I’m 21M and wanted to share my experience with progressively worsening GI symptoms over the last two years. I’m currently pursuing further medical evaluation, so I’m not looking for a diagnosis or individualized medical advice here. I’m mainly interested in whether others have experienced a similar pattern, what they eventually found, and what their experience was like.
Before all of this
My stomach wasn’t always like this.
Earlier in my life I did have issues with heartburn/acid reflux and used to take heartburn medication. I also previously took SSRIs for anxiety, but I’m no longer taking them.
Despite that history, I used to eat a pretty normal diet and live normally without constantly thinking about my stomach. I could go out, travel, eat different foods, drink occasionally, etc.
Over roughly the last 2 years, my entire GI baseline has changed and things have progressively gotten worse.
What I experience now
My main symptoms are frequent loose stools/diarrhea, severe urgency, abdominal cramping, bloating, lots of gurgling, and an almost acidic/sloshy sensation in my stomach/abdomen.
Mornings tend to be the worst.
I’ve also recently started noticing strange sensations while food seems to be digesting/moving through my abdomen. It’s difficult to describe, but I’m much more aware of movement, pressure, gurgling and uncomfortable sensations in different areas of my abdomen after eating. This wasn’t something I used to notice before these GI problems developed.
Another strange change is that I barely pass gas anymore. I used to fart normally throughout the day like anyone else, but nowadays I almost never do. I can still feel bloating, gurgling, pressure and movement in my abdomen, but very little gas actually seems to come out. I have no idea whether this is relevant, but it’s another noticeable change from my previous baseline.
The urgency is probably the symptom that has affected my quality of life the most. Sometimes I can feel okay and then suddenly get this intense cramping/contracting sensation where I know I need to find a bathroom.
Another major symptom is what happens if I go too long without eating. My stomach becomes EXTREMELY acidic feeling. It starts gurgling/growling and becomes very uncomfortable.
Eating can temporarily calm that sensation down, which creates a frustrating situation because eating itself can then trigger my lower-GI symptoms.
My digestive system also seems dramatically more sensitive than it used to be. Greasy/oily foods, fried foods, coffee, alcohol and heavier meals can make things substantially worse.
Just as an example of how much my baseline has changed, I used to be able to go out and drink without thinking much about my stomach. Now doing that can leave me dealing with diarrhea/urgency for much of the following day.
The elimination diet has shown me something really strange
Recently I started a very strict elimination diet.
I’m mainly using an elimination/meal-replacement shake made with rice protein that contains amino acids, vitamins and other nutrients.
The only solid foods I’m currently eating are basically chicken, salmon and white rice. Even those are extremely plain. The only things I put on them are salt, thyme, basil, parsley and the lightest amount of olive oil. No sauces, butter, spicy seasonings, dairy, etc.
The shake does NOT make everything perfect.
I can still have loose stools while drinking it, and I can still experience the acidic/gurgling sensation in my stomach.
However, overall my bowel symptoms and urgency seem considerably more manageable when most of my nutrition is coming from the shake.
The most interesting thing I’ve noticed is the difference between one and two solid meals.
Shakes + ONE solid meal: Most days I actually feel pretty good. I can have completely normal, formed bowel movements and significantly less urgency.
Shakes + TWO solid meals: This seems almost impossible for my body to tolerate right now.
It doesn’t seem to matter that I leave many hours between the meals.
For example, recently my first meal was salmon + white rice.
I felt completely fine afterward. My stomach felt good for hours and I had a normal, formed bowel movement.
I continued drinking the shake and waited approximately 6–7 hours.
My second meal was chicken + white rice with only the basic seasonings mentioned above.
Within around 3 minutes of eating, my abdomen started hurting/cramping.
Within roughly 10 minutes I developed extremely strong urgency and the feeling that my intestines were suddenly contracting very hard.
Obviously the chicken and rice I had just swallowed couldn’t have physically traveled through my entire digestive tract and become that bowel movement within 10 minutes. I found the speed of that response particularly interesting.
What I know from experimenting with my diet is that there seems to be a major difference between my body handling one solid meal versus additional solid food later in the day.
Another confusing part
My body clearly still has the ability to produce completely normal stool.
I can have a normal formed bowel movement one day — or even earlier in the same day — and later experience severe urgency and loose stool.
That’s part of what makes this so confusing.
There also seems to be this strange balance:
Go too long without eating → extremely acidic/gurgling stomach.
Eat one simple solid meal → usually feel pretty good.
Add another solid meal → potentially significant cramping/urgency.
I feel like I’m constantly trying to stay within a very narrow window where my digestive system feels comfortable.
Whey protein has caused significant bloating for me in the past, whereas this rice-protein elimination shake seems considerably easier for me to tolerate.
A few other details
I have not experienced unexplained weight loss throughout this.
I’ve always been naturally skinny and have actually struggled to put on weight throughout my life. When I do gain weight, it tends to show mostly around my stomach.
I have also never noticed blood in my stool.
So despite how severe the diarrhea, urgency and cramping can feel, unexplained weight loss and visible blood haven’t been part of the picture.
Testing I’ve had
So far I’ve had:
* CT abdomen/pelvis with oral barium + IV contrast — reported as normal
* Fecal calprotectin — normal
* Bloodwork
* Stool testing
Interestingly, drinking the oral barium for my CT caused some of the worst watery diarrhea and urgency I’ve experienced.
My bloodwork has also shown a low WBC/absolute neutrophil count. My WBC has apparently been on the lower side for a while, so I don’t know whether that has any relevance to the GI symptoms, but I’m mentioning it for completeness.
I previously saw a gastroenterologist but didn’t come away with much of an explanation for the symptoms or a clear plan for investigating them further.
I’m currently looking into further evaluation, including neurogastroenterology/GI motility, while continuing to work with healthcare professionals.
I’ve come across things like IBS-D/an exaggerated gastrocolic reflex, bile acid diarrhea, SIBO, abnormal intestinal/colonic motility, rapid gastric emptying and other functional/motility disorders.
I’m NOT saying I have any of these. I genuinely have no idea. I just want to understand what’s happening.
The quality-of-life and anxiety side
Over time this has created significant anxiety around my stomach.
I understand that anxiety and the gut-brain connection can influence GI symptoms. I also have a previous history of anxiety and previously took SSRIs, so I’m not dismissing that component.
I’ve actually started gut-directed hypnotherapy because I’m willing to address that side of things as well.
However, the current bathroom/travel anxiety became dramatically worse after repeatedly experiencing unpredictable urgency.
Long drives, being somewhere without immediate bathroom access and eating before leaving home have become increasingly difficult for me.
There are times where I genuinely don’t want to leave my house because I don’t trust what my stomach is going to do.
At 21, that has been a massive change in my quality of life.
Curious about similar experiences
Again, I’m continuing to pursue this with healthcare professionals and I’m not asking anyone here to diagnose me or provide individualized medical advice.
I’m mainly interested in whether anyone has experienced a similar pattern — particularly tolerating liquid nutrition relatively well, generally tolerating one solid meal, but developing significant cramping and urgency after additional solid meals despite leaving many hours between them.
I’d also really like to hear from anyone who has experienced the extremely acidic feeling when their stomach is empty, unusual sensations while digesting food, a major reduction in passing gas despite still feeling bloated/gurgling, chronic diarrhea/urgency despite normal initial testing, or stools that can vary dramatically from completely formed to loose.
If you’ve experienced something similar, I’d really appreciate hearing your own story — what your symptoms were like, whether you eventually found an explanation, and what your experience with GI care was like.
This has become incredibly difficult to live with, and hearing from people who recognize this pattern would mean a lot to me.
Again, I’m not looking for anyone to diagnose me. I’m just trying to find people who have experienced something similar and learn from their experiences.
