Diet for Colonic Inertia

Well I have been officially diagnosed with colonic inertia. The sitz marker xrays show that my stomach and small intestine are working but my large intestine is not.It is slow and sluggish which is causing the constipation and could have been the cause of why my colon has now become tortuous ( long and "loopy").  From the xrays they showed the rings passed through everything then stayed in the large intestine. They could still see atleast 19 rings in the large intestine out of 24 in the 3rd xray.

My options ..

He spoke with my GI dr  (ugh) and she suggested I see a constipation specialist at her facility who has access to drugs not commonly prescribed etc. and might be able to come up with a solution for me instead of surgery. He feels I should see him and pretty much see what he has to say and experiment so to say to see if anything helps me. The thing that upsets me about this option is that my GI dr never once recommended this "constipation specialist" to me over the last couple of years I have been going there and now that I have seeked another opinion outside of their facility they are trying to get me to go back there. I am done going through all these tests. Not to mention the last experimental drug they put me on made me so sick I ended up missing a week of work and even leaving work early cause it made me feel like I had the flu. Laxatives have the same effect on me as they make the colon try to work and just make me sick in the process. Me and my husband both personally do not agree with this option even though the surgeon feels I should give it a shot.

My other option is the total colectomy surgery where they would remove my large intestine and attach my small intestine to my rectum. This would require no bag. And I am a candidate for this surgery because my small intestine is still working. That is another reason he had me do these xrays. Not only to see if my large intestine was working but to also see that the small intestine was working.He did say that a majority of the people who have this surgery live happier lives. He did say it is a major surgery though and that with every major surgery there are complications etc.

He suggests that I see the constipation specialist and if I am not happy have the surgery. I personal am ready to stop having a million tests and pills shoved in my body and just get rid of the problem. My husband strongly agrees with me as I have been going through this for almost 6 years now.

I am gonna think about it all over the long weekend and then make a decision. I am leaning towards surgery.

In the mean time does anyone else have colonic inertia with a tortuous colon? Any particular diet you are on (I no longer eat dairy, red meat)? Medications you are on etc (other then Miralax which I am already on or amitiza that makes me sick) ?

[patient915]

I also have colonic inertia and a tortuous colon, but I have small intestine, stomach, and rectal problems too so my case is a little different from yours.  For the constipation I have tried Miralax, Milk of Magnesia, Magnesium Citrate, Docusate, Doculax, Senokot, Lactulose, Amitiza, and probably some others that I am forgetting.  I am tube fed so my diet doesn't really apply.

[CalGal]

I can't comment about a diet, but you may also want to read some of the posts by Morecambe who had his large intestine removed for reasons other than constipation. His posts will give you some information that may help if/when you do have your large intestine removed since taking that organ 'out of the loop' will produce changes that may involve copious output of fecal material.

[ng1031]

Thank you so much for the feedback,... out of the meds you listed were any of them dr prescribed? I recognize a couple of the over the counter ones I have tried (Miralax, Milk of Magnesium, Magnesium Citrate, Duculax etc). And I have been prescribed Amitiza only for it to make extremely sick. Just wondering what possible drugs this specialist could possibly have that other doctors cant prescribe. I dont want to be a guinea pig and be trying stuff that is not safe. I dont want my condition to become worse because of them where I cant later have surgery etc.

[ng1031]

Thanks CalGal - I actually have been discussing the surgery with Morecambe in another forum regarding the surgery in general. I am hoping to find people on here with the same condition as me to see if they have found other ways to help their condition other then surgery. I feel there really is no other option at this point as I have had a million tests done on me and have tried so many different constipation products, drugs fibers etc.(my story here: http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Gastroenterology/Tortuous-Colon/show/1535243#post_7437935) I dont want to waste more time, money etc with seeing this specialist if surgery is really the best bet for me.

[patient915]

Amitiza and Lactulose were the only ones that needed a prescription.  Amitiza makes some people very sick.  Things like milk of magnesia won't make your condition worse.

[ng1031]

Thank you. I am trying to find out if there are really that many choices out there prescription wise that this specialist could possibly give to me that has not already been tried etc. So far I havent been able to find anything, another reason I am leaning towards surgery. Apparently there is no cure other then surgery since my colon is not working. Medication would only be temporary fix etc.