How can I know if my symptoms are from stress or if somethings wrong?

Wow, you’re going through some rough stuff. I am a nurse. I understand your reluctance to complain. You need to share though. Most conditions are common but you definitely need help sorting them out. We all need that guidance and reassurance when we just can’t figure it out ourselves. I’m so sorry you feel nervous telling your provider. I find myself rehearsing in my mind the details and my timeline. Fearful that you will leave an important detail out. They have seen and heard it all! Hope you feel better soon.

Hi, I do think if you’re going a good amount daily I would not say your suffering constipation. Typically constipation is having a bowel movement three or less days per week.
I think this is good. You can get a painless stool blood test. You place some stool on these cards and mail or return to the lab. Very easy or your pcp would do labs, easy, and some stool testing, also easy. They can start off slowly and go from there. You don’t need to add stress to getting scheduled for a lot of tests.
I do think it’s good you have an appointment. Best of luck.

Hey Nicole,
I would recommend that you print off your post and bring it to your doctor appointment. Let your doctor read your document because most times we (meaning me) forget some of the things we need to ask about.
Your primary physician may recommend a colonoscopy?
As for feeling like you could be impacted; my mom after many years of chronic diarrhea found that she actually was impacted.
How this came to tuition is while I was visiting from out of state last year I thought she was in congestive heart failure. Her breathing was that of CHF, so I insisted we go to the ER.
Well after all the testing, the cardiologist informed us that she was in Afib. He said the reason her breathing mimicked CHF was because the gastroenterologist found an obstruction which caused fluids to gather around the heart.
So excuse the language but basically she had a poop blockage but some liquid was able to pass by the hardened poop and come out as diarrhea.
As for blood on poop; my dad, a few years ago had that same issue and actually had to go to the ER. He was found to have either diverticulitis or diverticulosis. Anyway that can be found during a colonoscopy.
I was also found to have that during my colonoscopy.
Again excuse the language: I too have had blood streaks but it was when my poop is super solid. I have a tight rectum and the larger solid poop causes some blood but most times not on the toilet paper 🧻.
Anyway, I wish you the best and please share your concerns with your doctor!
Keep us updated or pm me if you’d prefer.

MOJO

Don't ignore your symptoms. It's always better to share this with your doctor because if you do have a problem, early detection is always better for you. You can check with a proctologist if you have hemorrhoids, which could cause the blood if you're pushing when you're constipated. So, you need to address the constipation by drinking a lot, eating prunes, don't eat too much rice, and the like. Or, there are medicines to treat it. If the blood is not because of hemorrhoids or stomach irritation, then you should probably do a colonoscopy. Go to a gastroenterologist. Pushing when you're constipated could also cause acid reflux, which sometimes also causes funny feelings in the chest area. This also can be discussed with the gastroenterologist. As I said, dealing with issues earlier is always better than ignoring. Best of luck.

Thank you for responding.

I’ve considered seeing about a stool test before, but I haven’t mentioned the blood to a doctor. It’s come and gone for months now, but I should have it looked at to see if somethings going on. I don’t see blood all the time and don’t know if it would show up on a stool test, but sometimes it looks like blood.

It will at least look at your stool under a microscope. Plus it’s painless. Also your doctor can check labs on you which might show if your losing blood you shouldn’t be.
Then a colonoscopy I would want. The prep cleans you out but your asleep and the test takes 20 minutes, that’s it. It is pretty simple. That’s a start. You need to get tests done to rule out it’s not something simple like a hemorrhoid. They bleed and are not always external. They can be inside your rectum and you won’t see them or feel them. You need piece of mind. It’s important to good health. Tell you doctor everything and allow him or her to do something. Don’t leave there without a lab slip for yourself and some stool tests. You can do this.

I have a couple thoughts to throw in, @nicolerose30. First of all, I am extremely sorry you are in this exhausting position of trying to sort this all out. While I relate to quite a bit of what you describe I also see super helpful responses from wonderful Connect members commenting to help you through this process. You are not alone, and you can do this!

With this, I want to address a couple items you mentioned that have not been discussed yet:

- Is your problem stress or something wrong? My encouragement is this…your decision to pursue improving your quality of life does not hinge on figuring out the answer to this question. It just may be both. Stress causes physical problems, physical problems cause stress, it all becomes a big huge cycle of ugliness.

Part of my care at Mayo Clinic has been a book recommendation addressing this very dilemma. The read helped me understand the various type of anxiety disorders so I could figure out where I fit (and didn’t), then some practical steps as to what to do about it. Digging out of my deep, isolating hole to make progress would require confidence of knowing I did have health problems and understanding I would need control the stress that came along with it. I am happy to share more about this book if you are interested.

- Did I sleep last night? It sure felt like I was awake. This will sound silly but a huge stressor relieved…my husband and I set up our cuckoo clock to play its goofy song every hour on the hour, yes all night long. There were times I was awake, but there were many I woke up realizing I must have slept because I never heard the darn thing. That in itself was a destressor, and it helped me figure out one more thing in my puzzle. By now I have trained myself to know the difference, which of course helps me help my doctors as well. We did a similar thing after a doctor told me my arm was asleep when I woke up during the night only because I had simply rolled over on it for a bit. My husband stacked pillows around me that would get dented if pressure was put on them. It didn’t help the doctor believe me but it helped my confidence, and I pinned down one more physical symptom that eventually became more significant.

I want to encourage you to move forward, one step at a time. Just do the next, best thing and you will make progress.

You mention having a doctors appointment this week, maybe already. If there is one thing you want to walk away making sure your doctor knows (and you are ok sharing), what would that be? Do you have someone walking through this process with you?