Rectal discomfort and white in stool?

[kantan]

So suddenly, beginning a few days ago, my body decided to start doing some weird things. The one that worries me most has to do with my rectum. About 2 days ago, I started feeling a painful, stinging sort of sensation just inside. It also makes me feel like I have to go to the bathroom more often than not. A lot of the time, I don't actually expel any waste, but there is a tendency for there to be a lot of gas if I don't. Passing waste is somewhat painful and takes more effort than usual. The waste has consistently had some sort of white stuff on it. I don't know how to describe it really. It kinda looks like little clumps of white-ish stuff sitting on and in the waste. I'm not experiencing any major discomfort in other parts of my body. Even my stomach is completely fine. I get the occasional headache, but I feel that is more because I am just getting over/still dealing with the remnants of a cold.
I don't know if this is relevant, but I feel it's worth mentioning that about 3 or 4 days ago, the lymph nodes in both my armpits were suddenly swollen and painful. They weren't huge, but they were big enough that I could feel them and putting on deodorant hurt. Since then, one of them has gotten completely better. the other is still very much swollen enough that I could feel it, and it's still sensitive.
I'm a 20 year old male
I'm just a bit concerned and really hoping that all of this is just something that will pass with time...
Thanks in advance to anyone that reads or responds to this.

[MeggieMae]

No thanks needed. I just think you didn't get any responses cause it is a hard without like the obvious symptoms such as blood. An infection to me seems right, though if you want to see if it'll run it's coarse, don't wait to long to see a doc if it doesn't clear up on it's own. :) good luck.

[kantan]

Thanks for the response!  I really do appreciate it.
There have been developments, you could say.  Recently, when wiping afterward, there DOES seem to be a sort of mucus-y film on the tissues, so I'm starting to believe that it is mucus.  There is no blood, whatsoever, and there hasn't been any since the beginning (that's part of the reason I'm asking around, anytime I find something that sounds like it COULD be related to what I have, blood in stool is always listed as a symptom).
Going off all of these I'm starting to think it's an infection of some sort, especially with the lymph nodes being factored in.
Even if it sounds like I figured all of this out myself, you response really did help a bunch, thank you!

[kantan]

I don't know what the policy here is on bumping threads, but I figure I'll give it a try since I haven't received any responses :(

[kantan]

In case it helps, I'd like to point out that the stool itself isn't white.  It seems to have white on and sometimes within it.  I can't tell if it's mucus or not.