I'm having a lot of trouble getting it all out when I go to the bathroom. I can't even get out the bathroom door before I feel like I need to go again, and when I go back nothing to very little actually comes out.
The trouble first started about a year ago, and at that time, my solution was straining...a lot! By February of this year I developed a pouch prolapse for obvious reasons. Because I was still having difficulties voiding, and because I was reluctant to go to a physician at first, I tried to solve my problem myself by, instead of straining, manipulating my abdominal muscles to pull air into my pouch and then use the air to force out any remaining stool without prolapsing. It's kind of like forcing a burp on purpose, or like when you burp, but can tell you've still got air in your chest, you pull air in to burp on purpose to force the rest of the air out.
Anyway, I went to see my surgeon who ended up diagnosing the prolapse on the toilet (as others on here have mentioned). He recommended a laproscopic pouch plexy surgery to correct it. He explained that the prolapse could significantly damage surrounding nerves and lead to incontinence down the road if it wasn't corrected. He also explained that prolapses are very very rare, but when they do occur, they typically develop at least a year out from when the original j-pouch surgery was performed. He also said, that they don't actually have an official stance on why they develop, but he sides with the group that feels that it is related to the fact that those patients who develop prolapse do not form significant amounts of scar tissue post-surgery, which is needed to hold the pouch in place.
So in March I had the surgery, but within a week, the prolapse had recurred. I returned to my surgeon, who confirmed that the surgery had failed. However, he explained that because I would still be significantly edematous from the surgery, they would not be able to try again for another 3 months. I therefore scheduled the surgery for June, and proceeded with my contortion technique for the next three months with the small hope that the next surgery would eliminate the need for it (after all, for that one week post-surgery I was contortion-free). Needless to say, I sunk into a pretty dark depression this spring.
In June, I had the surgery again, open this time rather than laproscopic, and thus far, I am prolapse-free (it puckers a little, but doesn't prolapse...I guess that's success huh?). However, I am still needing to do that weird contortion thing to void enough that I'm actually able to leave the bathroom.
Is it possible that anyone out there is having this happen?
Does anyone think there's maybe a possible solution?...because it looks like surgery can't fix it.
And, besides that, I'm concerned that by doing this, I'm dilating, or stretching my pouch, which might cause another prolapse down the road.
Can anyone help? even diet advice would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Marcy
colectomy-->ileostomy on July 3, 2008
ileo-anal anastomosis (j-pouch) & ileostomy on December 12, 2008
Take-down on June 23, 2009
laproscopic pouch-plexy on March 20, 2012
open pouch-plexy on June 19, 2012
The trouble first started about a year ago, and at that time, my solution was straining...a lot! By February of this year I developed a pouch prolapse for obvious reasons. Because I was still having difficulties voiding, and because I was reluctant to go to a physician at first, I tried to solve my problem myself by, instead of straining, manipulating my abdominal muscles to pull air into my pouch and then use the air to force out any remaining stool without prolapsing. It's kind of like forcing a burp on purpose, or like when you burp, but can tell you've still got air in your chest, you pull air in to burp on purpose to force the rest of the air out.
Anyway, I went to see my surgeon who ended up diagnosing the prolapse on the toilet (as others on here have mentioned). He recommended a laproscopic pouch plexy surgery to correct it. He explained that the prolapse could significantly damage surrounding nerves and lead to incontinence down the road if it wasn't corrected. He also explained that prolapses are very very rare, but when they do occur, they typically develop at least a year out from when the original j-pouch surgery was performed. He also said, that they don't actually have an official stance on why they develop, but he sides with the group that feels that it is related to the fact that those patients who develop prolapse do not form significant amounts of scar tissue post-surgery, which is needed to hold the pouch in place.
So in March I had the surgery, but within a week, the prolapse had recurred. I returned to my surgeon, who confirmed that the surgery had failed. However, he explained that because I would still be significantly edematous from the surgery, they would not be able to try again for another 3 months. I therefore scheduled the surgery for June, and proceeded with my contortion technique for the next three months with the small hope that the next surgery would eliminate the need for it (after all, for that one week post-surgery I was contortion-free). Needless to say, I sunk into a pretty dark depression this spring.
In June, I had the surgery again, open this time rather than laproscopic, and thus far, I am prolapse-free (it puckers a little, but doesn't prolapse...I guess that's success huh?). However, I am still needing to do that weird contortion thing to void enough that I'm actually able to leave the bathroom.
Is it possible that anyone out there is having this happen?
Does anyone think there's maybe a possible solution?...because it looks like surgery can't fix it.
And, besides that, I'm concerned that by doing this, I'm dilating, or stretching my pouch, which might cause another prolapse down the road.
Can anyone help? even diet advice would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Marcy
colectomy-->ileostomy on July 3, 2008
ileo-anal anastomosis (j-pouch) & ileostomy on December 12, 2008
Take-down on June 23, 2009
laproscopic pouch-plexy on March 20, 2012
open pouch-plexy on June 19, 2012