Hello. I am a 21 year old female looking for some answers regarding problems I've been having recently. But first, I'd just like to say I've been looking at this forum a lot in the past week or so and it's such a nice and friendly place. I appreciate the idea of there being somewhere to find support and share information.
Also, I have read the comprehensive gall bladder post which I believe Keriamon wrote (thank you for that). However, I still have some questions. Please bear with me, as brevity has never been a strong point of mine, and please excuse me for being graphic. :)
For the past three weeks, I've been having a ton of digestive problems including heartburn (it started out as that, primarily), diarrhea (at first normal looking, then yellow, then with pieces of undigested food and mucus in it, sometimes once a day, sometimes multiple times), and general stomach discomfort (but no out-and-out pain). I've also lost 10 lbs, but I'm sure that's to be expected when you're eating a lot less and then it goes straight through, though I generally have an appetite.
The week before this all started, I had encountered some very heavy stress and worry, so at one point, I thought maybe it was anxiety. Sure enough, after I started doing some deep breathing to relax, things improved a little bit (the stomach discomfort wasn't AS bad, but the diarrhea was still yellow and regular).
about two weeks in, I saw a doctor and he took some blood (for h. pylori and hiatal hernia tests) and said he'd be scheduling a gall bladder scan for me. And if that didn't figure things out, they could do a HIDA test, fecal testing, and so on. I'm actually glad he took me seriously. He also put me on Nexium for the heartburn and it's helped a ton.
That was a week ago and between then and now, I've been trying to find more information about what could possibly be wrong without getting too upset about it. This board has been a great help, especially as things have gotten a little more rough recently. For the past few days, I've been having weakness in my arms and legs (causing some weird sensations), aching in my neck and shoulders (not pain though), and tonight, I had nearly whole green beans in my stool and even managed to vomit some up.
I guess I wonder if any of this actually goes with IBS-D to the point that having it could be feasible, especially with the sometimes stress trigger. I think some of my symptoms do lend themselves to gall bladder problems and it's true: I haven't had the tests for that done yet. Still, I think about it a lot as I'm waiting and I just wondered if anyone had any words of wisdom for me. I appreciate any help anyone can give me. Keep rockin' on this wonderful board! :)