# High fiber diet change = thinner stools?



## Tipiak (Sep 21, 2017)

Hi there!

First off: I'm a severely depressed person, been that way since I was a kid. Yes I follow a psychotherapy and have anti depressants.
You can also easily guess that I'm a hypochondriac, dead scared of cancers and all that. That being said...

My problems started a month ago after my 4y old daughter suffered from food poisoning for a whole week. I watched her vomit and have diarrhea and suffer, it was unbearable... And it stressed me so much that I didn't "go" for the whole week.
Then came some kind of poop cork, i.e. abdominal pains for a few hours followed by relief. Then back to regular stools (type 3 on the Bristol chart, 2 to 3cm wide). Another quick cork a week and a half later. Then nothing for three days, I was already anxious as hell as this point and this made it worse.

When I started going again, my stools were of all sizes and shapes. Never seen that before. Flat, or pencil thin, three to five times a day (against a one time a day or every two days). Abdominal pains. I decided enough was enough. I changed my diet by including fruits and vegetables and went to see two GPs.

The two GPs came to the same conclusion: stress (they both know my background) and poop size and shape don't mean a thing. They told me they change all the time, I just started to focus on it because of my daughter's illness (which is true). Also I should stop looking and overanalyse my stools.

Right after my appointments, no more abdominal pains, gas, nothing. It was like I was cured.

I kept on eating healthy, they both told me it was a very good idea.

Then came a path of what the hell is happening stuff. First I pooped mucus (GP said of course, your bowels have fiber at last), then firm stools exiting like it was diarrhea (ergo it felt like diarrhea but it wasn't). The stools were thinner (type 4, 1 to 2 cm wide) and some parts were flat.
Now they just exit easily, but are definitely thinner or flatter.

And this is where I'm at. Flat but large stools or thinner stools (again, type 4 of the Bristol chart) against the type-3 I was used to. Yesterday I was - against all odds - constipated. Extremely flat and small stools. Like paper-thing and the size of small coins... Never seen that before.

If I remain logical, if this were a polyp, the sizes and shapes would remain the same.... But still. Could a high fiber diet do that? Or is this actually the expected result?
And how much does stress could affect all that?
Ergo am I going to die or am I just witnessing the changes caused by extreme stress or/a brutal change in diet?


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## Tipiak (Sep 21, 2017)

Well, after days of looking up online and talking again to my two GPs, it seems it was the actual goal. But adding fibers come with downside that I hopefully learnt about.

So yeah. I've never eaten much fruits of vegetables, my fiber came from industrially produced cereals. My stools were like one day out of two, big (3cm diameter) and hard. Type 3.

But it looks like the stools I have now - thinner (thumb-wide, 1 to 2cm diameter), softer, sometimes flat, and long and everyday, type 4 - are the actual good stools. Actually my previous stools showed constipation which I did suffered from from time to time, always relieved by severe diarrhea lasting for 30mn on the toilets.

But fibers have their downsides, and mostly for me it means a lot of gas, stools that pass way too easily (lots of mucus, it feels like pooping water although it's formed) and even sometimes weird diarrhea - I swear I pooped smashed potatoes the other day, it was just so mushy.

This would come from too much fibers and could result in an addiction and constipation as my colon gets used to this.

I guess I have to eat less fiber (I now eat a lot of fruits, especially an apple and that's it for breakfast) to have less mucus and all...

But yeah, the size seems to be the actual regular size. I've just been from chronic constipation to too much fiber. Size, forms and all are normal, but the over presence of mucus is not. It just shows that I eat too much fiber.

What do you people think?


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