Diarrhea during the night

[HealthAnxietyGuy]

I've been having loose stools and diarrhea on most nights. I usually wake up around 5:00am and feel panicky and nauseous. 5 mins later I go for 1-2 bowel movement usually within in 5 mins. I then feel better and sometimes can go back to sleep. Sometimes on more BM 1-2 hours later getting up in the morning.

Usually I have 2-3 BMs a day but for the past 3 months this has been overnight and usually loose, sometimes very loose and feeling ill upon waking. My anxiety has increased a lot because of this. I have been feeling fine in the evening and fall asleep well. I've had stool tests for bacteria or parisites and both were negative.

Has anyone experienced this with IBS? I've had a bit in the past but not every night. I have health anxieties but was ok before this started so it's easy to blame anxiety, but it just seems abnormal.

[Khuneycu]

I went through this exact same thing for weeks. I had diarrhea or very loose/unformed stool at night and especially in the mornings. I absolutely obsessed over it and totally freaked out thinking something was terribly wrong. Went to my PCP and they did stool studies which were all negative and gave me an anti diarrheal which I didn't take. Went back to the PCP and they referred me to a GI doctor when I asked. Went to the GI doctor and he was unconcerned, saying it was IBS but because I was so anxious he ordered a colonoscopy. Everything came back normal and I have a massive bill to pay now as insurance didn't cover much. The moral of the story is I think deep down we know we are freaking FINE... we just want a doctor to tell us over and over that we are fine. Diarrhea happens to literally everyone. Anxiety and nerves makes it 100x worse. When you wake up feeling anxious and almost panicked (as I do almost every morning) your bowels are going to be upset. It's that simple. The gut is very strongly tied to the brain and anxiety will absolutely tear your tummy up. As soon as you stop worrying about it all it will go away. You're fine. It's anxiety. Take a deep breath and try to distract yourself and stop thinking about it! I KNOW that's easier said than done. I worried about this for over two months. It's not worth it. Your anxiety is getting the best of you! Praying for you.

[HealthAnxietyGuy in reply to Khuneycu]

Thank you for the reply, it helps. The difficult part is that I wake up most nights already in a panic like state and feeling unwell and within a few mins need to use the bathroom. I have some anxiety during the day and sometimes panicky but not like in the middle of the night. It also started a few months ago waking in the middle of the night with stressful dreams and BM but barley any anxiety during the day. I don't understand why my symptoms are so bad while asleep and not as bad in the day.

[ShaunieIBSLan in reply to HealthAnxietyGuy]

Hey dude the reason this is happening during the night is simple, whatever you are anxious or worried about is easily played out on a resting mind (especially during sleep) try and listen to a hypnotherapy CD or sounds on your mobile phone as you fall off to sleep. It works for me

[KatieLW]

I’m going through this now. Usually it was just first thing in the morning I’d feel an urgent need to go but could always make it to the bathroom. This morning I woke up at 5:30 with colicky pain and had to rush to the bathroom. Hurts after eating now which is also new. TMI but it was very loose and watery which I’ve felt that was getting until today. I’m stumped on what to do. No diets or meds have worked thus far.

GI is only open until 12 so I left a message this am with no call back. GP said to come in so I guess I’ll try there. Usually pointless but we’ll give it a go. Hope you find some relief & answers!

[Ravenclaw1991]

I had this for weeks. After a while, it just seemed to stop. It may be that it's a bit of a catch 22 and having a few night time incidents has made you more anxious about it and therefore more prone to more night time BMs. Hope it sorts itself out, but as with all new symptoms I would always suggest contacting your GP to rule out anything else.

[Linley]

What came first anxiety or IBS?? I say this is a vicious circle. Do frequent bowel movements make you anxious or does anxiety cause frequent bowel movements?. The ultimate test to ease your mind is a colonoscopy. If that comes back clear you can move on and think what has caused you to feel so anxious, you may try the FODMAP, you may try eating early or later in the evening, the most important thing is never give up.

[asbayford]

Have you tried a low fodmap diet for 6 weeks? Must be stuck to very strictly then introduce food back in one by one as could be a new food intolerance?

If no luck, maybe they reducing fat from diet see of that helps? Takes a bit of tweaking and trial and error but I really so think most of or starts from what we put in our mouths! Keep a food diary and symptom diary whilst you try these out all the best x

[Misscrisps]

I also suffered from this, even earlier, about 4.30am every morning I would wake with nausea and then have a very loose bowel movement, often followed by another around 5.30/6am. Disrupted my sleeping and worried me very much. I tried eating earlier and later and even sat on the loo for a while before bed in an attempt to make myself go. Eventually it just seemed to get later and later and my usual time to start the nausea and bowel movements is about 6.30/7am which is at least more civilised! No idea why it started or why it stopped .