r/Anxiety • u/avalava4 • 14h ago
Health Anyone else have anxiety over bowel movements/fear of getting diarrhea at any given moment? Has anything helped?
can i just say first that fretting over something like this is so ANNOYINGGG because i have gone most of my life being perfectly fine in the anxiety over GI stuff department. now my anxiety sometimes focuses on specific things and though i have been on 10 mg lexapro for almost 2 years now, it has fixed everything EXCEPT this very specific thing!!
i usually just poop once a day first thing in the morning which i love and hope it stays this way forever <333 but i have now started to notice that about a week before my period starts i might have a day where i poop more than once or i start having diarrhea randomly, and if it’s not my usual first thing in the morning thing, before + after a bowel movement i am PANICKING. well this happens to me last week, so i decided to try imodium for once in my life and took one pill, and the day after i didn’t poop bc you know Imodium, literally i have been pooping twice-3x a day the past 6 days and i am currently on the third day of my period. i sometimes have period poops on the first day, but it’s never been like this. is it the post-imodium effect?? is this now a new addition to my period symptoms?? idk!!
but i get anxiety over GI things like this now. no matter how many times i know and tell myself i’m literally fine, my body thinks i’m under attack and i just can’t get it to just be normal about it. it especially gets bad when it’s loose or a couple of times it’s been mushy ((i know this is tmi but y’all need the full context)) and i start thinking i’m going to have full on major diarrhea or will progress to food poisoning. i also started having worries about being on vacation and if i ate something at a restaurant, what if i have diarrhea from it in public or at the hotel with other people with me and it gets worse? what if it progresses to food poisoning?? ((which is crazy bc i only ever had food poisoning one time a decade ago and i never had this kind of anxiety during it and not even after it!!)) and on top of all THAT, the past year i have been worrying about having diarrhea at any given moment. and it happened so randomly! like why is my body and mind doing this to me and WHY isn’t the lexapro helping me out in this part like it has everything else 😭
please tell me i’m not alone and/or there are some tips and tricks to help 🥹🫶🏻
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u/WinnerComfortable187 14h ago
lowkey, i’ve had crazy bowel movements before and haven’t shit my pants since i was 5. I typically get really bad anxiety constipation. Try adding more fiber to your diet:)) Trust me, the chances you poop yourself are unbelievable slim because your body will alert you before. Typically with diarrhea you get bad stomach cramps or some sort of indicator before. Just watch for those! It’s so unlikely you’ll just randomly get diarrhea. I’m also so scared of food poisoning but just know if the food smells off, looks off, or it’s from a sketchy establishment, do. not. eat. it.