# Flat Stools and IBS-D



## 20927 (Aug 3, 2006)

Hi There,I am new here and welcome any and all input. I to have the gurgling and lower and upper right abdominal pains. I was diagnosed with IBS about 3 years ago.I have had a rigid sigmoidoscopy twice. I have had a barium enema and all was clear. The enema was about 4 months ago and the sigmoid was the small one and was bout 3 weeks ago. I then ended up in emergancy because when I went to the washroom one morning about 2 weeks ago, it was rather explosive. I went to wipe my butt and the tissue was covered with blood. The head of the emergancy department told me to relax, and that I had blowen a hemmeriod open. What a fright!!I have not seen any blood before or since that episode.The one thing that keeps me uptight and on antidepressants is the fact that over the years my stool consistancies have been irregular. I will have bad bouts of D and then I will have flat stools and sometimes I will have long fairly bulky stools. Very seldom to never do I have a perfectly round shaped stool. A lot of the time my bowel movements contain mucus. YUCK!!This worrys me despite the fact that both the doctor and the specialist tell me that it is IBS and nothing more. They say that I do not need a colonoscopy, and that if there was anything there it would have shown up on the barium enema or on the small scope in the surgeons office. It consumes my mind day and night. It is like an obsession of late.Does anyone else have the symptoms? Can anyone help me? Does anyone else worry constantly about having colon cancer, even though the doctors tell you it is not that?Thanks,Joe


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## Twocups424 (Mar 26, 2002)

of course your obsessed. It consumes your life, you live with it 24/7 365. Drs. Haven't helped me much AT ALL. I suggest research research research on your own and try things .


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## 13639 (Jun 27, 2006)

I had a colonoscopy and upper endoscopy. The colonoscopy was normal but the upper endoscopy showed that I have ulcers from my throat to my intestines. The acid was making my IBS even worse and painful. I now take Protonix, twice the normal dose, and I will be on it for the rest of my life. As for stool consistancy, I have IBS D but that can change from day to day into IBS C. I have Lomotil for the pain and Zelnorm for the times that I have C. You can tell when you are changing from D to C when the bm is flat and you are having trouble going at all. When this starts, the pain is so much worse because of the gas and bloating. Ask your doctor about getting Zelnorm and see if it helps you too.


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## 18496 (Aug 7, 2006)

Joe, I actually joined this group just to reply to your post. I feel so bad for you that no dr has answered your questions good enough. I was diagnosed with IBS about 6 years ago. All of the symptoms you have described are CLASSIC IBS symptoms.I'm going to do my best to explain it to you the way my dr was compassionate enough to explain them to me and hope to ease your mind a little. Blood is very common w/ IBS as hemmorhoids are very common. Our bowel movements can be very forceful so forceful in fact that when I had my son 2 years ago, I found many similarities in childbirth and an IBS attack. The contractions our bowels have force us to push HARD which can lead to the inflammation of the blood vessels in the rectum. At times, these can open and bleed. I have the same thing. It was scary the first time it happened, but it was just hemmorhoids..Now to the wonderfuls shapes of the IBS's poo. Mine are usually like egg noodles (sorry if you can't eat egg noodles after that description!)







then sometimes, I swear they're a foot long. Again, all of this is normal for us. Our bowels are not normal!! They contract when they are supposed to dialate and vice versa, therefore they squeeze the poo into odd shapes much the way a playdoh shape make does to play doh. The mucuous while gross is a classic IBS trait. Our bowels do not extract the water from our waste the way normal peoples' does, so it is not uncommon to have diarrhea, mucous and all kinds of different colors and unusual things coming out of our rears.I hope this eases your mind. IBS is not a fun disease to have and it takes a lot to cope with sometimes. I have found that by talking to others, it has helped quite a bit. I have also gotten some relief from my symptoms by taking a mineral called Esidifan that my Dr recommended. I am still breastfeeding, so I can't take a lot of the prescription drugs, and the Esdifan does not interfere with nursing. It has helped quite a bit. I hope you read this reply and feel free to repost if you have anymore questions.


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## 20927 (Aug 3, 2006)

Hi BadKitty,Thankyou very much for your reply. I see tat it is mostly women in here chatting. I am a 42 year old male. I feel a little odd, but am glad that I joined this group. It is helping to ease my mind about IBS and it's symptoms. Although I have had several doctors tell me that it is not bowel cancer, I have suffered sever anxiety and depression with the symptoms. Perhaps never quite beleaving what they are telling me to be the truth.You people are helping me to beleave and to move on and start living and enjoying life again.Thankyou


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## 20786 (Aug 2, 2006)

I'm a 48 year old male. Mine started with a burst diverticuli with peritonitis. 13 years of pain D AND C with the only formed stool being spoon shaped. I like the play-dough factory analogy. I started taking Xifaxin, 2 three times a day and what a relief. The pain actually felt like my left testicle was in my throat. That went away with Xifaxin. It was also followed by liquid D. Yogart daily helped that alot. You must alternate them because one kills bacteria and the other is bacteria, ( the good kind). I'm now on Avelox, 1 per day and now only have to take 1 Xifaxin per day to maintain. However, the Avelox has caused liquid D that is not re-established by yogart. Darvocet has slowed down the bowel and releived the liquid D not to mention helping with the pain. You might want to look in the SIBO section on this forum for testing and treatment.Also, if you find something that works, don't let the doctors push you around or tell you you're wrong. You know what is going on. THEY ARE JUST GUESSING!


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