Read Dejibo's posts. She is a wealth of information!!!!

I feel, due to her, I may actually be able to get this issue resolved.

Do you get an "urge" to have a BM? I never get an urge. And I cannot feel after I have had one.

Well, I really had better get off of the computer, and finish packing or my DH is going to give me one of his "looks".

Chelle

Dej is awesome! I'll read her post in a moment .

The urge question... I don't quite know how to describe mine. I just am conscious of how long I've not gone (I keep a diary) and out of the blue (usually after I go out on a walk), I will feel like if I don't get to a bathroom ASAP, it's going to be messy.

Once there, then it's literally no 'involvement' on my part to go, it just goes. Rather, I don't have to put in an effort for it.

I don't really feel any less bloated or 'empty', but I know I've successfully ejected the cargo otherwise, you know?

I did not get an urge either, but knew that my belly was bloated, and I was uncomfy. I always looked bloated too. Xray showed I was full of poop! MD was impressed. He ordered laxatives and such, but I never get the "push" urge or the best way to describe mine is that even if my brain tells my bum to push, it never gets the message or its a confused message and while I can be some what effective most just sits there. I gave up long ago and started rescuing stuff. its gross, but it kept my hemmorhoids from going crazy. Material sitting on those veins of the exit gate can cause some humdinger hemmorhoids. I had a few thrombose or clot off because normally the passage of material massages the veins and helps the blood flow but when stuff sits, so does the blood.

NAsty business. I would never get the "dumping" syndrome unless I was over heated and then BOOM! without the sun or heat I just couldnt get my bowel to figure out what its job is. Like I was speaking french and my colon was speaking German. They didnt understand each other.

Internal a_n_a_l sphincter spams is perhaps my most disabling issue. However, unlike most of you, I have no colon or rectum, as they were removed in 2002 due to severe ulcerative colitis. They then reconstructed my ileum into a "j-pouch" (a reservoir to replace the colon) and reattached it to my a_n_u_s right at the sphincter (called an anastomosis).

Without a colon the stools one passes are not completely neutralized, nor are they nicely compacted and "smooth" like they are when they pass through the large intestine. This means that digestive acids and enzymes are still active, bits of undigestible fiber are present (and can be quite irritating on the way out) and because the small intestine is constantly in motion, bathroom urges are ever present. We j-pouchers have named this "inconvenience" butt-burn, because we tend to suffer severe skin breakdown from leakage.

In addition to all this, I have scar tissue and strictures built up around the anastomosis, and these lead to severe spasming of the internal a-sphincter, which in turn has caused a_n_a_l fissures to develop. If you are feeling a severe knife-like pain or burning, it is likely a fissure causing your pain. Now, add to a fresh cut, which is what a fissure is (in the most tender skin on your body), caustic stool in an imperfect colon-rectum replacement (the j-pouch) . . . you can lose entire days to the bathroom. You have a picture of my life. Fun? No!

I have been on a regimen of regular manual dilation of this internal a-sphincter for some years now, either using a dilator or a gloved digit. I use a compounded ointment containing lidocaine for pain and diltiazem for relaxing the muscle. Some people use nitroglycerine but it can cause terrible head-aches, so I opted for the diltiazem. For several years I had pretty good maintenance of my issue, but lately it has become more difficult to relax that stubborn muscle. (By the way, we do what we have to, right? Self-dilation has become so second nature, I carry a small vial of ointment and gloves in my purse at all times. I have dilated at 29,000' in a tiny airplane bathroom, in a porta-potty, and and many times in public restrooms. You do what you gotta do, right?)

The idea that there may be a herbal approach in vinpocetine is exciting to me. My surgeon's next step was to try botox, but that could render me incontinent, which means not able to leave the house (or the bathroom for that matter) until it wears off. Like I said, incontinence with loose, caustic stools can be terribly disabling, not to mention excruciatingly painful. I would be ecstatic to find some improvement . . . any improvement. I would think I had died and gone to heaven if it controlled the spasms, and the fissures could heal. I might actually be able to go hiking again . . . or even make it through a meal . . . .

wow.
I send cyber hugs and thank you for your candidness. I can relate to much (but not all) and admit that I even wrote a haiku about this dreadful condition. I will send it via message if you are interested, just hesitant to post on the www for the w to see forever!!

World J Urol. 2000 Dec;18(6):439-43.

Mult Scler. 1999 Apr;5(2):126-33.

OK, what is the word that won't print....Duh!!! Hyphinate it..

a_n_a_l
a_n_u_s

That is soooooo stuuuuuupid..

They must all be A n a l retentive..

Sorry for my late reply, my DH & I just got home from our trip today.

For me, I am only conscious that there is stool, pressing against the muscle, and it is uncomfortable. No urge to evacuate, so, I will gently strain, and sometimes some will pass. The straining causes the nerves in my spine to burn, and it makes my back hurt.

During these times, the stool is narrow.

Other times, if it is really full, and the stool is firm, it will force the muscle to open, but only some of the stool will pass. It is like the muscle clamps shut.