MUCUS after bowel movement

[needhelp2]

I am a 32 year old overweight(by about 70 pounds) female. Obviously don't have great eating habits. I have about 3 bowel movements per week and often times am constipated. But for the last 31/2 years now, after I have a bowel movement when I wipe, there is always a mucus discharge(clear-yellow/whiteish tint). It is not in the stool itself, I always see it in the toilet paper when I wipe. Sometimes it is very stringy that it will get on my arm as I am wiping. About 3 years ago I did see a doctor and had a colonscopy done and was told, everything looked okay, that it was IBS. Even when I happen to have normal consistancy stools, I still get the mucus discharge after the bowel movement. I don't feel or think I have hemrroids. What do I have? Should I have the mucus or stool analyzed? Please HELP.

[Kevin Pho, MD]

Possible other causes would include malabsorption or chronic pancreatitis.  A normal colonoscopy would make inflammatory bowel disease less likely.

You may want to consider testing the blood tests for celiac disease, stools for fecal fat, as well as pancreatic imaging studies and enzyme tests (i.e. amylase and lipase) for further evaluation.  

If every test is negative, then treatment can be optimzed for irritable bowel disease (i.e. increasing fiber intake as well as possible antispasmodic agents).  
Followup with your personal physician is essential.

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - the information presented is for patient education only. Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Thanks,
Kevin, M.D.

[greenland]

I had it (IBS)about 10 years ago but mine (mucous) was in the stool. It was IBS and it cleared up after taking these chewables designed for this and by no longer drinking the tap water of the town that i had just moved to. What it was was a combination of the water and just poor diet choices and I swear some stress too. I realized the only thing that I had changed in my diet with my move was the water. I took the tablets, drank water from jugs that my wife would fill up from our other home 300 miles away (I commuted back and forth on weekends) and the problem went away almost immediately. This may not be the solution for you, but it was for my case and I have never had the problem again. (I also moved back home)

weird.

TD

[Terry65]

A related discussion, gas and mucus was started.

[BrFrWi]

A related discussion, Mucus and abdominal cramping was started.