Posted 11/6/2012 7:32 AM (GMT -8)
Hello everyone, first ever post! Though a word of caution - there is some in-depth descriptions of poop and other such related things in here. Don't say I didn't warn you!
So I was diagnosed with PVF/CFS January 2012 after getting glandular fever in September 2011. I suffer with musculoskeletal M.E., but my symptoms haven't been as severe as I've heard some other people's can be. Let's just say I have mild CFS - I go to school on a reduced time table. I'm not in bed all day. However, I still have a range of symptoms, from cramps and abdominal pains (these are the main ones for me) to small headaches, a scratchy throat and intolerance to bright lights and loud noises.
A few months ago I started having panic attacks about new symptoms. Well, it was mainly weight loss - sadly my best friend's mother died suddenly of lung cancer in March, and I remember her saying that she had lost three stone in what must have been a month or two. When I checked myself on the scales, I found I had lost some weight (a good few pounds) and I started, well... freaking out. I would start crying and bawling my eyes out, get shivers and chills and feel faint when I thought about it. We talked to my paediatrician about it, and turns out weight loss isn't uncommon. I'd lost 5kg, but I've already put 3kg back on, which is good news. And of course, my panic attacks were a result of anxiety; it's no surprise, seeing as I'd already been ill for around about a year.
Moving on, a month or so ago I started having - cue aforementioned details concerning my poop - constipation with poo that wasn't as solid as it should be. I just thought it was last night's dinner playing me up, but alas, the next few days, the same problems followed, the solidity of my poop varying with each trip to the bathroom. I just want to make this clear now though: it's not severe constipation, and note how I didn't use the word 'diarrhoea'. I've just been having discomfiture, I suppose.
Anyway, I've also started having stomach pain again (the abdominal pain eased off after the first few months of my CFS experience, but now it is back with a vengeance), and - sometimes - a sharp pain down low which only goes away after I pay a visit to the closest loo. Not only that, but I often feel very bloated after a large meal, but my stomach never gets bigger. Plus, there have been occasions when I haven't had a number two in a couple of days, and then I'll have two poops in one hour (normal sized poops, mind you). And wait - there's more! In the past couple of days my poo has seemed a bit dark in places, though not substantially. However, today, I had dark streaks running through (I'm not as worried now though: I asked my mum and she reminded me that I took a GP-prescribed iron supplement last night for the first time in a few months - I have anaemia on and off).
Naturally, I'm panicking. I have googled my symptoms, and found that IBS seems to be commonly associated with CFS. The thing is, I have friends who suffer with IBS, and they say that they have a good few days not going to the toilet then BOOM, the kraken is released, and it's like - I quote - "a bung being pulled out of my anus." I'm definitely not like that.
So, what I'm trying to say is this: has anyone suffered with the same kind of symptoms? If so, do you have any advice for me to try and relieve the symptoms?