StoolSense

Persona

Trigger discovery (IBS-ish)

Find patterns without spiraling

You suspect food, caffeine, or stress triggers. You want a calm, time-boxed way to test one variable at a time.

What you're dealing with

  • Unpredictable urgency, bloating, or cramping after meals
  • Too many online theories; not enough trackable experiments
  • Unsure when symptoms are “normal variation” vs a red flag

First experiment

Coffee timing week

Go to experiment

How this persona uses StoolSense

You’re not trying to self-diagnose. You’re trying to reduce uncertainty.

The goal is to capture a simple baseline, then run a short, safe test that answers one question (e.g., “Is coffee timing driving my morning urgency?”).

At a glance

Trigger discovery workflow at-a-glance

Your goal (what “progress” looks like)

You’re not trying to remove every possible trigger. You’re trying to get to:

  • Fewer “surprise” urgency days
  • A shortlist of 1–3 likely drivers you can repeatably test
  • Clear stop-rules so you don’t spiral into endless elimination

A calm trigger-finding workflow

  1. Log a baseline week: stool type + time + 1–3 symptoms.
  2. Pick one hypothesis: caffeine timing, lactose, polyols, etc.
  3. Run a 7-day test: keep the rest steady.
  4. Decide and move on: keep it, revert it, or refine it.

What to track (keep it focused)

  • Stool type and timing
  • Optional symptoms (1–3): urgency, pain, bloating
  • Context tags: caffeine timing, dairy, sleep, stress, meds/supplements

If you’re overwhelmed, start with: urgency (Y/N) + Bristol type + caffeine timing.

Common mistakes that keep you stuck

  • Changing five things at once (then you can’t tell what helped).
  • Going too extreme (then you can’t sustain it long enough to learn).
  • Ignoring red flags because you want the experiment to “work.”

Red flags (stop experimenting)

Get medical care for blood, black/tarry stool, severe pain, high fever, repeated vomiting, faintness, dehydration, unexplained weight loss, or a sudden sustained change from your baseline.

A simple sequence of starter tests

Start with the linked experiment for 7 days. Then, if you need the next move, try one of these (one at a time):

If symptoms are travel-related or you’re worried about “food poisoning,” use:

Relevant Library pages