, tomato sauce, beets, red food coloring and similar things cause a red color to trigger in stool? Just based on some searches I did a while ago.

Yes, absolutely, but there are many other foods that can do it, too.

 

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You're already going in to see a dr, mention what you're seeing, have the dr prescribe a fecal occult test, if there's blood it will show in the test, if not... you can put this behind you. 

Stay off google. 

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Thanks again to everyone. I think once I see my doctor then she can help put my fears behind me for sure. I just hope the visit doesn't spike my anxiety, but I'll manage it.

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