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Hello Ladies,

I'll give you a brief history. Diagnosed with UC in 2009. Tried all meds, never any remission. I had a really bad flare in nov. 2011. Hospitilized for 10 days and released way before I was ready. I ended up on Remicade every 8 weeks which in the beginning helped tremendously. Skip to October 2012, I went from being on a regular dose, to a double dose every 4 weeks to no avail. I ended up with a rectovaginal fistula and abscess.

One month later I had a total colectomy with end illeostomy. My diagnoses was now possibly Crohns but when the pathology came back from the Cleveland Clinic it was still UC. Yay, small victory. In march 2013 I had a hand sewn J pouch made with a diverted loop ileo. I was supposed to be all reconnected by may 31st. Never happened. I'd been having a lot familiar pain. On may 31st, they drained a new abscess and discovered that it was caused by a small leak in the pouch which caused a new fistula and abscess. The original rectovaginal fistula & abscess had healed at least. I had a mushroom drain placed. In June, excessive landed me back in OR, removed the drain, one week later 104F fever landed me back in the OR, drain abscess new mushroom drain. Also surgeon suspected hidden abscess that he couldn't find nor was it detectable on CT scans.

August 2, back to the OR, with excessive pain, different surgeon moved drain into the fistula, after a week in the hospital I returned home. After 30 hours of being home I began to feel familiarly very ill. 104F fever, rushed to ER, blood pressure plummeted to 77/33. Rushed to Cleveland from buffalo with an ever growing giant abscess on my butt. Worse ride ever! Back into the OR where the hidden abscess was finally found. Unfortunately it had become huge. They opted to take out the mushroom drain and put it four setons.
Since then I've had 5 more surgeries scraping infected tissue out and opening up a surgically made hole in my left bum cheek where the setons come out to meet the other ends of them that come out of my rectum and tied in a knot outside my body.

Good news is the cavity and fistula are now finally shrinking and I think I see a tiny light at the end of this stupid tunnelSmiler

Ok so it wasn't a quick history but I tried.

My question is, I know that I, as well as many women with pouches have awful periods. I also was having tremendous pain during ovulation. I have a history of a ovarian cysts. I started the birth control pill in October to shorten my periods/pain, and to squash the pain I was having during ovulation. I no longer ovulate due to the pill, but I'm having worsening pain every month during this time. I'm up all hours of the night with severe pelvic pulsating pain that spasms right down to my rectum and seton hole, and awful pouch spasms. it feels as though my rectum and vagina and everything in it are pushing to get out. The pressure down there is awful. This is the 6th day/night I've been in agony. Unless I take hospital doses of Percocet, valium and dilaudid I can't walk, sit or lay down without wanting to cry. Which I did this morning for an hour. This use to last only a few days. I'm 33, I have two young children and I am always sick or sore or recovering from surgery. I am scheduled to have an ultrasound today. I have history of ovarian cysts, but my GYN couldn't feel anything in there. I felt the pain though.

Does anyone else have this problem? If so, is there anything you can do about it. I'm told once I am reconnected, this will no longer be an issue. My biggest fear is that I go through all of this to save my pouch and then still have the same problems. Not to mention all the new ones that I'll have. (Butt burn, living in the bathroom at first, etc.)

Sorry that this post is so long. I just need some guidance.

Thanks for listening.
Jennifer

Replies sorted oldest to newest

What you are experiencing seems far outside any the normal menstrual pains we might expect to have. I would suspect that you have adhesions on or near your uterus, tubes, and ovaries. The typical exam probably cannot discern these. Perhaps you even have endometriosis. Has that possibility been entertained by your GYN?
http://womenshealth.gov/public...t/endometriosis.html

The ultrasound might shed light on this, but I am not sure. I certainly can understand why you would not be interested in considering a hysterectomy, but you may as well think of it as a possible conclusion. Certainly no way to live, especially with a family to raise!

I suppose it could be due to all of the infection, but still, pelvic infections also affect the pelvic organs. Good luck with the ultrasound.

Jan Smiler
Jan Dollar
Thanks Jan,

My ultrasound today didn't reveal anything unusual. No real signs of cysts or anything. I have thought about adhesions and endometriosis. We were trying to rule out the cysts and now we'll go from here. She said that they'd have to use a different method to detect adhesions or endometriosis.

At least I can cross that off the list and move on to the next tests.

Thank you for reponding. I'm just trying to figure out what is normal and what isn't in these cases. I appreciate your feedback.

Thank you.
J
Hi Jenhh, I don't really have much by the way of suggestions for you, but I came across your post and wanted to say that I'll be thinking of you.

It sounds like you've had more than your fair share of issues, and it is horrible that you're experiencing so much pain and discomfort - I'm so sorry the pain makes you cry. With a young family you are under a lot of stress right now, and this just plain sucks.

I'm glad your doctor is looking into possible issues, please keep us updated.

Big hugs to you Smiler
P
Hi PoucherinTO,

Thank you. Your reply means a lot. I'm going to see my GI who I haven't seen in a while. They have an osteopath on staff and I'm hoping that perhaps she could shed some light on adhesions and things like that without having any exploratory surgery. It's worth a shot. Thanks for replying, both you and Jan. Sometimes just knowing you are not alone means so much.

Take good care ladiesSmiler
J
Hello Ladies

I'm am feeling better. I'm only waking 2-3 times a night with spasm and my days have been better also. It took 7 days to go away this time. I spoke to my Dr. and he said they don't like to do surgery for pain, because it usually creates more pain. This makes sense to me. Or now I have my little journal and will keep tract of when it happens during my cycle.

Haven't heard back from my GYN yet. At this point I'm just happy to be feeling better and up and around againSmiler

Thanks for you're support,
Jennifer
J
I also have a pouch and started to get similar pains to what you describe. I went through endless tests on my bowel as although the pain linked to my cycle it was not like period pain, the pain was like the pouch stopped working for a day or two and everything got blocked. 2 days of not going for a normal person wouldn't be a problem, but for a pouchie, it's agony! It turned out to be endometriosis. I have had a hysterectomy and can bit tell you the change in quality of life, it's well worth the extra surgery, but getting that diagnosis took almost 5 years
J

Jenhh,

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I've been having the same pain during my menstrual cycle and when I'm ovulating. I was on birth control to limit the amount of periods I would have and then given a script for narcotics but I had to stop taking birth control due to some bad reactions. My gynecologist thinks my pain might be due to scar tissue from my intestinal surgeries but says there is no way to know for sure without doing exploratory surgery which would cause more scar tissue. I'm only 20 years old so a hysterectomy is definitely not something I want to even consider. If you get any answers from your doctor I would really appreciate it if you could pass them along to me. None of my doctors have come up with any definitive answers or solutions and I'm getting a bit desperate. I hope you continue to feel better!

Kris10

Hi Jenhh,

I was just reading your posts and the awful journey that you have been going through...first off, how are you doing with the abscesses? Where are you at with the stentons?

Next, when in my 30's and suffering from impossible period and outside my period pain they gave me alternate diagnosys of endometriosis, ovarian cysts and finally after a hysterosapinograph they found a blocked and infected tube. (salpangitis)

They put me on industrial strength antibiotics + pain meds to carry me for 3 months and then surgery to opacify (sp?) the tube (cut it open and clean it out then leave it to heal)...after which they put me on progesterone for 3 years to allow my ovaries to rest (and stop building cysts)...they never really found any signs of endometreosis but just a couple of adhesions that they snipped (and took advantage to put my pouch back up on the wall. I have a k pouch that is attached to the abdomen with an outside stoma).

The opacification and 'sleeping ovaries' helped immensly...no more pain.

Since you already have kids and may not be interested in having more, this could be the alternative to a full blown hysterectomy. 

I can't really remember exactly but I don't  think that my period came back as strong or as painful afterwards...

Downside was that I put on a 10lbs that slid off as soon as I stopped the progesterone.

Hope that you find the solution

Sharon

skn69

Hi Jenhh

I've had my pouch for over 30 years now and certainly never had the horrible time you are having. However, I had my surgery after the birth of my first child and several years later my periods were getting longer, more painful and heavier. I went to see my GYN and said something that sounds very archaic but makes sense when given some thought. Basically, my problem would no longer bother me once I had another child. He knew I was wanting to fall pregnant again, once I got my pouch issues sorted out, and so this was a 'simpler' solution to invasive tests etc.

Now, I am a big believer in Hunter/Gather theory and that the humans have adapted over many thousands of years to this lifestyle. (For instance, why men can't find anything and why women have problems reading maps belongs in this area of theory) ......it is only in the last 100 odd years have we had the option of birth control and also choosing to have our babies later than our grandparents did. Before 'modern' times, women had children far earlier and more frequently...of course we all got old a heck of a lot quicker and had far more deaths in childbirth...but, you can get the gist of what I'm trying to say.

 

In the 60's and 70's it was common for women to have Dilatation and Curettage (D&C) when they had problems with bleeding. My mother had 2 of these that I remember. (She's now 92 so that gives you a time frame) This no longer occurs as frequently and only for specific problems.

 

After this long spiel, my suggestion is for you to ask your doctor if this could possibly help and is it worth considering. The link below gives a much better explanation than I can. It's only a suggestion but I thought it should be mentioned to give you the option of exploring its worth.

 

http://www.betterhealth.vic.go...tation_and_curettage

Goentropo

Goentropo,

You are so right.

My old Gyn told me that women were not built to have monthly periods for 35-40 yrs.

We were meant to be pregnant every year or so from puberty to menopause meaning that most women only had about 3-6 periods ever year or 2...

Case in point, my late mother-in-law raised 12 children (ouch!) but had over 18 pregnancies (6 late-term miscarriages and stilbirths) not counting all of the early miscarriages...meaing from around 16-50 she did not have a lot of periods.

Doc also suggested pregnancy as a cure for a lot of problems including ovarian cysts...they still do D&Cs  regularly in Canada to this day for heavy periods.

Sometimes the old medicine is still the best.

 

skn69

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