# New Here and looking for help or well anything



## 4bready (Jan 29, 2021)

So I am a 45 year old male...I started suffering from axiety/worry at age of 5. I remember having upset stomachs a lot as a kid and being nervous. When I went to college I started getting panic attacks bad, tried meds that didnt seem to work. Throughout my 20's and 30's I suffered with really bad health anxiety always thinking I would get cancer. I had a colonoscopy at 37 (8 years ago) bc I thought I had chron's...all came out clean except one grade 1 hemorrhoid. I had h-pylori at some point in my life as well. Fast forward to last 5 years, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer (she is fully recovered), I have two kids. I still to this day have stomach issues periodically here and there a few times a year, never lasting more than 3-4 days (always suspected IBS...and I typically lean to diarrhea side when my stomach flares up). Well 3 weeks ago we ordered food out and I got a chicken wrap, within 3 hours I had horrendous gas, next day I felt achy with brain fog and just ill. Over the next days I had extreme worry/nervousness, "hot gas" and bloating and soft stool. That has continued with a few days of feeling slightly normal and having semi normal bowel moment. I have always gone 1 time in morning and that hasnt changed. I started feeling really good fo few days and then last few days back to diarrhea, loud stomach, slight pain in stomach that goes away after bowel emptied, panic, gas, pain in back etc...My doc thinks its a bug from chicken that flared things up for me. I am terrified that I have colon/stomach/liver cancer and I stay in that fear loop.

I guess I would like to know if this sounds like IBS, I feel like it has to be bc Ive had small outbreaks like this in past. I am wondering if my colonoscopy is outdated being 8 years ago...thanks for accepting me into forum and if anyone can relate please let me know.


----------



## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

hi

so sorry for all your problems. hopefully you have a good gastroenterologist. you can tell him/her about all your symptoms and everything and he/she can diagnose you and tell you if you have ibs or not. also tell your doc about all your fears of cancer and he/she can set your mind at ease.

good luck and hope you feel better sooon.


----------



## 4bready (Jan 29, 2021)

Thanks for the response...I'm struggling feeling like i'm in a cancer loop. I hate when this happens. I just was never told by my doc. how IBS Is diagnosed. Thanks again.


----------



## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

you're welcome. good luck. and please try not to worry about cancer. worrying never helps and it always makes thing seem worse than they really are.


----------



## Ilyria (Jun 2, 2020)

4bready
So sorry for your anxiety loop-it must be exhausting worrying so much.
This does sound like IBS but just to ease your mind:
1.calprotectin test from feces
This is a very fast and simple stool test and if your levels are high then you have inflamation/IBD/cancer. If levels are low then it is just IBS
2. Bleeding in stool
Also a fast stool test and pretty straightforward;if you don't have bleeding then it is IBS
3.colonoscopy
If you have polyps they will do a biopsy to determine if it is benign or not. But your colonoscopy was good an without signs of polyps. 8 years is not a long time, they reccomend to have one every 10 years in my country and my gastro doc told me to have one every 2-5 years because I have other illneses so if you want you can always go and get one.
4.chromogranin A
Blood markers used in oncology; basicaly it measures all tumor levels in your body. If it is elevated then you know you have a problem. Test for CEA and CA 19-9 markers too. 
There are some other tests but these are the least invasive and as you said you already strongly suspect that this is not cancer. 
Your biggest enemy is anxiety and I am at loss as what to tell you. I had some anxiety issues developed with my IBS and since I've never had it before it was a symptom for me. In the end they found that I have some problems with B9 vitamin. Since I take my B9 therapy I'm not anxious at all. So maybe you can check your B9 and B12 levels just in case(blood test ) because low levels are connected with anxiety and depression.


----------



## 4bready (Jan 29, 2021)

Thank you so much for response. I had a GI map done Thursday and hopefully will have results back early this week. My doc did test for calproctectin. Question, is IBS inflammation?

She did test in May of 2020 and didnt include calprotectin but did a FIT occult test and I had level 2 which my doc said is completely normal, she said 10 and higher is concern...hopefully it comes back same.

Thanks for response


----------



## 4bready (Jan 29, 2021)

Actually she did test for calprotectin in May of 2020 and my score was 23 which she said was very low, she said above 178 is high...but obviously this is 8 months later so that test can obviously differ


----------



## Ilyria (Jun 2, 2020)

To answer your question IBS is not inflammation! It is a functional dissorder 
IBD is inflammation and it is possible to have both conditions at the same time. But your tests show that you don't have inflammation and that is a good thing. It does seem it is "just" IBS..hang in there and do try not to worry so much because anxiety exacerbates symptoms and duration of flare ups.


----------

