Gut issues for 2 weeks straight — looking for opinions/experiences
29M. Looking for honest thoughts because I’m struggling to work out whether this sounds more like IBS/gut irritation or whether I should be pushing for further investigation.
For years I’ve always had a fairly gassy stomach and variable stools on/off, but never really focused on it because it wasn’t affecting me much.
Around 2 weeks ago I woke up with lower left abdominal pain/tenderness, especially when pressing the area. That pain settled after around 4 days, but since then my stomach/bowels have just not felt right.
Symptoms:
constant “upset stomach” feeling across lower belly/suprapubic area
cramping rather than severe pain
loads of bowel noises/swishing/gurgling
Fair amounts of gas
periods where I couldn’t fart properly followed by loads of farting
bowel movements fluctuating from constipation to explosive diarrhoea
currently going around 4–6 times a day
stools often fluffy/fragmented/soft rather than proper formed stools
some floating stools and bubbles appearing from stools
messy wiping/wet glossy stool residue
stinging around anus from frequent wiping
symptoms massively worsen after alcohol/takeaways, etc
The weird thing is I’m still:
eating normally
able to drink alcohol
passing gas
not losing weight
not vomiting
not waking in the night needing the toilet
I’ve had quite a lot of tests done already:
Full blood count normal
CRP normal (3.0)
FIT test normal
Stool pathogen PCR negative
Stool culture/microscopy negative
Kidney function normal
Thyroid normal
Liver tests normal aside from ALT 41 (still within range)
Ferritin mildly elevated at 363
No anaemia
Doctors currently don’t seem massively concerned based on the tests, but I’m struggling with how suddenly this all came on and how persistent it’s been for 2 weeks now.
Does this sound familiar to anyone with IBS/post-infectious gut issues/food intolerance etc? Or does anyone think I should be pushing harder for gastro/colonoscopy?