Obsessed with Bowel Movements

[Anxiously]

I have always suffered with health anxiety.  Always have something I am obsessed about, it is either cancer or heart problems (I have MVP).  Lately I have been obsessed with colon cancer.  Are the loose stools I have every 3 to 4 days colon cancer or anxiety.  I usually have one episode and then everything goes back to normal.  It has been going on for about 6 weeks.  It is not really diarrhea (it is only one time and it is not water, just very soft).  I usually have a little pain and an urgency to go and it comes out very quickly and soft.  Please someone help me, I am making myself sick with worry.

[shrublet]

Hey Anxiously,

Well, coincidentally there have been lots of posts lately about loose stools relating to colon cancer. As I said before, my grandfather-in-law passed away from colon cancer, and he was also a very heavy smoker. He was in his seventies when he passed away. The chances of getting colon cancer before age 65 are pretty much nil, and you are much less likely to get it if you have no family history and do not smoke.

Soft stools are an indication of anxiety. Your sympathetic nervous system is closely tied in to your GI tract, so when your body is in panic mode, energy is taken away from digestion (because it is non-essential to immediate survival, e.g. tiger threat). This means that food is not digested properly and is passed through more quickly. I get diarrhea quite often when I am particularly anxious. I actually just drank a ton of lemonade very quickly (it's quite hot here!) and feel a bit sick and rumbly now.

However, I am going to lock this post because you made a similar post in another forum and double-posting is generally discouraged. Please let me know if you'd like me to lock the other instead.