Hi kol. I have the same issues. I am only 6 weeks out and seem to try and hold it but have awful pressure/pain when I do. My best time is in the morning. In the later afternoon and evening the pain and pressure get worse and I soak in a hot tub which does help. I also have accidents occasionally in the night still. I told my doctor and she did say it can take up to 6 months for our bodies to adjust. Some people are quicker while others take longer. What type of diet are you on and are you taking any immodium or lomotil?

Well being a teenager i dont have the best diet and tend to drink a lot of soda which is probably causing some pain but im mnot sure.

I also just very very recently started to try imodium, but my doctor seemed to want me to refrain from it.

Stop the soda and bet bet you will see an huge improvement. You shouldn't be any pain just from trying to hold it. Do you have difficulty emptying when you do go?

Its not difficult to hold, but just flat out hurts when i hold it. Ive tried and can hold it for a long time, but every 20 or so minutes it just hurts.

I get that. I get more "pressure" when I'm trying to hold it. My surgeon says when I get the feeling right after I just went to try and hold it at least an hour unless pressure gets to be too much. I am also doing those kegal exercises every day. The pain I get seems to be from gas although I don't drink any soda or caffeine. Not sure where your pain is coming from. It could be gas from the soda.

The every 20 minutes or so is probably peristalsis - just trying to push things through.

kathy

i DEFINITELY agree with stopping the soda. im 8 weeks post takedown and havent even taken one sip of a carbonated drink still, and i still have issues...

the sensations you are feeling are normal thats for sure....i get the pressure when i try and hold it, and i also get a very weird unexplainable sensation when i try and hold it also.

something my surgeon told me regarding gas, is that during this process we will learn how to release gas without waking up, similar to babies, in that they learn how to pass gas without waking up. my guess is that the soda is causing excess gas, and you could simply be passing gas, and stool is coming out also.

also worth mentioning, is that most people have more gas (or at least more RELEASE of gas) when laying down.....

definitely start with cutting out the soda...

and when it comes down to it, you might just have to midfy your diet.....it wont last forever though...

for me personally i have had to relatively significantly reduce the quantity of food i am eating in one sitting AND overall...but just for now........otherwise im going 15 times a day...if i reduce my intake i can stay in that 6-8 realm.....also, in the nature of recovery, there will just be some bad days..

I def. don't drink any carbonated drinks or anything that will cause excessive gas . I do however have my one cup of coffee in the morning and it doesn't seem to bother me. Also, I don't hold it. When I have to go I go. I use my upstairs bathroom because that is where my bidet is at and there are times when I barely make it there in time. Evenings are definately worse for me. I don't have the pain you guys are having and I hope it eases up for sure for you.

Thanks for all the support, im definitely going to think about my intake now in terms of gas

I'm 8 years out and have been sleeping through the night for 7 of those years. I know that I'm lucky, but I really only have problems when I'm bad. Beer and salsa are my worst problems, but that's to be expected. I treat it like a hangover, it's sometimes worth it.

Good luck with getting a full night sleep.