surgery? slow transit colon, chronic constipation, ibs-c

[barbeezee]

Hi there, I'm new to this site. I am a 31 year old female and have had problems going to the restroom as long as I can remember. The last year and a half has become worse. I started paying more attention to my gi tract and wanted to help myself become more regular. So I started with the fiber, water, diet, exercise change and it only seemed to make things more heavy in my stomach. I tried miralax, stool softeners, laxatives, colonics,herbal teas, prescription meds and nothing is working to make me regular.it now, it actually has made things worse and more uncomfortable.  After a year of struggling, it seems as though my gi does not respond well to any meds or supplements. When I take meds my bowel seems to just turn to mush and sit there or swim back and forth like a fish bowl, but no release. When I push on my right side its all mushy and swishy sounding and my stomach makes a lot of noise - like clogged drains.  When I don't take meds, I get very bloated and feel full all the time, constipated. It usually takes 4-5 days or more and then ill have a release. Sometimes very lil, sometimes one big load. I feel sluggish and fatigued most days.
I have been in and out of the gi dept with plenty of tests. All blood tests come back normal, my heart rate is a lil above average but they say normal. I have had the sitz marker test and on day 3 they sit in my sigmoidcolon. I just did the camera capsule a wk and a half ago and waiting on results. My doc mentioned removing my colon/large intestines. I'm anxious for a resolution as my quality of life...honesty, *****. I am tired and just want to lay down. But really what I want is to feel normal and get out and enjoy the world.
Should I push for surgery? Larposcopic or open? Surgery is scary but living life the way I feel is even more scary to me. I feel I just want the surgery, recovery, and get back to my life.
Anyone have the same weird gi issues and/or results from doc? Please respond. Thanks.

[barbeezee]

Pretty much everyone in my life knows now and I have not been embarrassed anymore. Wanna talk 'poop' and I'm ur gal- haha - but I am a lil over it.
I have the same philosophy on eating...some days I eat more cause I think it'll pus it all through but it doesn't really work that way. I think it is just the stage of where everything is sitting.
So ur appt is next week! Good luck. I would call them and ask if they admit u right away, especially since u are coming from a distance. There have been plenty of appts I thought 'ok this will be the time they do something' and it wasn't so. They may work differently though for you and I hope they do! Please let me know the outcome and the decisions they make moving forward.
My surgeon says that I have to finish the last 2 tests before I can have surgery. I'm am anxious to move forward and a lil impatient but I am doing everything he said first. We did speak after the last sitz marker and he told me to prepare myself for surgery, research, and make sure I want surgery and the recovery that comes with it. It does sound a bit scary, but as I said before I couldn't image living the way I do forever-and it get worse. That would be even scarier to me. So most likely I will have my surgery schedule in june.
I think its awesome u play the drums and have an outlet. I used to be a musician years ago and my brother played the drums too. Hopefully you can get back to rock climbing once this is past you. I plan, as well, to get back to life when this is over. It would feel like a second chance and I plan to do all the things I wish I could right now.
I wish you the best too. Good luck my friend and please kit with all your upcoming experiences.

[iclimb]

I know exactly what you mean. I used to rock climb and play the drums. (that is why I chose the name i climb)
I haven't rock climbed in forever and somedays I don't even have enough energy to play my drums. I feel like I lost myself and became someone new. I am not who I used to be, I just want to go back. My family is great even my extended family like aunts and uncles ect. At first I didn't want to tell them because it was embarrassing. I couldn't poop for my life. But it gets easier telling people whats wrong.

My stomach growls it gets hungry so I eat. (exactly like you were saying above)  In fact I kinda think eating helps because it pushes things through you know. Maybe it doesn't but oh well. My appointment is May 18th in Rochester Minnesota. I live in Wisconsin so it will be a road trip. I am packing my bags, I really hope they admit me. I would hate to have to drive back and forth. I am going to bring those exams that you talked with me about.
So is your surgery scheduled? I am wishing you only the best.

[barbeezee]

So although I feel I may be at a different stage then some other people, I am ready for the surgery. Iused to be the person that always wanted to get out there, do something new and exciting and now I am the person that cannot wait to get home from work to put on my pjs and curl up in a ball, hoping to have a bowel movement. Its sad, really. And it is not the way I want to live.


When is your appointment? I hope they do what they need to do for you quickly and move forward. You sound like you have been through it all. And your right, doctors do seem to make it out to be that issues are all in our heads or self-inflicted. why can't they just believe you are telling the truth and want their help? That is what they are there for, right?

I think the 14/140 idea was cute, and not weird. My brain works the same way. Kit.  

[barbeezee]

Dang girl! You have been through a lot, I am so surprised that it has taken so long for doctors to do something about it! I am so sorry for you. But it is really great that you have such a wonderful family and support group. It is really important. I'm 31 and not married, so I have my friends but it is not the same. My parents and brother are supportive however they have their lives to live. Who wants to hear someone ***** all the time that they don't feel good?!  

I have taken GOLYTLY and I hate it. The first time was the colonoscopy 2 years ago. I remember it cleaned me out but because I'm so constipated - I couldn't eat for 2 days before the procedure, then took the solution, then had a drink. After the procedure and when I started eating the same stomach feelings and constipated started right away.
I was given it again for camera capsule exam a month ago. It didn't clean me out as good as 2 yrs ago, and a lot of the fluid was left in my gi tract. I was extremely bloated and when I pushed on my tummy I could hear it in there.
It just appears that the retention of bowel and liquids has been getting worse as the days go by.

When speaking w my surgeon he asked if I really felt the need to surgery, as if to say 'is it that bad?' He even mention that the last time he did this surgery, the woman couldn't go for 10 weeks. Honestly I don't want to let it get that bad for me! I go a lil here and there with supplements, teas, or meds but 24/7 I feel badly. When I don't take anything its usually a wk to a wk and a half of nothing, but feel extremely full tummy and bloated. I still eat however cause my stomach is empty and hungry- but my intestines r full.

[iclimb]

When I was 14 I weighed 150 pounds. All I wanted was to weigh 140 because it matched the number 14.. I was weird haha  Anyways my family and I switched from regular milk to organic milk and also to organic chicken. We also stopped drinking soda pop a few years before I turned 14. And we all lost some weight. Our family eating habits were not bad or anything. We were one of those families that actually took the time to sit down and eat a meal and discuss our day. We still do it.  We are tight. All my life growing up I never had a food issue. My relationship with it was great. The only thing that bothered me was that my stomach always was bloaty; looking like I was pregnant.

When I was 16 I had dropped all my weight. I was down to 112 pounds. I was really surprised because I wasn't doing anything to change my weight. If fact I was eating more food. I was binge eating. This awful habit started and I couldn't understand why. I now had a love/hate relationship with food.  I had lost my period and the doctors were all calling me anorexic. I didn't look anorexic. I had a CT scan also. It just showed that I was highly constipated. I was shoving food down my face and I still lost weight. Turns out I have two mega allergies. I am allergic to gluten. This is why I never felt full. I am also allergic to cow's milk. When people are allergic to milk usually their stomach bloats. We put my constipation problem in the back of our heads. Just thinking that my blaoting would go away from being off of dairy. Well it never did. We found out we had a much serious issue on our hands. After months of being off of dairy and wheat I was still constipated. My colon was causing trouble.

The doctors even accused me of swallowing cotton balls to make myself feel full! How can I be anorexic and constipated. It is just another stereotype on teenagers. Right now I weigh 120 pounds. Some days it goes up. I have been measuring my stomach and a few days ago it was 36 inches, Today it is 34. I work at JC Penney's and all of my dress/work clothes don't fit anymore.

Have you ever heard of the product GOLYTLY? They make people drink it before a colonosopy? I didn't have that prep before my test I had the Osmo prep. In January I was in the UW Children's hospital. I was seeing a GI doctor and he admitted me after he looked at my x-rays. They were trying to clean me out by using GOLYTLY.  I had already consumed the basic 4 liters and nothing happened (this was back in Dec.) and I told them I didn't want to have anymore but they reassured me it would be ok. I had to have a NG tube in my nose all the way down to my throat for the GOLYTLY solution. I had over 36 liters in four days. And that junk didn't even clean me out. I knew why. My colon was obviously broken because it could never get stimulated by any products. My body just retained the liquid. I did pee and all, but I swelled pretty bad. The doctors sent me home because it was a Saturday and they said that they were down in staff for Martin Luther King Day.

[barbeezee]

I am glad that u r getting into the mayo clinic. When is ur appointment? The sitz marker test sounds like definite colonic inertia. I know it is super frustrating, the wait is unbearable somedays. I just try to tell myself, each day is one day closer to getting the surgery. But I literally cannot wait - as crazy as that sounds.

Also how much is your tummy bloating out? I am an apple shape: small waste, and bigger at the bottom. For the last year my wasteline has had 'skinny days' and 'fat days'....more fat days recently. I'm extremely bloated but I have not measured myself. My pants definitely fit snugger those days.