Bowel anxiety refers to intense worry, fear, or preoccupation with bowel function, often leading to avoidance behaviors like restricting food or avoiding public places due to fear of incontinence or embarrassing accidents, sometimes linked with conditions like IBS or social anxiety (e.g., parcopresis, the "shy bowel"). It's a cyclical problem where anxiety worsens gut symptoms (diarrhea, constipation, pain), and those symptoms trigger more anxiety, influenced by the gut-brain connection.
How to Overcome the Fear of Pooping
Stress-induced gastrointestinal symptoms are more common than you may think. According to Swanson, 20% to 40% of the population will at some point experience GI pain or discomfort brought on by stress. These symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, gas, bloating and nausea.
stomach pain or cramps – usually worse after eating and better after doing a poo. bloating – your tummy may feel uncomfortably full and swollen. diarrhoea – you may have watery poo and sometimes need to poo suddenly. constipation – you may strain when pooing and feel like you cannot empty your bowels fully.
Do You Have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), the Most Common GI Condition? IBS is the most common disease diagnosed by gastroenterologists and one of the most common disorders seen by primary care physicians.
Frequent discomfort, gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and heartburn could be signs that your gut is having a hard time processing food and eliminating waste. You feel tired more often than not. People with chronic fatigue may have imbalances in the gut.
Bowel disease (Inflammatory Bowel Disease or IBD) symptoms include chronic diarrhea (often with blood/mucus), persistent abdominal pain/cramping, fatigue, unintended weight loss, fever, and urgent feelings to have a bowel movement (tenesmus), with specific signs like bloody stools common in Ulcerative Colitis and potential fistulas or abscesses in Crohn's. These symptoms stem from inflammation in the digestive tract, affecting nutrient absorption and causing systemic issues like joint pain or skin problems.
Unexplained changes in bowel habits
Consult your health care provider if you notice unusual or unexplained changes in your bowel movements, such as: Bloody, black or tarry-colored stools. Persistent diarrhea or constipation. Pain in the stomach that doesn't go away.
IBS poop varies greatly, often fluctuating between hard, lumpy, and difficult-to-pass stools (IBS-C) and loose, watery, and urgent stools (IBS-D), or alternating between both (IBS-M), sometimes with mucus present, but not blood. Shapes can range from small pellets to thin, pencil-like forms, and color might shift due to speed of passage (e.g., green/yellow for fast, darker for slow).
avoid foods that are hard to digest (like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, beans and onions) avoid products containing a sweetener called sorbitol. ask a pharmacist about medicines that can help, like Buscopan or peppermint oil.
Symptoms of stress
To calm your digestive system and help avoid nervous poops, try to:
The "3 poop rule," or "three-and-three rule," is a guideline for normal bowel habits, suggesting that pooping anywhere from three times a day to three times a week is considered healthy, with individual patterns varying widely. It helps identify issues: fewer than three times a week may signal constipation, while more than three times a day (especially with loose stools) might indicate diarrhea, prompting a doctor visit for persistent problems, notes Symprove UK.
It can affect men, women, and children. In fact, toilet anxiety affects around 6.5% to 32% of the population. People with anxiety about pooping may avoid social outings, holidays, or public events, and they may also find that it interferes with their work.
7 Common Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Bacterial gastroenteritis is a digestive problem caused by bacteria. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, fever, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and pain. In severe cases, you may become dehydrated and have an electrolyte imbalance.
For IBS sufferers: Yellow stools can sometimes be associated with IBS, especially if you have the type of IBS that involves frequent diarrhoea. It can also occur if there are issues with fat digestion. If you experience yellow stool along with stomach cramps or bloating, it might be time to talk to your doctor.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common condition that affects the stomach and intestines, also called the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms include cramping, belly pain, bloating, gas, and diarrhea or constipation, or both. IBS is an ongoing condition that needs long-term management.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. IBD causes symptoms like belly pain and cramps, diarrhea and blood in your poop (stool). Inflammatory bowel disease is chronic and can't be cured. There are treatments that can put the disease into remission but IBD often comes back.
The hardest foods to digest are typically fried and fatty foods, processed foods, and items high in certain fibers or sugars, like cruciferous vegetables, legumes, onions, garlic, and dairy (for the lactose intolerant), as well as red meat, due to their fat content, complex fibers (like cellulose in corn), or FODMAPs, slowing stomach emptying and potentially causing gas, bloating, or cramps.
How is a digestive disorder diagnosed?
The main symptoms of ulcerative colitis are:
you have diarrhoea that lasts more than 7 days. you have tummy pain or bloating that will not go away or keeps coming back. you have blood or mucus (clear slime) in your poo. you've been losing a lot of weight without trying.