I don't know

[Forward1111]

I don't know what is wrong with me. I developed a bit of a hypochondriac phase after I had unprotected sex with a woman I didn't know. After, I convinced myself I caught a STD of some kind. I became so stressed and anxious I would wake up at 3 am and be wide awake and I couldn't eat or focus at work. Eventually I got tested for all the STDs that I could. I came back negative for all of them. This didn't help my anxiety or stress. I kept thinking the tests missed something. I would notice "symptoms" and have anxiety attacks.  Eventually I started to calm down from all of this, or so I thought. This entire incident has taken place over the past 8 months. I am currently nowhere near as stressed or anxious as I was months 1-6. But I have been having diarrhea every morning for a few weeks now. Occasionally I wake up at night needing to go right away. I'll have a cramping in my stomach then after I'm ok and I go back to sleep. When I wipe I notice little bits of food and sometimes black specks like pepper. I have been feeling weak or fatigued recently as well. My muscles have a tingling feeling almost. (Arms and legs) I think I may have given myself IBS by worrying so much the last few months. I had tests done at the Dr. No blood in my stool. Blood tests were normal. Negative for celiac. I just don't know at this point. But I do know I feel weak and I have inconsistent loose bowel movements. My Dr. at the VA hospital isn't very helpful. I tried taking probiotics but it doesn't seem to be doing anything. Any advice or thought? Thanks

[diane493]

The specks of pepper are bits of fiber that didn't digest. I've had colon cancer and actually took some stool in for testing. My Gastro assured me the 'pepper specs' were not at all concerning. He said if you could press on them and they smeared and looked like blood, then he'd be concerned but the hard specs are normal.

Sounds like anxiety.

[Pantx]

Anxiety can totally give you IBS symptoms. It sounds like you have an axiety condition that needs to be treated. See if you can get treatment for that and some counseling to boost it. When my anxiety acts up I fret and have the same physical symptoms. Problem with anxiety is you can worry so much about being sick that you can make yourself sick. Focus on wellness topics. Read about prevention and zen meditation, positive stuff. Stay off of WebMD and don't go looking for pictures of various STD's on the internet because you don't have any STD's ;)  Take care

[Pantx]

Don't feel embarrassed about having anxiety. When you're anxious your brain tries to find something to feel anxious about thats why you might hypochondriac, or hyperfocus on stuff. Really important to treat the anxiety