Hello. 22 year old white male here in hopes of finding an answer to a problem that has plagued me for over four months now. I'm hoping somebody can help me.
Four months ago, I began having strange symptoms very suddenly. I had started going to the bathroom more than usual, I had diarrhea, mild cramping/gas in the lower middle part of my abdomen (right below the belly button), narrower stools, and it also felt like the bowel wasn't completely empty after a bowel movement. I had a stool test performed to look for evidence of bleeding/infection, and it came back normal. The symptoms began to go away a little, and I thought I was getting better. Then, I noticed there was a little bit of blood on the toilet paper after I wiped. It also itched and burned really bad at times. This prompted me to go back to my doctor, who did a digital rectal exam, and also checked my prostate. Prostate was normal, but he discovered two hemorrhoids and gave me some suppositories. He also referred me to a gastroenterologist, who I saw the next week.
The gastroenterologist listened to my story, and immediately asked me if I had gone camping lately and if I had drank mountain stream water. I said yes to both questions, and he immediately suspected giardia. He suggested I get another stool test done looking for the giardia antigen, and he wanted me to schedule an upper GI and small bowel series X-ray, and a colonoscopy. I took the giardia test, which came back negative, and he started me on Flagyl "just in case." He claimed that giardia sometimes doesn't show up on the test. At this point, I no longer had narrow stools or watery diarrhea, but the stools I did have were loose. They would come out feeling solid, but would quickly break up in water and would almost liquify when the toilet was flushed. Also, I noticed air bubbles being released as the stool broke up in water. I finished the Flagyl, but the symptoms remained.
I had my colonoscopy today, and he found one small polyp that he said definitely wasn't cancerous. Other than that, it was clear. I haven't had the Upper GI small bowel series Xrays yet because I am paranoid about Xrays and the risk they have in actually CAUSING cancer. I was trying to set up an abdominal ultrasound first and I wanted to put off the Xray as long as possible. He told me again today to get that done before going to see him again.
So what's wrong with me? I believe the colonoscopy ruled out colon cancer, ulcerative colitis, and a bowel obstruction, so what else could be causing this? Keep in mind, the gas and cramping seem to come from the lower/middle of my abdomen (below belly button.) I feel better after a bowel movement. The worst pain I ever had was after eating pizza. SHARP pains and gas that would come and go quickly. Could this be a hernia? Or is it most likely related to my small intestine? Or IBS? Parasites? Lactose intolerance? I'm scared and confused. Please help!