Bowel movements changed since months, broken into small round pieces constipation all the time

gp45 · Newbie Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Posts: 1

I am 20, Male
Overly scrawny 115-120 pounds (5”7)

I have described in short firstly and then in detail afterwards

Summarized
I have had a change in bowel movements since October. I usually got constipated every time I did not sleep for 40hours which I would not sleep once a week or so. In Nov I had one occurrence with really bad pain with constipation followed by diarrhea (no blood or vomiting). In December I had no school so I lost no sleep but since OCT, my stool has been consisting of strands that are broken into 4 pieces and then regular strands with cuts and rolls on them. I use to get random BM’s in DEC with a couple days I had tiny pebble like bowel movements, and once or twice I can’t remember well I had hard stools. Until mid January were I began to eat fiber everyday and Veggies and sleep normally everyday. I get Normal BM every now and then (I get BM 3-4 times a week) but 50% of the time I get broken stools in 2-4 pieces it’s as if you chopped a regular strand of poo into pieces the other strands being intact but with rolls cuts and curves on it rarely I get a smooth strand. I had a couple isolated appearances of Black stools and one or two narrow stools. Sometimes it breaks into random pebble and flat pieces that come out in one push.
I have been eating fiber once a day and sleeping normally for the past month but I still get these broken strands what should I do,
I told my family doctor that I get constipated every now and then but he says to have water and fiber
I never needed fiber to have a BM but now I do

More description

Okay to begin about last October
I noticed that I would get constipated after every day I go without sleep. I would go without sleep for almost 40 hours at least once a week or so. One day in November I had extreme pain during a BM and after the constipation was relieved I had diarrhea at that instance no blood or vomiting that day I just figured it was due to constipation. The year prior to that the days I went without sleep I would notice a change in bowel movement but not constipation,
When I had constipation during that time (the past OCT-JAN) I’m not sure it was every week but every now and then I would have a normal stool and every now and then usually after or during a day of not sleeping I wo.uld get the broken pieces and hard pieces of poo.
In December I didn’t have school so I didn’t miss sleep I didn’t really monitor My stool for that month as far as I can remember they were healthy however every now and then they would come out in small broken pieces. And every now and then I would go to the washroom and tiny pebble like pieces would come out.
(I’m not sure if small tiny pieces of poo mean I’m constipated does it??)

In January I spoke to a nurse and she told me to start eating Fiber and vegetables which prior to that I basically just use to ignore what I eat but I did use to drink a lot of water everyday. Since then I go to the washroom once every other day I usually go 2 to 3 times at most on the day that I do get a BM, usually I go once and then 2 hours later I go again and so on. However I have noticed that almost every time I go to the washroom I get one strand which is broken into pieces like 3 or 4 random pieces that take the form of a regular shaped stool. They are moist regular color and not hard. My normal stool also has little curves and breaks in it which resembles the broken pieces. I don’t get any pain in the stomach or any other symptoms at all.

I did have one or two narrow stools a couple of times but that’s it, although I do not know what clarifies as a narrow stool , once or twice I got a stool that was shaped like a marker it was about 2cms in thickness. Also a few times I got a normal stool that was normal in thickness but Tapered extremely long and thin at the other end.
Recently I had dark brown stools pretty much black, darker than normal but that went away after a few trips to the washroom, it was probably due to too much iron in cereal red meat or lentils.
I’m only 20 so I don’t think its colon cancer I pray it isn’t. But what is the reason my bowel movements have changed like this?

I also noticed a few times when I woke up for about 4days in a row I could hear my stomach growling, I hear it every now and then but like even if I’m half asleep in the morning it would keep grumbling non stop for those 4mornings but since then it stopped

Also I recently had my first panic attack I’ve been going through a lot of anxiety and stress recently and currently because I’m nervous about a few things. Could that have to do with my broken stools?

Also prior to beginning to eat fiber once a day I never needed fiber to go to the washroom now it seems like I do. However prior to this I never really had a good digestion system I’m overly skinny and since I can remember I had diarrhea every now and then except for the past months were this started to happen.

I have been trying to eat fiber I haven’t been eating so much veggies but at least fiber everyday. But I still get broken pieces of poo (not tiny but as if you took a regular shaped stool and cut it in four) and then a regular connected strand with bumps and rolls on it. Every now and then I get a regular smooth one but not as often

I’m guessing it has something to do with my sleeping habits they constantly changing hours however recently I’ve been sleeping normally everyday for good amounts of time but still I get these broken pieces. Recently for my first time in months I went a full 40hours without sleeping and instead of the 4 broken pieces I got like 20 tiny pieces and some broken strands

Bowel movements changed since months, broken into small round pieces constipation all the time

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