Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis

Subject: Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis

Forum: The Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases Forum

I'm 29, male, have been having gastro problems that have lasted a year and half and have not been able to get a satisfactory diagnosis from my HMO.
All my life I have been reasonably healthy with normal bowel habits and no gastro problems. The only exception is if I consumed a great deal of dairy foods I would feel crampy.
About 1.5 years ago, I went to be evaluated because I had a sudden change in bowel habits (things seemed to be moving more slowly through my system) and had a bloated feeling in my abdomen just below my ribs and above my navel. I went from passing stools everyday like clockwork to once every two days or so. I have no obvious blood in my stool, although I have a fair amount of stringy mucous. Occasionally, I will see a piece of mucous that appears pink. It sometimes appears that small bits of things are making it through undigested. The symptoms seem to come and go but I have never gone back to feeling perfect and being completely regular. Sometimes the symptoms are more severe than others almost like my large intestine is inflamed or irritated. I say this because it feels the like stool is much larger than it turns out to be as it passes out of me or it feels like I need to pass a stool despite having just gone and finished. Sorry for all the gory details.
The original doctor ordered an abdominal ultrasound and anti-spasmodics which showed nothing of note.
I continued to go back to the HMO since the original visit.
* Another doctor ordered an upper GI which showed nothing. Prescribed Tagamet for a month with no effect.
* A third doctor suggested I eat more fiber and exercise which doesn't seem to have any significant effect on the symptoms.
* A fourth doctor (my primary physician at the HMO) order a barium enema (while I would like to avoid ever having again) and another CBC. Since I had no weightloss, no obvious blood, and the symptoms had not gotten significantly worse, he could not justify me having more tests.

Combined Test Results:
Liver Function: Normal
H. Pylori: Normal
CBC: Normal
Ultrasound: Normal
Upper GI: Normal
Lower GI: Showed nothing despite suboptimal conditions (but they said my preparation could have been better) :(
I apologize for the long posting but I'm at the end of my rope with this. I don't know what more to ask of the HMO. I generally feel like that have not invested the time to accurately pin it down. My worry is that it will be something significant that could have been better treated had they figured it out.

Thank you for your time,
David








Follow Ups:


Re: Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis Phil 4/07/1999
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Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis Phil 4/12/1999
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Re: Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis STEVE 4/12/1999
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Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis angela 7/22/1999
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Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis Phil 4/12/1999
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Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis Phil 4/12/1999
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Re: Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis Joe 4/05/1999
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Re: Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis HFHSM.D.-rf 3/10/1999
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Re: Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis David 3/10/1999
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Re: Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis Ev 3/10/1999
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Re: Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis michael 3/06/1999
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Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis John DOe 6/22/1999
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Re: Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis michael 7/22/1999
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Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis KA 4/22/1999
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Re: Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis rebecca 4/26/1999
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Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis eileen 7/29/1999
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Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis Sara Archambault 3/16/1999
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Re: Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis Jen 6/16/1999
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Re: Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis DAWN 3/24/1999
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Re: Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis MR 3/22/1999
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Abdominal pressure, mucous in stools, no clear diagnosis Wendell 7/18/1999
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