what can i do?

I am a 57 year old female.  When I was expecting my 1st child age 17 my bowels stopped working.  For years I was able to take laxatives and have a bowel movement and afterwards I felt well but over the years it takes more and more laxatives befor I have a movement and I feel terrible after.  Endoscomy & colonoscopy showed 2 ulcers, diverticulitis on right side and hiatus hernia. I also have burning pain on right side and constantly feel as if I have a stomach bug.  Pain travels down my right leg now, due to pressure I think.  I have IBS and after bowel movement get bowel colic.  Need to take up to 12 laxatives sometimes over 3 or 4 days before they work.
I eat fruit and veg till its coming out of my ears and am very active.
I have tried various alternative medicines (homeopathy, chinese herbs, colonic irrigation etc.)but nothing seems to work.  
quite often I get a crawling sensation on my right side.
about 20 years ago I had a minor operation to remove fibroids and took an infection afterwards.  
The next week I went on holiday to Spain and ended up in hospital.  They gave me a letter to take to my own GP and said the tests were to be repeated but as the letter was in Spanish my doctor ignored it.  Ever since then I got worse.  That is when the crawling sensation came and I felt worse after a bowel movement.
i feel that I dont enjoy life as I constantly feel ill.My bowel movements are soft when I eventually go to the toilet and usually finish with diarhoea.
i now have arthritis and think this is because my system is poisoned.  I also have developed food intolerance to milk, wheat, sugar,yeast and  some aerosoles.
I have stopped drinking tea, coffee and cola drinks.
If I only eat salads and fruit and drink fruit juice I feel better but it doesnt affect the constipation.
i am at my wits end.  Do you have any idea what caused the bowel to stop working in the first place and is there anything else I can do to make it work.  I am active and take excersise.

[Kevin Pho, MD]

Difficult to say without evaluation.

The upper and lower endoscopy would rule out many of the major causes.  You can consider more specialized causes of constipation - looking at bowel motility.  Fecal defacography and an anorectal ultrasound can be considered.  

If the constipation continues in light of negative testing you can consider a medication like Zelnorm - which has shown some efficacy for constipation-predominant IBS.

These options can be discussed with your personal physician.

Followup with your personal physician is essential.

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - the information presented is for patient education only. Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Kevin, M.D.
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