im having abdominal cramps, white mucous and difficulty passing stool

[furious_cruzer]

i have been having problems the last few years but have been to embarrassed to talk to a doctor in person, i'm a 25 year old male at an average weight, my diet is not perfect but i would say normal, i don't drink or do drugs,

my symptoms are

abdominal cramps and pain
difficulty passing stool (blockage?)
white mucous type thing always following stool
stiff abdominal to the touch (cannot have any weight on my abdominal without having some sort of pain)
rarely but do have some blood with stool
a severe amount of blood with stool 3-4 times in the past 4 years
painful when i do pass a normal amount of stool but rarely do
feel like i have arthritis, not sure if that's relevant (eg. pain when using a screwdriver for more then 1 min)

i feel it is also interfering with my home/work life, i cant go out with the girlfriend fearing that at anytime i could get these pains and have to rush to the bathroom as they are random, my career as a truck driver is come to a halt as i can not sit in a truck for 11-13 hours at a time without pulling off the road every other hour, not to mention everything i do i feel uncomfortable

i am dropping off a stool sample today but have been researching stuff like Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome and ulcerative colitis, its making me a little worried, i took suppositories for haemorrhoids a few years back thinking that could be the problem but nothing has changed, just gradually got worst, anybody have any advice or ideas? i don't want to be one of those people that see something and think "i have that" haha, anything would be great

[furious_cruzer]

Well stool, ultrasound and blood came back nothing on my stomach, blood came back with high TSH and ultrasound found a "node" whatever that is, there setting me up with a stomach specialist and another blood test and ultrasound for the node in 2 months, I’m not impressed, is there anything I can do to try to speed this up?

The doctor proscribed me some drops that I’m support to put in water and drink for my stomach, can’t remember what it’s called, all I can remember is that it cost $30

[furious_cruzer]

well my blood test came back, didnt find anything i was being tested for, but found something else, i have high TSH in my blood, doctor said its Goiter, could this have any affect on my symptoms?

stool samples and ultrasound results are still pending

the docotor in the meantime is setting up an appointment for me to see a specialest about the goiter, but could be a month or 2 away from now

[B_Shel20]

Well, good to hear you did decide to get a stool sample into the doc to take a look. Dont be embarrased to get these types of things checked out.
The symptoms sound typical of IBS, but that is usually a diagnosis of exclusion, so get in to the doc to get some basic bloodtest done. Maybe an abdominal ultrasound and go from there. At your age, the blood is probably hemorrhoids, but I would still get those tests done to verify that is the issue. Keep us updated.