Oh mcncheri, please try not to worry. I am 57 years old, and have had IBS and anxiety and hypochondria for many years. A few years ago I was also diagnosed with a severely underactive thyroid. I understand how you feel, believe me. You worry, so you search the internet (in my day I went to every book store and searched the health books section) for reassurance, only to find something to do with your own symptoms which makes you convinced you've got cancer, or something equally fatal. Your whole body goes into a state of numb fear, from your head down to your toes. You feel frozen to the spot. A bit like cotton wool. Fuzzy legs. You feel like you're going to throw up. Your heart races. You taste blood. Everything suddenly looks and feels different. You feel nauseated in the very pit of your stomach. Your hands go clammy and that awful creeping paralysis devours you. Awful, awful feeling of a panic attack. You felt bad enough before. You only looked for reassurance, but now you just feel more anxious. What you have read is exactly what you are experiencing, therefore it stands to reason you must have the dreadful disease they are describing. I've been there. It's horrible. It takes over every thought, robs you of your happiness. If you do find yourself feeling a bit better - or actually forget about it for a few moments - it taps you on the shoulder and reminds you that you should be worrying. I used to think of it as my horrible goblin, which was always there, always waiting to plague me with worry at any moment. You seek reassurance by going to the doctor, who may perform tests you don't actually need, just to try to put your mind at rest. You worry anout the tests. Then you worry about getting the results. Then you get the results - everything is reassuring! Phew! What a relief! But then, you're barely out of the doctor's surgery when your goblin starts on you. What if they've missed something? What if the results are wrong? What if? What if? What if? Does any of this sound familiar? Then what I will say to you is this. As an older woman who is way ahead of you on this path, I will tell you some facts that are meant to reassure you. Firstly, as a 16 year old, you are VERY unlikely to have anything seriously wrong with you. If you do have anything wrong, it will be something minor and not something life threatening. The fact that your grandmother has bowel cancer, (as awful as that is for her and your family), does NOT mean you will get it, and as you don't have her genes, there is no possibility that you will develop anything she has through a genetic link. You have had some tests. Trust me, if the doctor genuinely thought there was the remotest possibilty that you have bowel cancer, you would have been sent for more tests. You haven't been sent for more tests, and the results of the ones you have had don't show anything life threatening or worrying, which is great. You've had ribbon like stools? So have I, at various times over the years. I have bowel cancer screening every two years to check tgat everything is fine. I've had occasional short spells of ribbon like stools for many years. IBS can squeeze your intestines as it causes cramp and colic type pains - hence your bowel is squeezed thinner temporarily, causing the thinner stools. Pardon the pun, but it will pass! The yrouble is, the more you worry, the more you perpetuate the anxiety which is causing so many of the symptoms, and it has become a worry-worry cycle. It's like being on a roundabout with no way of getting off. You just go round and round and round. It's mentally and physically exhausting. Constant worry releases adrenalin into our bloodstream. Adrenalin is the hormone responsible for giving us the extra boost of energy for a quick getaway if we are in immediate danger - like for instance, if you met a lion. You would run. Adrenalin would help you to run faster. It is calked the 'fight ir flight' response. Very handy if you need to run away quickly or protect yourself from danger. But when you are in a constant state of anxiety, there is a constant, steady release of adremalin going into your body, all the time. Think about it. If you've ever had a fright, afterwards, your heart can still keep pounding and your legs can still feel like jelly. This us the excess adrenalin in your system. So when you worry, the constant adrenalin makes you have weak legs, or shaky hands, or a feeling of being off balance or light headed, or have colicky pains in your tummy, or diarrhoea, or you get all bunged up and can't go to the loo - so you get filled with gas and your stomach swells up, or you feel sick - the list of symptoms caused by adrenalin goes on and on. None of these are caused by anything life threatening. They are caused hy adtenalin, which is caused by worry. What you must do is try NOT to add 'second fear' to these symptoms. So, if you feel them, instead of letting that goblin convince you that it is something awful, try accepting how you feel, welcoming those feelings - as uncomfortable as they are - and let them float through you and out the other side. Don't add more fear by questioning what they could be a sign of. They are a symptom of too much adrenalin. Nothing more. Let them come. THEY WILL PASS. The more you do this, the less power you will give to your anxiety. Eventually, the adrenalin will lessen, which will in time reduce your symptoms, and you will begin to feel better, I promise you. In the meantime, try relaxation, guided meditation and having faith that you WILL be okay! Drinking plenty of water helps with the constipation, by the way, and worrying can bung you up. Nothing more sinister than that. You will be fine. Xxx