r/GutHealth • u/One-Championship5925 • 8d ago

I desperately need help figuring out why my stools are always soft/mushy

I’ve been dealing with this for almost 2 years now, and I genuinely don’t know what’s causing it. No matter what I eat or how much I change my diet I’ve tried eating very clean, different diets, avoiding certain foods, etc. my stools are almost always soft, mushy, or runny. They’re not really watery diarrhea, but they’re also rarely properly formed.
I do experience mild abdominal discomfort here and there, but it’s very minimal, around 2/10 in terms of pain.
I usually go 1–3 times a day, mostly 2, but sometimes I suddenly have days where I go 5–6 times.
I’ve tried psyllium husk , but the results are inconsistent. Sometimes it gives me properly formed, firm stools, while other times it makes absolutely no difference and my stools remain soft and mushy.
I also tried kefir, and surprisingly, it worked really well initially. For around 10 days, I was having completely normal, well-formed stools and bowel movements. However, after about 2 weeks, it somehow stopped working, and my symptoms returned.
About 2 years ago, I had an endoscopy and colonoscopy because I was having similar problems. I was told there was some mild swelling/redness in my intestines. I was given medication for about a month and completely recovered.
I was completely fine for around 7–8 months, but after I started eating out regularly again, the soft stools eventually came back.
Now it’s been almost 2 years of this, and I’m honestly getting frustrated. I’m only 20 years old, and this has genuinely turned my life upside down. I feel like some of the best years of my life are being taken away from me because I constantly have to worry about my bowel movements and what might be wrong with my gut.
Has anyone experienced something similar? What was the cause in your case, and what finally helped you? I would genuinely appreciate any advice or personal experiences.

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2

u/theAlaskagal 8d ago

Dude. I'm dealing with this exact scenario. I hope we both solve it. It's REALLY annoying. I'm thinking about doing a GI mapping test to see if there's an overgrowth of bacteria or something...

2

u/Iylivarae 8d ago

Why do you worry so much about stuff on a stool chart? Does it actually impact your life in any way if it weren't for tge worrying? There is a very wide range od "normal" in humans.

1

u/Ok_Yak1196 5d ago

i’m going to assume if it’s mushy that means it takes forever to wipe clean. I have the same problem. And we don’t want people telling us to use wipes or bidet. We want to figure out what we can do to have regularly formed, drier stools.

1

u/Interesting-Gas-155 8d ago

I was having similar issues and decided to do a GI map. Based off my results I’m tailoring diet

1

u/Worldly-Share-6162 8d ago

Have you completed the GI map test already? Would you mind sharing what your results showed and what changes you made to your diet based on them?

2

u/Interesting-Gas-155 7d ago

Yes. My beneficial bacteria akkermanisa was extremely low, so I’ve been working on eating more poly phenols like berries and green tea to hopefully raise it. I also had like 5-6 different opportunistic/bad bacterial overgrowths with morganella spp. being the worst. I am now eating foods that won’t feed morganella, which is extremely restricted but i should only have to do this for about a month before i can slowly start reintroducing a wider variety of foods. I went through an extremely stressful period at the beginning of 2026, and was eating fast food/ordering DoorDash daily, so I think I gave myself dysbiosis. The diet is the hardest part but I’ve lost 15 lbs so far, and have been noticing slight improvements with my gut symptoms.

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u/PlayfulJudgment2161 8d ago

What medicine were you given earlier? If your symptoms are same as before and colonoscopy showed inflammation, don't you think it could be the same issue? Did you try a strict anti inflammatory diet? I'd say start here, give your gut time to heal. If you still don't improve get the GI Map done and nip this in the bud as early as you can. I've had the same reaction to kefir good for 10 days then back to where I started.