My partner has been worrying himself silly over the last few days, and I am becoming very, very concerned about him.
He has had bouts of severe constipation for about 2 years, and following a very recent visit to a consultant who was not very helpful is now completely panicking about what it could be – to the point that I am very worried. I will go into some details below.
It started approx 2 years ago where a bout of constipation caused him a very large pile. He had constipation on and off for a couple of months, and had a rectal examination at this time which was clear. Symptoms subsided and the pile disappeared.
He then had another long period of problems at the end of last year (He may have had a few more bouts in the interceding time, but we are unsure). He had severe bouts of constipation and a few stomach cramps – usually after eating, and we sort of came to the conclusion that he may be allergic to egg as egg was always involved in the meal if he got pain afterwards. He changed his diet somewhat & seemed to be fine for a while.
Then approx 4 months ago he had a very similar period - bouts of severe constipation and some stomach cramps. (Again, he may have had a few more minor bouts in the interceding time, but we are unsure). This lasted for a few months. He went to his doctor who said it was nothing to worry about – he probably had stress related IBS and sent him home. He then went back to a different doctor a month or so later. This doctor sent him for blood tests including anaemia, liver function, coeliacs, amongst a number of others – all were clear, she said it seemed like IBS and referred to a consultant.
In the meantime he had approx 3 good weeks of no real problems (hard stools but not constipated).
He went to the consultant and he booked him for a colonoscopy to eliminate various conditions. But mainly through lack of information, the way the consultant babbled and kept mentioning various other conditions, and because he has another bout of constipation now, he is becoming incredibly worried that he has something much worse than IBS including Colorectal cancer.
My partner is so worried that he is not intending to go for the colonoscopy as he doesn’t want to find out.
Other symptom info: He is in his early 30’s. His stools are very hard & pellet / rock like. He has had no blood in his faeces except when he had the pile, and on one occasion after he passed a very very large & painful stool (the doctor who sent him for blood tests said this was nothing to worry about as the stool probably hurt him). He sometimes has mucus around his stools. The stomach cramps seem to come only after eating now, and he can occasionally feel tired after an attack. No unintended weight loss (in fact he has put on a bit of weight in the last 2 yrs). He does frequently strain to pass stools when he is having a problem period, however sometimes he also feels an urgent need to go immediately. On one occasion a severe bout of diarrhoea followed a bout of constipation. One particular food now seems to be troubling him – dry chicken breast, and he always has issues immediately after eating.