Panicking and Cannot Focus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my mom has had bleeding hemorrhoids for years. Literally blood gushing when they burst. Don't panic.

This. I have hemorrhoids internal and external, IBS with constipation, and diverticulitis. The whole toilet bowl is filled with blood sometimes. I get colonoscopies every three years for polyps and while the bleeding is annoying, I know nothing serious is wrong. A bit of blood and you are over reacting. Get a grip, especially if the colonoscopy is clear.

[Anonymous]

Op is the blood bright red?

Try to take this in stride and know that majority of times blood in stool is related to other less serious things. And a clear colonoscopy is great. I have a genetic variant that doubles my risk for colon cancer, have ulcerative colitis and have had polyps at every scan (starting at 33). I understand anxiety but in your case it’s unlikely to have gone from zero to stage 4. Plus there are other symptoms (that anxiety can mimic).

[Anonymous]

OP here. thank you for all the responses and I'm sorry I sound like a crazy person but these are new and worrisome symptoms for me hence the panic. Not to be TMI but the blood is mixed in which really concerns me something is actively bleeding and I didn't just see this once. It's been a few times. I also feel like my IBS is out of control lately like flare after flare and I just don't know what is normal anymore. Since the beginning of 2022, I've had these flares where nothing seems to sit well, everything goes straight through but it lasts a few weeks and I can get back on track. and now I can't seem to correct course and I'm seeing this symptom along with sort of the change in digestive symptoms and more indigestion. Maybe this has crossed over to be IBD. I don't know. I just would like to go back to not worrying. I felt like after the last colonoscopy I had a nice stretch of being worry free and now I'm consumed by it again. I can't get into to see my dr at Cap Digestive Care until July and found out he's retiring after that which means i have to find someone new.

[Anonymous]

I understand your anxiety OP. I have ulcerative colitis and it can present like this--lots of diarrhea, pain, burping, indigestion and blood. It comes in waves. I take prednisone when its really bad. Because your doctor is retiring anyway, I would actually start looking into different doctors now--call the practice you already go to and ask to be seen by first available, and be placed on the cancel list. Sometimes you can also see an NP and get things sped up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand your anxiety OP. I have ulcerative colitis and it can present like this--lots of diarrhea, pain, burping, indigestion and blood. It comes in waves. I take prednisone when it’s really bad. Because your doctor is retiring anyway, I would actually start looking into different doctors now--call the practice you already go to and ask to be seen by first available, and be placed on the cancel list. Sometimes you can also see an NP and get things sped up.

m
OP here—yes I asked to be seen by a diff dr in the practice who seems to have the same demeanor as my current Dr (based on reviews—need someone empathetic) and the guy I wanted is booked out until august so I’m seeing the retiring Dr (Rubin) in July and hoping he’ll recommend the switch over to the other dr. I asked about any avail next appt and everyone is booked at least until 7/3-even the NPs. How were you diagnosed with colitis? Was it done via colonoscopy? At the one I had in 2013 I know they biopsied the lining for UC (I think) and it was negative. I don’t think they took any lining biopsies in 2019.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand your anxiety OP. I have ulcerative colitis and it can present like this--lots of diarrhea, pain, burping, indigestion and blood. It comes in waves. I take prednisone when it’s really bad. Because your doctor is retiring anyway, I would actually start looking into different doctors now--call the practice you already go to and ask to be seen by first available, and be placed on the cancel list. Sometimes you can also see an NP and get things sped up.

m
OP here—yes I asked to be seen by a diff dr in the practice who seems to have the same demeanor as my current Dr (based on reviews—need someone empathetic) and the guy I wanted is booked out until august so I’m seeing the retiring Dr (Rubin) in July and hoping he’ll recommend the switch over to the other dr. I asked about any avail next appt and everyone is booked at least until 7/3-even the NPs. How were you diagnosed with colitis? Was it done via colonoscopy? At the one I had in 2013 I know they biopsied the lining for UC (I think) and it was negative. I don’t think they took any lining biopsies in 2019.

DP. I also had UC (I say "had" because I had a colectomy and no longer have a colon).

My UC was misdiagnosed as IBS for a very long time, including via a sigmoidoscopy. Based on all of my experience, which ultimately included precancerous findings, I would bet my pension that you do not have stage 4 colon cancer.

Any biopsy is effectively a biopsy "for UC," because the pathologist examines the tissue under a microscope and if there are characteristic changes of anything, they note what they are. It's not like a blood test where they may be looking for something very specific and if they fail to test for that one specific thing, they miss it.

So: your history here is that you are 45 with a history of bleeding hemmorhoids and two prior colonoscopies during which nothing was found. Colon cancer just doesn't move that fast. People you see news reports about who are turning up with stage 4 colon ca in their 30s and 40s are not people who had two prior scopes under their belts.

Unless you have a proximate family history of colon cancer, and maybe even then, I would make your next calls to therapists. I'm not saying not to see the GI--you should--but trying to get in on a rush basis when your problem is health anxiety is a "boy who cried wolf" situation. You don't have colon cancer, let alone stage 4 colon cancer.

[Anonymous]

I’m resurrecting this thread-I’m the OP who posted this just over a year ago when I noticed blood in my stool. I spent an entire year with this symptom too petrified to do anything about it watching it evolve over a year. The blood sometimes would get noticeably worse, on one occasion I saw a clot and rectal bleeding seemed to be getting more frequent. My bowel habits went from sort of your classic IBS to very narrow stools to basically diarrhea mostly (sorry TMI). I knew deep down I needed to address this but I just didn’t want to face the possibility that something had developed since my last colonoscopy 4 years prior, so instead I wasted an entire year silently ruminating while outwardly going about my life with the kids and my family as though nothing was wrong. Also my GI had retired so I was trying to find a new one so that was my excuse for continuing to delay facing this.
Finally, I said to myself-either address this one or face possibly worse consequences later and forced myself to establish care with a new GI that my friend recommended w Capital Digestive (he’s one of their top drs if anyone wants the rec) and he put me at ease that unlikely anything serious was going on but suggested we do a colonoscopy just to be certain. I still wasn’t at ease and spent the entire time leading up to the colonoscopy again silently worrying, even rescheduling it once.
I wanted to come back here to report that it was all clear. No polyps which I found unbelievable and I even pressed him like the neurotic person I am to confirm he saw nothing-tiny, flat, nothing?? The prep was clear he could see everything. All he found were internal hemorrhoids which I had previously been diagnosed with and confirmation (again) of IBS which probably has gotten worse with age are the culprit for the bleeding.
I know this is a long post but many of us are posting on here about health anxiety, worries over symptoms, watching friends get diagnosed with cancer and we get so far into our heads instead of just following through on getting to the root of the diagnosis. Just wanted to share this for anyone going through something similar that it is okay to be scared, worried, etc. and that you can and will find the strength to face those fears to address whatever it is that is going on. This doesn’t cure my health anxiety, but forcing myself to go through with this test is a reminder that we can rise above it and take care of our health instead of fearing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m resurrecting this thread-I’m the OP who posted this just over a year ago when I noticed blood in my stool. I spent an entire year with this symptom too petrified to do anything about it watching it evolve over a year. The blood sometimes would get noticeably worse, on one occasion I saw a clot and rectal bleeding seemed to be getting more frequent. My bowel habits went from sort of your classic IBS to very narrow stools to basically diarrhea mostly (sorry TMI). I knew deep down I needed to address this but I just didn’t want to face the possibility that something had developed since my last colonoscopy 4 years prior, so instead I wasted an entire year silently ruminating while outwardly going about my life with the kids and my family as though nothing was wrong. Also my GI had retired so I was trying to find a new one so that was my excuse for continuing to delay facing this.
Finally, I said to myself-either address this one or face possibly worse consequences later and forced myself to establish care with a new GI that my friend recommended w Capital Digestive (he’s one of their top drs if anyone wants the rec) and he put me at ease that unlikely anything serious was going on but suggested we do a colonoscopy just to be certain. I still wasn’t at ease and spent the entire time leading up to the colonoscopy again silently worrying, even rescheduling it once.
I wanted to come back here to report that it was all clear. No polyps which I found unbelievable and I even pressed him like the neurotic person I am to confirm he saw nothing-tiny, flat, nothing?? The prep was clear he could see everything. All he found were internal hemorrhoids which I had previously been diagnosed with and confirmation (again) of IBS which probably has gotten worse with age are the culprit for the bleeding.
I know this is a long post but many of us are posting on here about health anxiety, worries over symptoms, watching friends get diagnosed with cancer and we get so far into our heads instead of just following through on getting to the root of the diagnosis. Just wanted to share this for anyone going through something similar that it is okay to be scared, worried, etc. and that you can and will find the strength to face those fears to address whatever it is that is going on. This doesn’t cure my health anxiety, but forcing myself to go through with this test is a reminder that we can rise above it and take care of our health instead of fearing it.

So all that worry for nothing. What did it solve?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m resurrecting this thread-I’m the OP who posted this just over a year ago when I noticed blood in my stool. I spent an entire year with this symptom too petrified to do anything about it watching it evolve over a year. The blood sometimes would get noticeably worse, on one occasion I saw a clot and rectal bleeding seemed to be getting more frequent. My bowel habits went from sort of your classic IBS to very narrow stools to basically diarrhea mostly (sorry TMI). I knew deep down I needed to address this but I just didn’t want to face the possibility that something had developed since my last colonoscopy 4 years prior, so instead I wasted an entire year silently ruminating while outwardly going about my life with the kids and my family as though nothing was wrong. Also my GI had retired so I was trying to find a new one so that was my excuse for continuing to delay facing this.
Finally, I said to myself-either address this one or face possibly worse consequences later and forced myself to establish care with a new GI that my friend recommended w Capital Digestive (he’s one of their top drs if anyone wants the rec) and he put me at ease that unlikely anything serious was going on but suggested we do a colonoscopy just to be certain. I still wasn’t at ease and spent the entire time leading up to the colonoscopy again silently worrying, even rescheduling it once.
I wanted to come back here to report that it was all clear. No polyps which I found unbelievable and I even pressed him like the neurotic person I am to confirm he saw nothing-tiny, flat, nothing?? The prep was clear he could see everything. All he found were internal hemorrhoids which I had previously been diagnosed with and confirmation (again) of IBS which probably has gotten worse with age are the culprit for the bleeding.
I know this is a long post but many of us are posting on here about health anxiety, worries over symptoms, watching friends get diagnosed with cancer and we get so far into our heads instead of just following through on getting to the root of the diagnosis. Just wanted to share this for anyone going through something similar that it is okay to be scared, worried, etc. and that you can and will find the strength to face those fears to address whatever it is that is going on. This doesn’t cure my health anxiety, but forcing myself to go through with this test is a reminder that we can rise above it and take care of our health instead of fearing it.

So all that worry for nothing. What did it solve?

OP here--absolutely nothing. That's my point. If you're worried about new symptoms, as I was, just address it. I plan on going on anti-anxiety medicine so I can think more rationally the next time I encounter this situation but naturally, any of us would be concerned and/or worry when faced with troubling symptoms or new symptoms that are suddenly emerging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m resurrecting this thread-I’m the OP who posted this just over a year ago when I noticed blood in my stool. I spent an entire year with this symptom too petrified to do anything about it watching it evolve over a year. The blood sometimes would get noticeably worse, on one occasion I saw a clot and rectal bleeding seemed to be getting more frequent. My bowel habits went from sort of your classic IBS to very narrow stools to basically diarrhea mostly (sorry TMI). I knew deep down I needed to address this but I just didn’t want to face the possibility that something had developed since my last colonoscopy 4 years prior, so instead I wasted an entire year silently ruminating while outwardly going about my life with the kids and my family as though nothing was wrong. Also my GI had retired so I was trying to find a new one so that was my excuse for continuing to delay facing this.
Finally, I said to myself-either address this one or face possibly worse consequences later and forced myself to establish care with a new GI that my friend recommended w Capital Digestive (he’s one of their top drs if anyone wants the rec) and he put me at ease that unlikely anything serious was going on but suggested we do a colonoscopy just to be certain. I still wasn’t at ease and spent the entire time leading up to the colonoscopy again silently worrying, even rescheduling it once.
I wanted to come back here to report that it was all clear. No polyps which I found unbelievable and I even pressed him like the neurotic person I am to confirm he saw nothing-tiny, flat, nothing?? The prep was clear he could see everything. All he found were internal hemorrhoids which I had previously been diagnosed with and confirmation (again) of IBS which probably has gotten worse with age are the culprit for the bleeding.
I know this is a long post but many of us are posting on here about health anxiety, worries over symptoms, watching friends get diagnosed with cancer and we get so far into our heads instead of just following through on getting to the root of the diagnosis. Just wanted to share this for anyone going through something similar that it is okay to be scared, worried, etc. and that you can and will find the strength to face those fears to address whatever it is that is going on. This doesn’t cure my health anxiety, but forcing myself to go through with this test is a reminder that we can rise above it and take care of our health instead of fearing it.

Question -- why haven't you taken care of the internal hemorroids? Go see a colorectal surgeon -- they can sometimes do an in-office procedure called rubber band ligation and get rid of internal hemorroids very quickly. i used to have one that bled, and she got rid of it very quickly and easily. you don't have to live with it.

[Anonymous]

OP. So glad things turned out ok for you and thanks for circling back. Your experience will help others.

Many of us worry about health issues. It’s ok to worry. It’s worse if you don’t follow up and get checked out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m resurrecting this thread-I’m the OP who posted this just over a year ago when I noticed blood in my stool. I spent an entire year with this symptom too petrified to do anything about it watching it evolve over a year. The blood sometimes would get noticeably worse, on one occasion I saw a clot and rectal bleeding seemed to be getting more frequent. My bowel habits went from sort of your classic IBS to very narrow stools to basically diarrhea mostly (sorry TMI). I knew deep down I needed to address this but I just didn’t want to face the possibility that something had developed since my last colonoscopy 4 years prior, so instead I wasted an entire year silently ruminating while outwardly going about my life with the kids and my family as though nothing was wrong. Also my GI had retired so I was trying to find a new one so that was my excuse for continuing to delay facing this.
Finally, I said to myself-either address this one or face possibly worse consequences later and forced myself to establish care with a new GI that my friend recommended w Capital Digestive (he’s one of their top drs if anyone wants the rec) and he put me at ease that unlikely anything serious was going on but suggested we do a colonoscopy just to be certain. I still wasn’t at ease and spent the entire time leading up to the colonoscopy again silently worrying, even rescheduling it once.
I wanted to come back here to report that it was all clear. No polyps which I found unbelievable and I even pressed him like the neurotic person I am to confirm he saw nothing-tiny, flat, nothing?? The prep was clear he could see everything. All he found were internal hemorrhoids which I had previously been diagnosed with and confirmation (again) of IBS which probably has gotten worse with age are the culprit for the bleeding.
I know this is a long post but many of us are posting on here about health anxiety, worries over symptoms, watching friends get diagnosed with cancer and we get so far into our heads instead of just following through on getting to the root of the diagnosis. Just wanted to share this for anyone going through something similar that it is okay to be scared, worried, etc. and that you can and will find the strength to face those fears to address whatever it is that is going on. This doesn’t cure my health anxiety, but forcing myself to go through with this test is a reminder that we can rise above it and take care of our health instead of fearing it.

Question -- why haven't you taken care of the internal hemorroids? Go see a colorectal surgeon -- they can sometimes do an in-office procedure called rubber band ligation and get rid of internal hemorroids very quickly. i used to have one that bled, and she got rid of it very quickly and easily. you don't have to live with it.

OP here--they're only grade 1 so not too severe but enough that they appear to cause constant bleeding. I have used prescription strength suppositories and creams, etc, and nothing seems to help. My dr hasn't suggested banding but I am going to follow up with him because I would like to address this one and for all.

[Anonymous]

Glad it worked out well and you are dealing with both the gi issues and the anxiety. I have IBS and anxiety and my gi symptoms often reflect my emotional state... that's not to say they aren't real, but that working on mental health can also improve physical health. The gut-brain connection is real! Best wishes to you.