BORDERLINE STOOL TEST. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

[Flowers12]

Hi all.

I’ve just received a text from the doctor to say my stool test has come back as ‘boderline’

Me being me has gone into panic mode. She wanted to retest next week and then will see where to go from there.

Has anyone experienced anything similar. I’m absolutely petrified !!

X

[BlackIsleGirl]

what were they looking for in the test?was is parasites or blood or bacteria?

Borderline really means it was inconclusive to my mind. I understand why you are worried but the best thing is to repeat the test and see what the results say next time. Try to relax and not over think thing x

[Flowers12 in reply to BlackIsleGirl]

thank you 🖤 they were looking for inflammation of the stomach. I’ve been experience constant bloating and feeling full for almost a year now. They keep putting it down to anxiety and IBS. The first stool samples and bloods were normal and the second borderline. I can see why it could be anxiety as I panic over the smallest things 😅

[BlackIsleGirl in reply to Flowers12]

IBS can be really sensitive to anxiety and stress so its possible that your anxiety is triggering your IBS and causing your symptoms. Do some things to help you relax between now and your next test and see if that helps 🙂

[xjrs]

If it's the Calprotectin test, they can often retake it just to be sure. It can be a bit high one week and be perfectly normal the next. Even if you have elevated Calprotectin, more often than not it isn't anything serious. It just points to further investigation being needed. I had an extremely high result and was still diagnosed with IBS in the end. Statistically this is more likely to be the case.

I've learned that your inflammation markers (Calprotectin) can be highly influenced by what you eat. Science has proven that high protein, low carbohydrate and low fibre diets, can lead to inflammation in the body. When my markers were elevated, I'd been put on a high protein low carb, low fibre diet by nutritional therapists to treat me for SIBO which I didn't have. This type of diet reduces feed for the microbiome substantially. It is the compromised microbiome that can lead to inflammation. That inflammation isn't necessarily related to inflammatory bowel disease but could have a reflection on your gut health overall. The best thing for your microbiome is a very varied diet with cereal fibre. This can be a challenge for IBS sufferers. Ideally you want to get into a position where you can eat more if not done so already. This is aided by for example a good probiotic such as Alflorex or medication to help bring symptoms under control to make you more tolerant to different foods.

[Flowers12 in reply to xjrs]

thank you so much for this. Your comment really settled my nerves. I think because the doctors don’t actually explain this I worried. She did say the result was very common too. I can’t wait till I can feel normal again. I’ve been suffering for 9 months now however those 9 months have been very stressful so I’m not surprised I’m feeling like this. Thanks again i really appreciate it.

[jotee]

By coincidence, my GP said to me today that stool tests often throw up false positives. I have to do a stool test and he told me that to warn me x

[Flowers12 in reply to jotee]

thank you. It’s so annoying. I’m suffering from constant bloating. Literally every day so something is going on I’m just hoping they get to the bottom of it all because it’s making my life miserable. I hope yours comes back okay x