Daily loose and frequent bowel movements

Dear Ask The Doctor: I am a fitness instructor and teach a lot of fitness classes per week, 10 1 hr classes to be exact a week, 45 classes per month. Most of my classes are high intensity cardio along with weight training. I am telling you this because I am wondering if this fitness regime is affecting my below problem. I eat very healthy, fibre, veggies, fruits most of the time and do tend to cheat on weekends here and there. I don't drink pop and I don't eat sugar or salt. for the last 6 months I have been having IBS trouble, bloatiing, gassy, and I have at least 8 bowel movements per day. I don't think I have had a solid bowel movement in 6 months, don't mean to be gross but it is not runny or watery looking but more like fluffy, creamy kinda like soft ice cream? there are times where I will be constipated and it will be harder like it should be, however it never all comes out all at once and I am always back on the toilet pretty much all througout the day. I fill up a toilet, I am a woman and it is getting on my nerves as I do not feel very sexy. I never see any blood, it is of normal colour and other than the usual bowel cramping from being constipated or have diarrea, I do not feel sick in any way. I am a very active female. My periods are extremely heavy and painfull and always the diarrea is worse during those times where I have actually had to take time off work. Is there anything I can do to get things down there back on track. i have rehumatoid arthritis and currently am taking humira for meds along with allergy meds.

Dear Kelly: From the symptoms you describe with the passage of loose stools up to eight times per day, it would be important to rule out an infection of the gastro-intestinal tract. The normal range of bowel movements is highly variable and ranges from 3 times per day to 3 times per week. However eight stools per day, especially with night time defecation, would be considered to be abnormal. With your history of rheumatoid arthritis, and Humira administration, you may be more susceptible to infections, which if untreated can be severe and life-threatening. I would advise attending your family doctor urgently, for a detailed history of your symptoms and physical examination. You may require routine blood tests such as complete blood count, electrolyte profile and inflammatory markers, CRP and ESR and stool samples for culture and sensitivity, and ova and parasites. These tests will help to exclude infection or inflammation of the gastro-intestinal tract and determine the cause of your persistent symptoms.