# flat shaped stools



## cfernandomaciel (Jun 30, 2015)

Hello friends.

I am deeply sorry if this might be just one of the million threads you guys get, about one's symptoms and total despair!

I have IBS type A, officially diagnosed back 7 years ago. I come from a family background with cancer, colon and rectum.

My mother died 9 years ago of rectal cancer, she suffered like no tomorrow for 7 years, trying to fight the disease until it took her.

For years my life has been alternating from diarrhea to constipation, and it can be right in the same day! Sometimes I feel that right after some diarrhea episode I am already constipated. It could be just my mind too.

For the account, I have sever anxiety and had a few episodes of panic attacks as well.

The reason I'm here today, begging for some enlightenment - although I am aware that none of you guys can give me a diagnosis here - and if possible some comfort by finding people who are going through the same symptoms I am currently having.

For the past say, 5 days I've been facing some lower right abdominal pain. I always have a hard time when it comes down to either describing my symptoms or even figuring out what symptoms I really have, even in my language, so please, bear with me.

This pain is nothing new to me, I have it on and off, say, every couple weeks, and it lasts one or two days. But for the last five days, it's been a continuous pain that hurts me like some sort of cramps when we are having a bad diarrhea, only that it's entirely located at the right side, and not too strong as to give you an urge to go to the loo. Just similar to that. Also, that pain seems to spread a tad down to my right leg. It could be to my groin, but I am not really sure as it's a kind of irradiating pain.

When I am laying down on bed, and I stretch my right leg and lie there for long enough, it sort of feels that the pain is making my abdomen tight, so the pain gets bad enough to wake me up.

Also, for these last 5 days I have been facing some bad constipation, which makes my stool flat shaped AND THAT IS WHAT SCARES ME THE MOST!

It's routine for me to switch from being constipated to being with diarrhea. Sometimes it seems that everything is just normal, and I have a happy day, with normal bowel movements. Before these nightmarish 5 days I am not really sure how my bowel movements were, but it was just as good enough so I wouldn't really bother.

Not I have this pain, I strain myself like crazy in the toillet and just about anything I get is a small flat shaped bit, nothing more.

Today I started to feel a mild nausea, nothing serious, but just bad enough to keep my neurosis going.

The last time I had a colonoscopy was two years ago. I try to have myself examined every two or three years since my mother died, doctor's recommendation.

In my last colonoscopy, which was taken two years ago, my bowel showed up very clean and normal, not sure if it was this last time or the previous one they found a polip, but the doctor didn't see bothered anyways.

The problem is that right now I am without any medical insurance, as I just changed jobs, and it will take at least 6 months until I manage to have myself examined.

I'm so scarred fellows! My health-anxiety is going up like crazy these days!

I have gluten and milk intolerance, It's been over 20 days that I do not even touch anything that might contain gluten. I know I have lactose intolerance, I don't really do anything about it, except for drinking milk, which I never do. But I do eat cheese once in a while ( yesterday I had some, and the day before ) and chocolate. I had some chocolate yesterday as well.

Please, tell me I am not going to die like my mother! I don't know what to do!


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## Leo41 (Dec 13, 2010)

Hi friend...

As you know we are not doctors and can only give you our opinions as fellow sufferers. To me sounds like gas pains in the lower right. When you stretch the trapped gas is stretching the bowel.. your pain. You mention normal pain you have but then say last 5 days it on the right side, so I have no idea what or where your normal pain is. Nor if it comes and goes, spasms, low grade constant, dull ache, moves around, etc. Always try to take your time and give as much detail as you possibly can.

Next thing... this whole IBS thing makes you freak when it's bad, trust me I know. So first, stop, close you eyes, relax, visualize a calm beach, walk around for awhile. Smell the salt air, feel the sand, listen to the seagulls.. sit down for a bit and soak it all in.

Now.. everyone, and I mean everyone comes here thinking cancer and worst case, in your case close to home, and totally understandable. I am thinking you are badly constipated, and the shape of the impacted stool is letting only ribbons of looser stool past. Also as a fellow in this my stool can go from pencil to bits to water to eel shape to almost square to ribbons. I attribute this to the internal shape of my colon at the time as it is spasming to some degree or inflamed to some degree everyday.

BUT... bottom line is if you are having a cancerous tumor cause stool being oddly shaped that does not stop. What I mean is if it is big enough to squash the stool... it does not just go away one day to the next. So if you had ribbon stool every day, nothing bigger or different... ever... for a month or 2 I would be concerned about that. If you go from ribbon to pencil then a larger piece.. a tumor could not be the cause. IBS commonly changes stool shape.

The first thing I would do if I were you is get that constipation cleared. It is hard to help you without a lot more detailed info on your other symptoms, but usually a good 3-5 day round of miralax will do the trick, I would be taking 2 doses daily, can be taken hours apart at night if you are working during the day. If you are having any bowel spasms and lean more towards constipation add 100mg magnesium citrate 2 times a day as a normal thing from now on to try.

Try GABA to help calm the anxiety/panic and also helps the IBS. Better yet when you can get to the doc and get either a SSRI or Remeron anti-anxiety meds... which will likely help the IBS and the other. (you need to read up on this)

A good enema with miralax is another good option to clear out.


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## cfernandomaciel (Jun 30, 2015)

Hi Leo41,

I can't stress enough how relieved I am to get your message. You have no idea how much it helped with my crazy fears!

I am definitely going to have my anxiety checked up at the doctor, in fact, it's been quite a while that I have been feeling pretty anxious and have done nothing about it.

As now I am still very constipated, your tips about relieving it are definitely a go. Yesterday I started taking Metamucil and drinking water like crazy to see if it helps, but so far no success.

Again, thank you for your message and helping me feel less paranoid, it really helped!


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## Leo41 (Dec 13, 2010)

cfernandomaciel said:


> Hi Leo41,
> 
> I can't stress enough how relieved I am to get your message. You have no idea how much it helped with my crazy fears!
> 
> ...


Well good, glad to be of help. I would not add fiber to the diet when constipated.. it can make it worse. Very little, clean eating, clear soups until you clear out will do you better. Any mass (fiber) you add to the mass at this point will only add to the problem. Lots of water. Full dose of miralax early evening, another 1 hr before bed. Stay on it until you are just going brown water. Usually 3 days for me. It was take a day or so to work. If nothing in a few more days a Fleet saline enema and keep on the miralax.

Be advised you will still have some hard stool left and will be going some diarrhea first day or 2. Just think about it... the hard stool will take longer to loosen and come apart/out... but the newer wetter foods you are taking in will never harden and pass around the partial blockage in the form of the runs. If you give me a detailed list of your symptoms otherwise I may be able to help direct you to some other things to try to help get this more managable. But if you are prone to constipation and have any spasms in the intestines or colon normally imo you need to be on the magnesium citrate.

For fiber I really like this... http://www.helpforibs.com/shop/suplmts/acacia.asp 100% soluble.

IBS Diet & Recipes > *Soluble vs. Insoluble Fiber* > Insoluble Fiber

Soluble Fiber ~ The Irritable Bowel Syndrome Good Foods
Hmmm....You've heard of fiber, you're pretty sure you know what it is, and you've probably had it recommended to you as beneficial for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. But *soluble* fiber? Is this something special? Yes, it is. Soluble fiber foods are the IBS good foods!

*Soluble fiber* is the single greatest IBS diet aid for preventing Irritable Bowel Syndrome symptoms in the first place, as well as relieving them once they occur. Here's the kicker. Soluble fiber is NOT typically found in foods most people think of as "fiber," such as bran or raw leafy green vegetables.

Soluble fiber is actually found in foods commonly thought of as "starches", though soluble fiber itself differs from starch as the chemical bonds that join its individual sugar units cannot be digested by enzymes in the human GI tract. In other words, soluble fiber has no calories because it passes through the body intact.

*Soluble Fiber Foods ~ the IBS Good Foods of the IBS Diet*








  *Share IBS Safe Foods!*

As a general rule, the grain and cereal foods at the top of this list make the safest, easiest, and most versatile soluble fiber foundations for your meals and snacks *These are your IBS safe foods*, and your IBS good foods.[1]

*Rice
Pasta and noodles
Oatmeal
Barley*



















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Excerpted from
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*Fresh white breads such as French or sourdough (NOT whole wheat or whole grain)* 
Rice cereals
Flour tortillas
Soy
Quinoa
Corn meal
Potatoes
Carrots
Yams
Sweet potatoes
Turnips
Rutabagas
Parsnips
Beets
Squash and pumpkins
Mushrooms
Chestnuts
Avocados (though they do have some fat)
Bananas
Applesauce
Mangoes
Papayas (also digestive aids that relieve gas and indigestion)*

*Please choose a baked-daily, high quality, preservative-free brand. White bread does not mean Wonder.

Why is soluble fiber so special? Because unlike any other food category, it soothes and regulates the digestive tract, stabilizes the intestinal contractions resulting from the gastrocolic reflex, and normalizes bowel function from either extreme. That's right - soluble fiber prevents and relieves *BOTH diarrhea and constipation.* Nothing else in the world will do this for you.

How is this possible? The "soluble" in soluble fiber means that it dissolves in water (though it is not digested). This allows it to absorb excess liquid in the colon, preventing diarrhea by forming a thick gel and adding a great deal of bulk as it passes intact through the gut. This gel (as opposed to a watery liquid) also keeps the GI muscles stretched gently around a full colon, giving those muscles something to easily "grip" during peristaltic contractions, thus preventing the rapid transit time and explosive bowel movements of diarrhea as well.

By the same token, the full gel-filled colon (as opposed to a colon tightly clenched around dry, hard, impacted stools) provides the same "grip" during the muscle waves of constipation sufferers, allowing for an easier and faster transit time, and the passage of the thick wet gel also effectively relieves constipation by softening and pushing through impacted fecal matter. If you can mentally picture your colon as a tube that is squeezing through matter via regular waves of contractions, it's easy to see how a colon filled with soluble fiber gel is beneficial for both sides of the IBS coin.

As a glorious bonus here, normalizing the contractions of the colon (from too fast or too slow speeds) prevents the violent and irregular spasms that result in the lower abdominal cramping pain that cripples so many IBS patients. This single action alone is the reason I don't eat anything on an empty stomach but soluble fiber. Ever. The only foods I want to trigger my gastrocolic reflex are soluble fiber, as that's the only way I can keep those contractions (and thus my life) normal. I routinely snack on small quantities of soluble fiber foods all day long, every single day. If I don't have a chance to eat or I'm not that hungry, I'll take a soluble fiber supplement.

Wait a minute, aren't all these soluble fiber foods high carb? Won't they make me fat? Click here to learn why the answer is NO - they won't.

My goal is continual stability, and a steady ingestion of soluble fiber insures this. In the short run this strategy allows me to prevent problems from snack to snack and meal to meal, but in the end it adds up to long-term stability from day to day, week to week, and even month to month. I've never found a better method for completely preventing my IBS symptoms than basing my diet on soluble fiber foods.

*You can keep your colon stabilized each and every day by basing all meals and snacks on soluble fiber foods.*

*You can also add Tummy Fiber to your recipes and cooking for extra soluble fiber.*

Now, wasn't there something mentioned earlier about two kinds of fiber? Wasn't there a fiber that can hurt, not help, IBS symptoms? Learn all about insoluble fiber, and how it can actually make your IBS much worse.


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## cfernandomaciel (Jun 30, 2015)

Thank you Leo41! I am going to carefully read through all the links you just provided me.

I simply had no idea that fiber consumption when constipated didn't help. Like I said I took Metamucil yesterday and since then I have been trying to eat more fiber than I normally would.

Well, trying to provide some more details...

You asked what I meant by normal pain, well it's just that I constantly have a very very mild pain, just strong enough to remind me I have IBS, nothing that would usually give me a bad day. Like a bad sore that's almost healed all the way, but you feel it when you move or touch that part that is healing. That's the type of pain I'd say I usually have when I am feeling well.

This right side pain, is the most scarring, for I can never tell where exactly it is! It's definitely on the right side, but I think it irradiates, starting from the height of my belly button, but on the right side, and it goes down, up to where I think it hurts my right leg, but sometimes I am very confused whether the pain is really reaching the leg of my groin.

Talking about the belly button, I have a hernia there. It's not that bad, the doctor told me it's nothing to worry about, that it hurts me and sometimes I think some of the stabbing/electroshocking-like pain comes from there, even though it's small enough to not worry about surgery.

Also, about that pain, I think I forgot to mention that when I am sitting for a while ( I do a lot of sitting as I work as computer programmer ) then I stand up, the pain gets a little worse, and it irradiates from my belly to my back. My wife tells me it's muscular, it could be.

Although I do a whole lot of sitting, I try to maintain a routine of walking or biking. Yesterday I did some biking, just 30 minutes of it as I was feeling just like shit, but I try to get up and take a stride every 40 minutes.

Yet, about that pain, sometimes it hurts right under my right rib cage. I think it's trapped gas, as I've been reading.

I have GERD and something I cannot tell in English, but the doctor told me it's pretty much a herniated hiatus. But somewhat different, as it was not caused by something latte on my life, but I was born with that problem ( prematurely born, just 6 months of pregnancy ).

So yes, I have a lot of heartburn, and the doctor gave me two options: take omeprazole for the rest of my life or make a surgery.

He said that a few months ago, and coincidentally I learned that I have gluten intolerance so I completely quit eating flour and anything containing gluten, and that did a hell of a job at relieving my heartburns, in such a way that I almost never take omeprazole. After quitting on gluten, I had a nice surprise to find out that my extra weight was actually a whole lot of swelling coming from my body being with inflammation all the time.

Well, I guess this is about it. Oh, yes, due to doing a lot of straining, I have external hemorrhoids and I thing some internal too.

Thanks again for the help! I will now read all the good links you provided me!


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