Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
199882 tn?1310184542

embarrased - please help

Hi all,
Well, just when I thought I've had the worst of it something else happens to prove me wrong.  This is so embarrassing that if your a guy please don't gross out, okay?  

I've always had a lot of problems controlling my bladder and I have to wear the poise panties all the time, or else I would be doing laundry like 20 times a day.lol  Now though, it's even worse than that.  I don't seem to have bowel control.  The weird thing is I don't even know that I have done it until I go to the restroom..

Why can't I feel anything?  Even a little tummy cramp or the actual act of going potty.  I am so embarrassed that I refuse to leave the house.  I have a doctor's appointment on Jan. 3, but I'm freaking out now.

Also, can someone tell me what the withdraws are for Cymbalta.  I quit cold turkey.  It wasn't by choice either..

I'm really in a bind hear ya'll.  What can I do?  If anyone suggest crying then don't worry because that's all I've been doing since  Saturday.

I'm really scared here so any suggestions will help.  I love ya'll so much and  please have a very Merry Christmas and  a Happy New Year.

I'll be praying,
Carol
28 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
220917 tn?1309784481
Hi, Lise!

Excellent advice!  Thanks for chiming in!

Take care,

Momzilla*
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I haven't read the whole queue, so maybe someone has discussed this already, but I have finally, after 3 years of problems, solved most of my bowel problems.

I was having "accidents" on a regular basis. I'd be constipated for a few days or more, then whoops, everything let loose.  

Today, I have an accident once in awhile, like every 2-3 months. Small ones, because I'm not as constipated as I was.

Basically, I did several things.

1)  I started seeing a nutritionist and I'm following her advice. With significantly more fiber in my diet, I'm much more regular. Still some constipation, but never like it was before.

2)  I started mindful meditation, and I find that it helps. I "visualize" my bowels relaxing and it seems to work about 1/2 the time. I do this when I start to feel bloated... usually a sign.

3)  I exercise. I got a special exercise for MS CD from Toronto Rehab, and use it 3 times a week. I find that I often have to "go" shortly after the workout.  

Although I started all these pretty much at the same time, the diet helped the most.  

Plus, I have far fewer spasms since I started the diet. I used to miss work on bad spasm days.. at least once a month. I stopped having these bad days about 2-3 weeks after I started the diet.  And I know it's the diet because I stopped for awhile and the cramps came back real fast... and left just as fast when I got back into proper eating.

I hope some of this helps.

Lise
Helpful - 0
220917 tn?1309784481
Hey, Granny-to-be---again!  Congrats!  Talk about glad tidings of great joy!  I'm happy things are going well for your daughter.

I'm late to the conversation, but wanted to put my two cents in.  I'm sorry for all you've been through in 2007.  WOW.  Like I've said to too many this past year:  This is NOT a contest.  There is no prize at the end, honey.  (Except maybe T-Lynn's handsome doctor!)  PLEASE stop this, Carol!  You have to slow down with the agony.  You, T-Lynn, Sheila and Craig are vying for some twisted trophy that none of you really wants, do you?  Tee hee!  There are others I'm probably forgetting...

Anyway, you've gotten great responses from all the smarty pants on the forum. You don't need advice from me.  I wouldn't know what to say, anyway.  I just hope you feel better very soon, that the advice works and you don't ever feel embarrassed to talk about anything here.  You know that!

Love and hugs!  No gentle ones.  Big smashing ones....I know how tough you are!

Zilla*
Helpful - 0
199882 tn?1310184542
Riddick,  You ain't a kiddin.  I sure do remember what that feels like and I can't wait for that to happen to me either.  Thanks, that did bring a smile to my face.

Quix,  Thank you so much for actually putting that in my language instead of a doctors.  Maybe that's a benefit of being a pediatrician.  You sorta have to explain it so the kiddos will understand.  I wish I where a kid and you where my doctor right about now.  I sure would feel a lot better about things.lol

I'm sure that's exactly what is happening to me but the biggest problem is I don't really have those urges.  I do remember what it felt like to have to go potty and I don't get that feeling any more.  I'm completely numb.  Usually every couple of weeks my daughter gives me an enema and I almost always go a little but never like Riddick explained it.lol

I don't know how to explain it any better than that other than I think it's probably what someone who is paralyzed goes through.  I'm sure they don't feel when they need to go.  I'm probably wrong here because I really don't have a clue what they feel.  I'm just trying to make you understand that if you took a big needle and poked around my bottom, even inside a little ways, I wouldn't feel it.

Now I'm sorry I'm being so graphic.  A few times I tell my doctor it's time to go and he admits me into the hospital and they do however many enemas it takes for me to go.  They use some type of tube that is inserted inside and I guess they sorta flush me out.  Quix, do you know what I'm talking about.

It's just so embarrassing that I will wait way to long to tell him.  I am going to discuss this issue with him in depth on the 3rd.  Quix sorta gave me a scare about it all.  Nothing bad, Quix, just stuff I needed to hear.

I thank all of you that gave me advice. Kathy, Sally, Needsanswers,  and the rest of you.  My dear, dear, friends who can make an unpleasant topic such as this a whole lot easier to talk about.  Thank you all and I love every one of you.

I'll be praying,
Carol
Helpful - 0
340479 tn?1207681200
I am so glad I came on tonight!! Wow! to see my exact problems to stated right here in front of me was wild. For years I have had bowel problems for years, even before being diagnoised, told it was my diet,my life style, having a baby, you name it I've been told it. Anyway, it has become much worse and have yet to get my neuro to that yes it is related to my MS. Well, being the stubborn person I am I actively stearted trying different things to TRY to get this promble somwhat under control, yea right! Anyway, I take stool softner every day & have found the greatest product called ColenClense, at Walmart. Take that daily & it does pretty well. I still get the constipation & sometimes have to use extreme measures but ..... you do what you have to. I know my meds don't help the matter any at all.
Just wanted you all to know I did learn some new info here tonight & am so greatful that I found this forum!! It helps to be able to say these things & someone really understands!! It's great!
GrannyHotWheels hope you can get you some help soon , I really feel for you & will keep you in my prayers.
nanadee
Helpful - 0
147426 tn?1317265632
Sally is correct.  I got tired and ended my expalnation before I stated the following:

The problem with stoll backing up and just sitting there also can be neurological.  The muscles may just not be doing their jobs, they may be weak  and unable to move the mass, they may be discoordinated so the sections of muscle in the colon push against each other.  Also the anal sphincter may be overly stimulated and in chronic spasm not allowing any stool to "exit."

But, the symptom of very rare movements coupled with the appearance of lumps and "skid marks" in the shorts or panties, suggest that a good deal of the problem is what I described above.

Thanks for asking about the clarification.  I was working off the top of my head and not off notes.

Quix
Helpful - 0
369643 tn?1199795591
It aint as bad as this all thre time by the way, but is is small and often

fergot to mention the RING STING  lol,  

David.
Helpful - 0
369643 tn?1199795591
Sorry if this is too much information, but just wanted to say it like it was

David.
Helpful - 0
369643 tn?1199795591
WOW what an article, Carol i dont normally respond to questions at the moment as i am all new to this and dont even know what is going on with me myself atb the moment, like everyone said no need to be embarrassed about it, i deeply sympathise with you in all of this as it must be awful for you

i hope you manage to get something sorted out with what is going on as i really feel for you in this situation, i am amazed at what i have read in this article and would love to sack my docs and take on quix instead she is amazing

well Carol i have the opposite problem but have picked up on some interesting things mentioned on here i have really bad constipation which hasb caused me many and embarrasing moments, i did not even like going places or being around others when this was happening as i was very paranoid about the whole thiong

i was very conscious that people would notice that i was having to frequenyt to the toilet constantly all the time and i have suffered by trying to hold myself or having to make up my excuses and dash off not a very nice thing to deal with whatsoever

although i felt like i needeed the toilet constantly and was really suffering holding it in when i got there well i was blowing off real bad wet farts, sometimes you would think there was a tommy gun going off hey not greatb in a public toilet especially when ya know its gonna blow and ya try ya hardest to let it out quietly i always tended to wait a little while afterwards giving others chance to get awayb so they didnt know it was me how awful

but hey feeling like i needed to go for a you know what but then just having wet farts an plenty of gas strange eh

not only that but when i want to go and i feel like it is there well the pressure is on i really strain and push veins bulging in my head yet the baby aint coming out for the life of me even though i nfeel its right there

after a good lengthy period putting the pressure on and giving it full guns next thoing ( pa ding ) and then you turn to see what looks like a raisin in the bottom of the pan, well going through all of that just for that and why do i feel like it was going to be something more than that yet thats all it was making me feel i was desperate to go

not just that sometimes i go and you manage to start getting it out but then it stops there the thing is thatb it is there just it aint coming and you have to try get rid of what is there and yes you can guess you know it is going to be one of those smeary babies

half a toilet roll later and a flush inbetween because you dont want to block the bog, but yet it seems as much as you wipe you still manage to smear that paper, you manage to get clean and feel like ya still need to go

next time it happens think about me putting on the pressure and looking like my heads gonna blow off i hope this puts a smile on ya face, i lose count of how many times i have to go in a day and cant remember the last time i had a normal toilet small and frequent for me, yet i dream of the day when i feel i have just dropped a slippery log in one foul swoop with that lovely sigh of relief afterwards you know the on where you go ahhhh must be nice to go normally

bye Carol take care and hope you get better soon.
Helpful - 0
251222 tn?1270936117
Hi Carol, I just wanted to send cyberhugs for you!  I can relate to 'accidents' but not from the process you are dealing with.

Take care now

Jazzy
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I have the same problem with being able to afford my meds some of which are 400.00 a bottle!

I learned about the PPA you know that tv ad with Montel Williams? I got them to pay for some of mine. The web address is : www.freemedicinerevolution.com

If the doesn't work you can go to : www.pscard.com it is a discount card that I have and you can print it out on your computer and use it until they send the permanant on to you.

I priced it for you and with the card it drops it down to $119.57 I know it not much but as it was said above you can get a weeks supply and still get a discount.

You can use the print out card right then.
I know its not much but everything helps.

I am sorry your going through all of this ****!!!! I hope I helped even if it is only in a small way.

Your friend,
Kathy
Helpful - 0
195469 tn?1388322888
Wow...this is one response from Quix that needs to be put at the top of the list of the most important, informing posts, she has written.  She explains this EXAcTLY as my general practioner explained to me was happening to me.  EXACTLY, almost verbatim.

I am sorry S that I gave you the wrong information.  Please accept my apologies.  

My doctor says that my rectum stays so full that I have now develped a hemorrhoid that may need later treatment, just from all the straining.  She has put me on a stool softner to take DAILY and has told me "not to put off any signal to go, no matter where I am when I get that signal."  She told me exactly what Quix says, the rectum becomes distended and rather than go through discomfort of trying to go, I put it off.  I have come very, very close to having to go to the ER for manual extraction.  I am sorry for being so blunt, but this is what can happen.

In my case, it has been determined that the pain medication and medication for spasm control has caued this constipation.

Extra fluids along with the stool softner has helped a great deal.  Good old prune juice can keep things moving after you get rid of that initial hard stool.  Hey my grandmother drank a small glass every morning and the old bird lived into her 90's...so maybe our grandmother's knew more than we realized.

Good luck to you S.  Sounds like we are in the same boat...or would that be the same "potty predicament?"

Feel better, Heather
Helpful - 0
231441 tn?1333892766
Quix, thanks for your explanation.  Embarrassing topic yes! But quite critical.  This also explains why it is possible to go for days without anything happening, and then in one day to go and end up with diah. and a significant weight loss.

Is it also possible to have a problem with the muscles themselves, or just the overstretching?  In my case, its not usually hard (even after days), it just doesn't move.

This has been an issue for me for years.  Maybe originally something to do with the IBS (which pretty much resolved with gluten free).  But still ongoing.  Sometimes even though there is the urge to go nothing happens, though there are stools.  I can usually feel them if I touch the skin of the perineum and sometime can actually assist by pressing on it to manually getting things moving.

Maybe can also talk a little about bowel retraining....  this would be done after the constipation mass is resolved....

From my understanding this includes (and is what I'm trying to do):-
1. Never ignoring the urge to go (this can start the whole cycle again).
2. Having regular toilet schedule.  Ie. sit on the toilet for a good period in the morning thinking moving thoughts or reading (believe it or not, this really works, when applied diligently) - though i like to do sudoku while I ponder the world. Best time is 5 - 45 mins after eating, as eating stimulates bm.  For me, it is about 30 mins after drinking coffee.  Any time of the day can work, as long as it is consistent.
3. Adequate hydration (drinking enough is critical).
4. Adequate fibre to give soft bulky stools, may include taking a bulking agent.
5. Tummy massage (can do it yourself) - clockwise from your lower tummy right up to under the ribs, accross to the left and down.
6. Appropriate stool softeners if required.  Laxitives can make things worse.
7. Manual stimulation of the anus to get things moving.

Quix, did I miss something.  You might have some more input from your experie3nce with kids.

S
Helpful - 0
147426 tn?1317265632
I'm going to write about an idea I have about your "newest" and embarassing problem.  It is something I have seen many dozens of times in practice, and you gave me a couple clues about it.  I may be very wrong and I'll offer an alternative explanation, but the first is my best guess.  Your doctor would need to confirm if and deal with it.

The following is very graphic:  As if I was explaining something in the office.  However, it happens fars more often than any of you might think, and you with children should know about it.

**********

The basic problem is severe and gradually developing constipation.  There can be many causes for the constipation in the first place.  Meds, like narcotics or antihistamines, which slow or relax the intestines' normal motion are a prime culprit.  In small children the pain of a hard stool may make them "avoid" further BM's by squeezing everything together and doing the "Don't wanna potty" dance.  Dehydration from an illness can do it, too.  The initial cause doesn't really matter, except for preventing it from happening again.

What happens is this.  The bowel slows down and the person either ignores the urge a couple times maybe because of pain or meds (or, in the case of a child they "hold it in" until the urge passes - which we all know it will do.)  The lower colon begins to fill up with semihard stool and begins to stretch out of shape.  The colon continues to do it's main job, absorb the liquid out of the stool to firm it up for defecation, and move it gradually towards the "exit."  The stool higher up in the small intestine is completely watery.  During this phase the person notices that having a bowel movement becomes less frequent and much harder and often more painful to accomplish.  The column of hardening stool continues to back up and fill the large colon.  Carol, one of your clues was the ability to go only about twice a month.

The large colon still has some muscle action trying to work the colum of hard stool downward.  Eventually the massive column reaches and stretches the rectum and just above it.  At this point, you need to understand a little of the physiology of the area.  When a person with normal stools has a mass of stool in the rectum, the muscle stretches and signals the urge to go to the bathroom.  If the signal is obeyed, then the cycle repeats.  If the signal is not acted on the urge quiets, and reappears later, sometimes hours or days.  If that area is chronically overstretched, then the nerves that signal "the urge" are silenced (or ignored by the brain)  and there is no sense of fullness nor "need to go" sense of awareness in the brain.

When a person is in this state, they have few urges to go.  Sometimes they are able and often produce a large amount, but it is only a fraction of the amount waiting to exit.  They may have gas pains and cramps.  Sometimes they may have a little liquid stool squeeze around the mass and come out as a "liquid fart."  (I know, I can be so undelicate - but this is really important info for anyone with a colon)  The person can sometimes test themselves for this.  If you lie on your back and press down in a little circular motion just above your pubic area and in the lower and mid left side, can you feel a hard, maybe lumpy mass, that you can push a little back and forth?  If so, this is the backed up stool.  Pediatricians can always feel this, but it is harder in adults.

Now why the incontinence?  The column of hardened stool keeps moving downward, pushed by the muscles above, much like the movement of a glacier.  The rectum is too stretched to have any sensation and the sphincter muscles of the anus becomes desensitized, too.  Little clumps of the stool push out in smears and clumps.  Can the person help it?  Feel it?  Prevent it?  NOT AT ALL!  Things that make accidents more likely are 1) things that relax the muscles, 2) walking works mechanically to move the stool downward, 3)  straining against pain, or with effort.

Now, Needsanswers54 made some very good points.  The pelvis is a very cramped space and the mass of stool presses on the bladder.  In can prevent successful emptying of the bladder or it can cause incontinence from the outside pressure on the bladder.  In me, constipation prevents me from being able to urinate.

In MS the situation is far more complicated.  One of the factors causing the intial slowing of the bowel may be loss of nerve signal to parts of the colon, or a loss of tone in the anal sphincter that is designed to keep the stool in until the person is ready.  Also many of the meds used in MS can play games with the bowel habits, as we have already discussed.  Or, if the person has an overdistended bladder from neurologic retention, that may retard the movement of the stool downward also.

Okay, that is a very common thing that I saw every couple weeks in practice.  Diagnosis?  Palpation of the stool mass, and I liked to take a single "plain Xray" of the abdomen to see just how large and long the mass was.  It can reach all the way up the left colon across the top of the abdomen and down to the lower right!  I have seen a nine year old with a colon so stretched that the widest diameter was 27cm!  I had a 14 year old with a stool mass larger than a football and starting to calcify - become mineralized, he had been hiding the problem and his parent ignoring it or just punishing him for many years.  This was a problem that prompted a lot of beatings and child abuse.

The treatment varies with each gastroenterologist.  I often used mineral oil to soften it from above, then when the mineral oil appear in the panties I would start softening it from below.  The person then would either begin having several weeks of stool or it would have to be removed manually under sedation.

Carol - this is usually a solvable problem.  I hope that I haven't upset you by describing the process.  It happens all the time.  I know it happens to people with chronic diseases because I have heard the docs talking about it.

I am also possibly very wrong about what is happening to you, but it is still something you could ask your doctor.  Are you just so "backed up" that it is forcing it's way out and the "overstretched" muscles have stopped sending their signals?  It is easy to check for.  If this appears tp be the problem or if the doctor has never seen it before ask for a referral to a GI specialist.  Do not try to solve it with laxatives until the mass is soft enough to come out.  I'm very serious here.

Also, your meds may be playing a big role, but first you have to get the problem checked out and treated.  BTW - I never leave the house without a complete change of clothes, several reclosable sacks and a "bath in a bag to wash up if I have one of my (usually wet) accidents.  I know where you are coming from.  Please do not feel ashamed.

I hope this helps.  Quix
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
My dear Carol, my heart goes out to you.  I wish you could get with a doctor sooner and get some answers and relief.  

Just a few notes:  I had to stop Cymbalta cold turkey because the pharmacy would no longer give it to me because of the possible serotonin problem with the migraine meds that I am taking.  I, also, had noticed changes in my bowel habits at that time.  Of course, you mention that you had yours before.  But, perhaps the sudden medication disruption accentuated some problem you are having.  Also, it does sometimes happen that as people get older than either the urine does not flow until after a BM or visa-versa, particularly is there is some kind of nerve or support diminution going on.  

I have tried Depakote several times and that really throws me into a whammy big time that takes months for my system to straighten out.  Have you happened to have started or stopped any other meds prior to your problems?

You are very brave for bringing this subject up; and I know that there are probably many people out there with similar problems who are happy that someone spoke up and that they know that they are not alone.

And Quix makes a very valid point.  Every year the government seems to think that I have died and kicks me out of the drug program for many months.  I called around to my doctor's offices and found some samples that I could take for a while.  Of course, then there was the serotonin-syndrome worry and the pharmacy just denied me the pills and I could not reach the physician.  I have not returned back to the cymbalta because I did not want to have the same thing happen over again.  This is the reason I am afraid to try Lyrica.  They say that that is VERY bad to go off cold turkey.  And the way the insurance keeps getting messed-up I am too afraid to try it because of the payment problem and the possible side effects for which the neuro advised against me taking it in my case.  Anybody else have more input?
Helpful - 0
263804 tn?1451100757
Dear Carol,

I did not check up over here for long since I have take a new job in Dec, but it is really time consuming that make my son really unhappy. So I quit the job and back to normal. I am sorry to hear about your situation. But what we can do is to having support to each other. The professional friends will give you professional idea. The non-professional will give you some non-professional ideas. For me, what I can do is giving words of care. I am sorry that it might not be useful.

Anyway, take care. Since I login here, and I find a big group of kind-hearted people, I think I am already a member of this family.
Helpful - 0
147426 tn?1317265632
Hi, Hon.  I have a whole bunch to say, but alas, it is late and I'm pooped.  Tomorrow I start my steroid infusions (my neuro is going to be so mad I delayed them so I could get my gifts finished!  Oh, well..)  After I get home I'll talk to you about what might be happening, (I may know).  And, as usual, there is no topic that is too embarassing for this forum to tackle.  Haven't you noticed.  The men even waded in (hmmm....poor choice of words).  This problem knows no boundaries and is as embarassing for men as for women.

But, the Cymbalta - going off cold turkey is a BAD (read that BAD) idea.  If money is tight you can always buy just a week's worth from the pharmacy and they will hold it, and then try the other options of seeing if there are samples at the doc's.  Have the doc's front desk call the drug rep to see if he/she will bring some samples, or contact the drug company.  There are ways to get some.

I, too, hit the bubble as soon as I started the Avonex last summer (Bummer - hey! It rhymes!)  In 2008, I enter the bubble in February and have to pay over $4000 just for drugs by the beginning of April before "catastrophic" coverage kicks in.  So, I know the problem.  But, get ahold of your doc.

I'll talk about the "other" problem tomorrow night.

Quix
Helpful - 0
281565 tn?1295982683
Sorry I'm late in posting, but I was at my parents yesterday for xmas and didn't come home till today. I needed to grab an afternoon sleep as I have to work at midnight tonight.

I am sorry to hear that you are going through such a bad time. I don't have quite the problem that you do but I do have bowel problems. I was diagnosed with IBS quite a few years ago and although that seems a lot better, I now have a problem with any bowel movement in that when it starts to come, I need to find a bathroom ASAP!! I can not seem to hold it. I did find that when I have my morning coffee, it does get things moving, so if I need to go somewhere, I usually have a coffee first so I can go to the bathroom before I leave.

I had to kick my niece out of the bathroom this morning as I really had to go and knew that I would not be able to hold it. I felt bad for her but she did understand. I hope that you get this figured out and under control soon. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Please be careful going cold turkey with your meds. I read the other responses here and don't like the idea that they all think it is a bad idea. Can you get hold of your doc to get some soon? ( turkey is for eating by the way haha)

I hope you can enjoy the holidays without to much discomfort. Praying for you.

Moki
Helpful - 0
199882 tn?1310184542
Thank you so much for letting me know that you care.  I am in some pretty bad pain today.  I'm not sure if it's the lack of cymbalta, which did help with the pain, or just the you've over done it the last couple of days type of pain.

Cowboy, I don't mean to laugh, and only people that have this happen to them are allowed to laugh, but you got me with the bad case of the wet farts thing.  I guess because I can relate.

The bad thing is mines not wet farts (lol) or walking farts, which by the way I have always had them.  My kids laugh because it makes them think of the comedy  thing of Larry the cable guy, when he's talking about his grandma, and they can't take her anywhere because of the walking farts.lol lol lol  Back to the subject, mine is not like diarrhea, it's well formed and is quite a mess to clean up.  Sorry to be so graphic but I'm trying to get it write so in case Quix jumps in she will know just where I am with all of this.

T - lynn,  hahaha  the shittin - shuffle.  You gotta be kidding me.  That is the funniest thing I've ever heard it called.  Thanks I needed to laugh.

Cowboy,  I did call my doctor for samples and then everyone got so busy because of Christmas that we forgot to pick them up.lol

Elaine,  Please tell Craig that I just want to cry knowing he is in so much pain on Christmas day.  He is such an inspiration to so many of us.  We have heard what a wonderful person you are and because you will post for him I can see what he means.  Tell him that I'm praying for him, and I just know that the Lord will hear my prayers.  Thank you for writing to me, that really means so very, very, much.

Thank you everyone and,

I'll be praying,
Carol
Helpful - 0
334876 tn?1229979296
  You may call your Doctor and see if he/she may have some sample packs of cymbalta that they may give some as money is tight right now I know my doc has done this for me at times
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Carol,  this is Craig's wife.  Craig is in the middle of I guess what you would call a relapse event though he is not diagnosed.  he is having horrible MS hug spasms across from his back on both sides and across his stomach.  he is in very bad pain.  So I am answering your question or trying to.

I googled cymbalta withdrawal and found moodiness and general gastrointestinal symptoms along with blurred vision, balance problems.  it is apparently a very bad drug to go off of even in a controlled manner.,   I would try and get the prescription filled with cash and go off gradually.  Anything that acts on your brain would be hard to go off abruptly.  

I would call the drug manufacturer (Lilly I think) and ask them for prescription assistance.  I know they have that from when Craig was on one of their drugs.  They may be able to help with cost while you try to get off of it.  Don't tell them you want to go off of it though!!

About the bowel symptoms, as a nurse I would think that it is related either to your spine issues with the MS OR a form of impaction or severe constipation that causes leakage of stool.  You could try the apple cider vinegar.  You mentioned you only go once or twice a month so impaction /severe constipation comes to my nursing mind.  But the spine is a big factor too.  Hopefully Quix will chime in at some point from a physician perspective.

Personally I have had it with this horrible diseae as a spouse and our kids are horribly sad about thier father totally flat on his back in pain on Christmas day.  The fact that you consistently bounce back despite all of your many hardships is a true testament to your faith in God.  

I am hoping you get some relief and prayers are with you.
Merry Christmas and God Bless you and your family.
p.s.  I don't know what other meds you take, but Craig takes the natural supplement St John's Wort for his depressed state.  I buy the New Chapter Brand called Serofin.  It is organic and grown by the New Chapter company.

Elaine (Craig's wife)
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I can only relate to the walking and peeing,I have not experienced the bowels,I have close calls but do get a little for warning still.My sister experiences this and she's a nurse,she said its terrible.She's been using an anti-diahrea over the counter med.She calls it the shittin-shuffles.She advoids caffine,but has found that when she drinks a glass of wine at night before bed that it is reduced.She also said she takes a table spoon of apple cider vinagar each day and eating a fresh apple also helps.

She has had every test under the sun the last 2 years and they have not found anything wrong.

The wine ,the apple cider vinagar and eating a fresh apple came from her stomache DR.My sister says her heart brakes for you as she understands what your going through,she said cymbalta after long use can have this effect,she said she researched through a work computer,but it was dangerous to go cold turkey.

Congrats on the baby,a true Christmas Miracle.

Merry Christmas

T
Helpful - 0
334876 tn?1229979296
  Don't feel so bad about that it could be worst, since I got hit in the head I have been having a bad case of the runs even with the fiber meds doesnt help much and there's nothing more embarrasing then a bad case of the wet farts

But congrad's on the new baby and God bless you all

  Cowboy
Helpful - 0
222135 tn?1236488221
I'm trying not to cry reading this, I am so very sad that you are going through this. Obviously I cannot give any sage advice but I can offer my sincere prayers and wishes that you will get through this  as quickly and painlessly (emotionally that is) as possible.

God bless you and your ever growing family this Christmas.

Gentle hugs,

Penn
Helpful - 0
2
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the Multiple Sclerosis Community

Top Neurology Answerers
987762 tn?1671273328
Australia
5265383 tn?1669040108
ON
1756321 tn?1547095325
Queensland, Australia
1780921 tn?1499301793
Queen Creek, AZ
Learn About Top Answerers
Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
Find out how beta-blocker eye drops show promising results for acute migraine relief.
In this special Missouri Medicine report, doctors examine advances in diagnosis and treatment of this devastating and costly neurodegenerative disease.
Here are 12 simple – and fun! – ways to boost your brainpower.
Discover some of the causes of dizziness and how to treat it.
Discover the common causes of headaches and how to treat headache pain.
Two of the largest studies on Alzheimer’s have yielded new clues about the disease