Problems with bowel movements as well as back pain

Is your stool thick or loose? If it is thick, you should probably drink fruit juice, or take non-purgative laxatives, like Miralax or lactulose, to keep it loose and moving. If you are taking bowel slowers, you should stop. The focus should be on comfort and function, not number of trips to the toilet. I'm sure you know that straining is counter productive.

I believe you have known pouch structural issues (correct me if I am wrong), so this will be ongoing until that is addressed.

Jan

Stool is loose. I have been waiting 3 years for surgery, and very little action. I am on a waiting list for a bag (ileostomy).

If the ileostomy clears things up, then we know I have a mechanical problem with my pouch, leading to additional surgery.

I do have pouch issues, and the last week has been hell. I no longer know what to do because I have not felt this way for quite a while.

The wait is frustrating. No idea of when surgery will take place.

The only thing I can think of is perhaps your sphincters are not relaxing correctly. You may need biofeedback retraining for this. This comes to mind because your stool is loose, so gravity should be enough with some minor bearing down to relax that internal sphincter. Have you tried simple warm tap water enema rinses to get things going? It might help empty properly and also reduce frequency from inadequate emptying. Just a thought... Something to consider while waiting for surgery and maybe you won't need it!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2780204/

But, I think you've had a defagram and anal manonmetry, correct? Those should have revealed pelvic floor and sphincter dysfunction.

Jan

I like a looser stool as I don't have to strain. I find if I stand up while over the stool for a bit I go more of it. I also bend over while sitting there for 30 seconds or so and I usually then pass more gas with some BM. That or get up an walk around 5-10 minutes and it's ready to finish emptied.

What is the hold up on your surgery? That's 3 years of suffering you should not have had to endure!

I've experienced. might be scar tissue there. possible bowel obstruction. I got sick off and on sometimes throwing up. told bowel construction can correct itself so thought to be that was what happen but then it didn't. got really sick. can lead to very serious problems. I didn't go to dr. right away b/c I thought I had a stomach virus but everybody else was getting well but not me. hope you get relief soon. I know it is very frustrating.

well solomin I only looked at question /sent a post/went back and saw it was you. wow, if they know for sure what is needed I can't believe you have to keep suffering. I know what that is like with no answers. I quess if you are going to the bag it won't matter but I was told not to strain b/c it can cause pouch to prolapse. So sorry you are still suffering. I have been off site for awhile. even being on it causes stress for me.

maybe a stricture?

have you ever had a defecogram? and mamometry test? If not.. surely seems like you should.

and why the long wait for a diverting ileostomy? Its not that big of a surgery.

The wait is long because of politics; I was completely ignored by one of the surgeons at one of the major hospitals here in Montreal. He claimed he could not due the recommended surgery, but refused to provide alternatives (i.e. other surgeons). Without him recommending other surgeons, the Quebec government will not pay for surgery.

I wasted over 2 years with the hospital and surgeon. I got fed up and filed a complaint with the hospital ombudsman.

This was done October 16, 2012. I received a letter stating that an answer would be forthcoming within 45 days.

It is now March 2, 2013, and still no letter from hospital.

The ombudsman does not care. The office of the ombudsman is supposed to be the advocate on behalf of the patient.

I followed up asking who else I can write to. The office responded with names, but conveniently ,mentioned that they don't know the postal (zip) code of the hospital where they are employed.

I will never get a response to my complaint and the office of the ombudsman is absolutely useless. All this is a stall tactic. How can someone hold a position for several years at a hospital and not know the postal code when all papers and letter heads contain it? Iy's total bull****.

This hospital (in particular the colorectal surgical department) refuses to have anything to do with me because I filed a complaint against one of their own.

This hospital dumped my file on another hospital and told me to get lost.

If I go public, I lose the possibility of having surgery elsewhere in Quebec.

So, I have no choice buy to continue to suffer until I have the surgery, for which the current hospital cannot provide a date.

By the way, all this is documented and I have all correspondence in writing.

-Solomin

I'm sure you've done all you can to fight this. I have a few thoughts that probably won't help. I'm writing them out just in case one might help.

I know nothing about the laws there but am wondering if you can hire an attorney to sue them. There could be punitive damages that your attorney can get paid from, if hired on a contingency basis. In order to win you would need a second opinion but I believe your attorney could get to that too, possibly have the files analyzed by experts here in the USA.

Do you have political representatives, like our congresspeople or senators? I'd start contacting them all, calls, letters, emails, petitions etc.

If you moved to a different providence could the physicians there request your records from these jerks? In the USA we can change doctors by going to a new one and signing a form to transfer our files from our former doctor to our new one. Plus we are entitled to see, have a copy, of our files. It would be interesting to find out what exactly is in your files. If you go to see another doctor for a different problem, like your heart or new GP for examples, can they request records from your jerk doctors?

Please don't feel like you need to write me back telling me why all the above won't work. Like I said I'm throwing out some ideas that probably won't work for you but just in case one might.

I've had to suffer so much with all of my medical problems and have needed to change doctors and get second opinions. I didn't realize how lucky I was to be able to do that.

I might be able to do something, but unfortunately if I make any noise whatsoever, I face being blackballed by all the hospitals (in Quebec) and then nobody would operate on me.

I could challenge the hospitals in the court system, but these hospitals have unlimited funds while there is no guarantee I would win anything, and again I would not end up having a surgeon.

The media is interested in my story, but I cannot jeopardize pending surgery.

-Solomin

Then I hope Jan's suggestions help you and relieve your straining. I believe if you strain too hard your j-pouch can prolapse and that sounds like horrible pain to me

Hi Salomin,

I don't know if this is still a relevant post but here's my suggestion to you. I've had the J-Pouch surgery in 1992 and I had the same issue you described with very little (liquid to PB textured) feces coming out no matter how hard I'd tried. My surgeon suggested that the autonomous nerve linking my internal anal sphincter to the brain had possibly been cut during the J-pouch operation. He prescribed the use of a catheter (every time I felt the"push") to empty out the pouch. Using a huge seringue and distilled water, I was able to liquify the stool enough to empty my pouch and have a comfortable 2-5 hour break in between each defecating (d) session. That was a great relief that lasted nearly 2 years…

In the meantime, I wanted to be free of the all that paraphernalia I had to carry around (like an emergency bag) everywhere I went so I got back to my surgeon and asked if an other avenue could lead to freedom. He proposed biofeedback. I tried for 12 weeks but had little to no effect however hard I tried at the clinic and at home with the kegel exercises and so forth. But afterwords, I never quite understood how biofeedback could work train a muscle on which I supposedly have no control????

One day, on a normal "d session", just before inserting the catheter inside, I had the idea of pushing hard with a closed fist into my stomach (in the general area of the j-pouch) while banding forward. To my astonishment, I almost emptied the pouch entirely in one push/bend motion. I repeated a few more time and all came out, gas last. Wow, that was a happy moment!

Now, 20 years or so later, I still repeat the same movement (~6 X/day) but it started putting a toll on my right shoulder/arm and hand (the one I use to push into my stomach)and possibly my lower back (that gets all the pressure) I have to think of yet another way to deal with this issue. I'm not saying that this movement would affect anyone else the same way, but I guess that it depends on how hard and how long you push into your stomach…

Anyhow, if someone comes across this post I'd like to know what would be your suggestion to deal with my non responding internal sphincter issue.

Thanks