Bowel problem

I have a problem with my bowels and a burning ache down the left side, I have realised it is definitely my bowel. I have days on and off the toilet and never feel as if I,ve emptied my bowels properly. I try to pin it down to something I,ve eaten and avoid but that doesn’t, stop it. Now I have a pale yellow stool and yesterday which seemed a mustard colour discharge when I wiped,I thought it was the tangerines I,ve been eating daily. Does anyone else experience this? I,m 71.

[Linley]

Hi!

Everyone with confirmed IBS has slightly different symptoms, the incomplete evacuation is one such symptom. Certain foods can change the stool colour when eaten regularly. As for the pain left hand side..............?? At our age if we get changes in our stool whether it be colour or consistency or pain suggest you make an appointment to see your GP just to be on the safe side.

[Hidden in reply to Linley]

Thanks for your reply.

[Bellyboy13 in reply to Hidden]

Hi I agree you need to see the Doctor. It could be pain from your colon, I get this all the time and awaiting a solution. I had gastroscopy & endoscopy last week and I have a lesion in stomach and had a polyp removed from colon. I have to have lesion removed, but don’t know any more. Get it checked.

[Hidden in reply to Bellyboy13]

I,m not confident about my doctor, he does not like referring you. I only go to see him if I have a problem,but all I get is it’s ibs, I,m too quiet to demand to be referred,I,m normal today but each day is different. I know if I eat curry I suffer and anything spicy.

[Maureen1958 in reply to Hidden]

Hi, I noticed you are in UK. Have you not had an invitation to have a test for bowel cancer? I am 61 and had a letter a few months back. I think it depends where you live. Maureen.

[Hidden in reply to Maureen1958]

I,ve had the stool test late last year that was negative. I was in Turkey in 2013, I had diahorrea,it was awful just fluid and I had to go to the hospital and since then I,ve never had a proper motion. I put it down to getting old,I worked with the elderly for 26 years and saw some bad cases of irritable bowel syndrome.

[Maureen1958 in reply to Hidden]

This was, if I remember correctly, just the lower part of the bowel, not a full colonoscopy and I had just been tested for bile acid malabsorption and didn't want to go ahead with that then. You get called again every two years, I think.

So did you get food poisoning in Turkey, is that what started it all. I knew someone once who drank the water in India (this was about 30 years ago) and she was having a lot of problems.

[Hidden in reply to Maureen1958]

I was travelling home early in the morning 2 days later,they put me on a drip for a couple of hours then I went back to my apartment. I did not go to my doctor as I seemed better but since then it’s never the same 2 days in a row,it is uncomfortable sometimes because I get a burning up my left side to my waist. I worked all my life and brought my 3 children up but the healthcare here outside London is terrible,if you go to A and E you will spend at least 5 hours there.

[Linley in reply to Hidden]

Agree with Maureen -also you deserve to be treated with respect and listened too when seeing your GP whether you are inner or outer London. Would one of your children go with you? It really needs to be sorted.

[Maureen1958 in reply to Linley]

That's a really good idea Linley.

[Maureen1958 in reply to Hidden]

I think what Linley said about getting one of your children to go with you is a really good idea. Please go and get this sorted.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Hi. What you are saying sounds like post infective IBS. It is common that if you get a bowel infection then you develop IBS. Try limiting high formal foods or leaving them out altogether. Also check yourself for lactose intolerance. Hope you get sorted

[Bellyboy13 in reply to Hidden]

If it’s IBS you need to watch for trigger foods. I do not eat spicy foods anymore and miss them, but not worth the pain. It is really important to be checked through. I have had to have polyps removed twice from my colon that could have developed to cancer if left and they just discovered I have a lesion in my stomach and it has to be removed. You have a right to good care and when I have found it difficult I have written to my doctor and gone with a friend. If changing diet doesn’t help you have to go and check it out. Good luck

[Hidden in reply to Bellyboy13]

Thankyou everybody for your replies and advice, all my children and grandchildren work and I allow them to live their life. If this continues I will see a doctor. I would change my doctor but I,m afraid of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire, another practise may be worse. Thankyou again!

[marshamclean]

My bowel was a greenish color. Somewhere I found reference to that being caused by gluten intolerance.. Until that point I did not believe in gluten intolerance. But, I tried it it. Sure enough my

green stool went away and a lot of stomach problems, as well. I still had a lot of problems. Went on the Low FODMAP diet. I still take pain pills, but can live with myself now.

[Hidden in reply to marshamclean]

We never know from one day to the next what will happen with ibs. When I have good days I don,t want it to end

[marshamclean in reply to Hidden]

Me either!! I stay up to 1:00 AM