Bowel problems

Hi. Iv noticed for the past 2 to 3 weeks my bowel movements are one day pencil thin and the next day diaherea.  Sometimes I feel I'm pushing to empty my bowels. Some days I feel bloated. After eating I notice I have grumbling noise at the lower end of my stomach. Not very loud though ( near to the bum ) . Dr google is causing my anxiety to high levels. Has anyone else had these symptoms?  I have appointment with an advance nurse next week.  Should I be worried?

  • Could be lots of things. Anxiety or IBS would probably be two of the more likely explanations. Or a tummy bug. Think diarrhea can cause thin stools, so those are probably connected and the grumbling could be too. Odds are it's nothing that serious, but it's good you're getting it checked out.

  • Hi Snk have similar symptoms and am stressing too the best thing we can do is get tests which we are the rest is limbo land and not a nice place so be as kind to yourself as you can be xxx

  • Just came across this forum. I had a qfit test done & the reading came back >400. I am waiting on a colonscopy test. Anyone know what this reading means? Cheers

  • That reading means there is blood in your poo. That's it, really. It sounds like quite a lot of blood, but the FIT test gives no indication of what is causing the blood, just tells you it's there. It could be many things, diverticulitis, a polyp, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's, cancer...probably a load more I've never even heard of too.

    Best of luck with the colonoscopy.

  • Just an update. I went to see the advanced nurse today.  She checked my stomach by pressing on it in different places and said it seemed fine i had no pains anywhere . Then used a stethoscope to listen and said she could hear the stomach rumbling . For now iv been told to give a stool sample to check for ibs or ibd I'm not sure. And iv got Monday appointment for a full blood count . I've still got the same symptoms and it's day 22 since I started noticing them . 

  • Hi sorry to hear you are going through this. Can I ask how long you waited for your stool sample results. I don't think they are doing a fit test on mine although they knew I was having blood in my stools. They were just checking my stools because I had extreme diarrhoea for 6 days that had bloody mucus. I sent the sample off over a week ago and haven't heard back. And I'm so worried because Iv gone from "my normal" bowel movements to diarrhoea to constipation and now Iv had a ribbon like stool. I'm terrified :( I hope you are ok x

  • Update:

    I recieved my normal stool test results within 24hrs. However iv just recieved my Fit test results after a week and it's come back normal . 

  • That's the same reading I got. I'm waiting on a test aswell, I'm assuming it's a colonoscopy as my GP said it will involve a camera to see where my bleeding's coming from.

    Hope your colonoscopy goes fine.

  • I had a colonscopy on Monday. I have been diagnosed with diverticulosis, which would explain the blood in stool. I hope all goes well with you...

  • Hi,

    Ive recently just had a positive FIT test (test for blood in the stool) yet Im being made to wait 3 Weeks to even be able to discuss this with my Doctor. I was wondering if this normal and what your experience was like.

    Also im happy your problems ended up not being anything seriously nasty like cancer.