Difficulty emptying rectum regardless of consistency

[topsecret95]

I am a 20 year old female with problems fully emptying her rectum. I have hashimotos thyroiditis and one grandparent with colon cancer and one with crohns. Since puberty I've suffered from constipation and infrequent bowl movements. I often had to manually move stool through my vaginal wall to relieve pressure but rarely felt the actual need to defecate. My issues appeared to be hereditary and did not vary significantly with dietary changes.

Then I transfered colleges and was on the meal plan for 5 months. The plan is actually pretty high quality, but the students agree something is in the food which has laxative qualities. I immediately had a complete reversal of symptoms. I actually feel the need to go now and my stool is closer to diarrhea than a normal bowel movement. Mostly it's just very soft and hard to clean up after but I also occasionally get liquid in there. I can count on one hand the number of times that happened prior to moving. I now am feeling the need to go multiple times a day for the first time in my life and cannot drink coffee or alcohol in even moderate amounts comfortably. I also try to eat smaller portions more often and take probiotics which seam to help somewhat. I was anticipating that my symptoms would go away over the summer and now that I'm off the meal plan but I've experienced only mild relief. While advice for more normal stools would be great, my bigger concern is that, despite changes in urgency and consistency, I still have trouble emptying my rectum. My stool seems to just chill right behind my anus and will only clear maybe 3 inches at time until more has moved down to press the previous movements leftovers out. This can be very uncomfortable and my stool can often be felt durring sex. I feel like my muscles are weak and I have difficulty holding in gas and it's often smelly cause of the stool in my rectum. Is something wrong?

[patient915]

There is no way to give you a diagnosis without you seeing a GI doctor and undergoing testing.  I could start listing things it could be but there is no way to know which one you have and almost all of them couldn't be treated except by a gastroenterologist.  You could start on a mild laxative but I don't know if that will help and it might just cover up what is really going on.  Instead of manually moving stool through your vaginal wall you can try a warm water enema to get the stool out.

[topsecret95]

I've talked about it with my regular doctor but the only advise has been probiotics and I don't have the income to see a specialist right now. What do you think it could be and why is that a bad thing?

[patient915]

Welcome to the gastroenterology community!  Have you seen a GI doctor?  It is definitely not recommended to have to manually move stool through your vaginal wall and this can indicate a problem within itself.  Do you eat enough fiber?  You definitely need to see a GI doctor and get some testing done.  Good luck.