Hi guys, so I've never been diagnosed with IBS but I'm not sure where else to post this.
For the past couple of years, I would have about
4-6 bowel movements a day. They were never diarrhea, they were either a normal or sort of loose stool. I would occasionally get some cramping at night. I noticed that I would normally go to the bathroom or have cramping shortly after consuming dairy so I always assumed I was lactose intolerant.
Recently for almost two months now, I've been dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety. I've been dealing with trouble with my stomach such as gas pains and discomfort at night and I've only been going to the bathroom once or twice a day now since my anxiety started. I've also cut out dairy completely these past two months.
I've been paying close attention to my bowels and what they look like. Today I noticed that there were black flakes in my stool. I was able to get one in between toilet paper to see if it was mushy or if I could break it apart because I'm terrified that it's blood. I couldn't really break it apart, it was like a hard flake. Almost like the skin of a fruit or something. I have an appointment with my GI in a little over a week but I'm currently freaking out over this. The rest of my stool is a normal brown color, these black pieces are just in it. I've also been on the probiotic Align for the past 7 days.
Should I be worried?
This is what I ate yesterday:
Cinnamon toast crunch
Blueberry bagel
Chinese food: rice & chicken fingers
Potato chips
Two hotdogs (their skin was burnt a little, could it be this??)
4 black olives
Applesauce
Post Edited (srg08) : 6/30/2014 11:05:18 AM (GMT-6)