IBS, relationships, parenting, and aging

[Hazlitart]

Hi all,

Not formally diagnosed here, but will be calling my doctor soon. I am 59 soon to be 60 and I feel like I've been affected in various ways by sensitive digestion since I was a child. As a child I often had low energy and was often very cold even in warm weather. I've gotten through most of life okay, but recently my father entered hospice and I feel as if that stress has exacerbated my digestive problems.

I used to be okay with coffee, but now it produces constant wet farts and so I've cut out. It's a shame because I really love coffee. 

I have strange poops. I pass a normalish bowel movement once a day, but I have several, usually 2 to 3 tiny bowel movements where a tiny piece of poop, maybe the size of a strawberry, comes out. I don't really feel abdominal pain or bloating, but I am constantly passing gas.

I am also a late age father of two kids, 5 and 8, and married to a woman who provides intellectual companionship and functional support but who has no patience for the anxiety and worry. 

I'm not sure what I'm asking for, really just here to say hello and feel a little less alone.

[Jeffrey Roberts]

Hello and welcome,

I am sorry to read about your father. Stress certainly does cause illness to be amplified; however, your symptoms seem a little different, perhaps like infectious or malabsorption of some kind. Have you had your stool checked for infections? Have you been on an antibiotic recently? You don't mention diarrhea; however, it seems like you are passing mucous. I wonder if you should speak to your doctor about this.