Helped Over 500,000 patients with 98%+ satisfaction.

Connect & Get Personalized 1-to-1 Answers from Expert Doctors

DoctorSpring > Question Home

Changes in the bowel movements. What could this mean?

Resolved Question:

For the past three months, I've experienced a range of intestinal problems. These symptoms began as constipation throughout the week that crescended into diarrhea during the weekend. These symptoms have progressively become more irritating. Perhaps, two months ago, I started experiencing prolonged cramps before and after defecating. Moreover, the consistency of my feces has changed from consistently solid and well formed to soft, sausage-like links at best and chopped up bits at worst. I have made dietary changes due to noticeable irritants. For example, coffee and wine will surely cause a painful bout the day of or the day after their consumption. Dairy products will precipitate the same effects (I've been lactose intolerant for awhile, though). Yet, even with these dietary changes, the cramps and soft stool/diarrhea persists. I'm 23 years old, male, with a BMI of 20. I'm not overweight; I exercise as much as possible; I try to eat healthy food. What could cause these intestinal problems? I suppose I should add that when I have greasy food, like pizza or a burger, the aforementioned symptoms manifest.

Category: Community

Ask Your Own Question

Category: Family Physician-GP
 30 Doctors Online

Hello, the symptoms that you have described are probably suggestive of a condition known as Irritable bowel syndrome. Irritable Bowel syndrome is a chronic symptom complex of altered bowel habits and abdominal pain. It begins in adolescence and early childhood. There is no definite cause that triggers this condition. It can be due to anxiety, tension, altered gastric emptying, increased small bowel contractions, excessive worry, and certain foods. This usually presents with bloating, abdominal pain Diarrhea, altered bowel habits, increased gurgling noises. Some triggering factors like foods chocolate, milk, alcohol can cause constipation.

I would suggest you to undergo a sigmoidoscopy. Here the doctor puts a flexible tube attached to the camera through the anus and the images in side the colon is taken along with biopsy if needed. You can also get a stool examination.  You can use a few remedies to relieve it such as:

a) You can increase the roughage content of your diet

b) Exclude lactose in the diet, alcohol.

c) Painkiller like ibuprofen to reduce abdominal cramps.

If the condition doesn't improve, you can consult your doctor with reports. Hope this helps. Thank you.


Dr. John Monheit
Category: Family Physician-GP
Experience: 
Residecny: North Colorado Family Medicine
Medical School: The Chicago Medical Center
Dr. John Monheit and 4 other Medical Specialists are ready to help you

Users who read this, also read:

Make informed and better medical decisions.

Join the 500,000 people who found a smarter, quicker way to get Answers, Recommendations & Expert Opinions.

Expert Doctors at fingertips

Recommendation on next step. Second-opinion.Multi-specialty.

Save Time

Average time for answers: 6 hours.

Save Money

$35 for typical specialist consult vs. $120 for a local appointment.

Free Follow-ups

Clarify, ask further questions for free in private conversation.

100% Satisfaction

Money back guarantee for the 1st reply. MEDNET Quality Board.

Start My Consultation

CHAT NOW

About DoctorSpring.com

Doctor Spring is a novel online Doctor consultation platform where you can get your medical questions answered by leading Doctors. Just Submit your question and rest assured that you will consult a Doctor easily. Once you submit the question, the Doctor from the concerned specialty will reply within hours. You can always ask more questions or add details with follow-up question options and make it an online doctor chat. You may use this service to consult a specialty or for getting medical second opinion. All paid services come with a MEDNET quality assurance and 100% money back guarantee.

DoctorSpring in news