Hello everyone -
I know it's difficult for a lot of people to talk about their IBS, but this forum is the place for it. I say let it flow and let it go (and that's in more ways than one).
I am a 48 year old male and have been an IBS-C (that's Irritable Bowel Syndrome/Constipation for any newbies out there) sufferer for about 3 years now, give or take. IBS-'D' runs in my family (my mom & younger sister both have it). Lately my father gets constipated too, but he is 78 and I'm not certain it is actually IBS. (Ah, wonderful genetics!)
I also have incomplete bowel movements and typically have to go 'boo-boo' again about an hour after my first bowel movement, pretty much every time I go, which is almost every day… I never feel normally evacuated anymore, like I used to before my IBS hit. It seems like there is always more ick inside me "that does, yet doesn't" want to come out. UNCOMFORTABLE. Not normal. I joke that it feels like I have a dead cat inside me that doesn't want to come out. It sucks. I also have to urinate often because I think there is sometimes fecal matter present in my rectum, pushing against my prostate. Lord have mercy.
On a related note, I have exterior hemorrhoids also, probably due to the fact that it's so hard for me to go to the bathroom and also because it takes me so darn long to go…. I'm sure some of the "ick" is still present inside my rectum after I go when it shouldn't be there anymore and helps inflate the hemorrhoids. Genetics probably also play a role in them too. (I'm quite the package, ain't I? lol)
It wasn't always like this.
A little more background info: I never had constant constipation until about 3 years ago, when I decided to try to switch my diet to mostly fruits & vegetables (still with some meat, but way less than before). Before that? Typical Italian dinners (lots of meat, pretty much every day).
So I bought a pricey Vitamix blender and started making fruit & vegetable smoothies. That's when my IBS started. I used to have about 3 to 4 bowel movements a night, when I worked the night shift. I'd go and IMMEDIATELY have to go again. Seconds. I would often bleed when I went (from hemorrhoids), but it would usually stop after a minute or so.
I had to leave work about 5 or 6 times in about a year-and-a-half's time (or just not even go in that night) because I was so darn uncomfortable… missing and/or leaving work is not like me AT ALL. Just the half-hour ride to work alone would sometimes drive me crazy….I couldn't stand it. I could feel the pressure to go inside my rectum.
Finally, after months and months of this #### (no pun intended) I told my supervisor at work, "This health food is killing me." (Funny but true quote!) I finally gave up my mostly plant-based diet... My body just couldn't take it. I had normal bowel movements for about a week or two after this, but then the same darn thing started again. (Ugh!!!!!)
Note: I don't know what the root cause of IBS is, but my best guess is it's the pesticides they use on and around our fruits & vegetables and the hormones they inject into our livestock we eat. Am I positive about this? No.
I went to a doctor a few times who treats hemorrhoids and he had me buy some fiber powder that he recommended. I tried it and tried it - even less of it then was recommended per day - and it was like a tree branch was stuck up my butt. SLOW movements. I've read a lot about constipation and they always say the same thing: EAT MORE FIBER. But for some of us, that is a recipe for disaster. For me, more fiber = more constipation, harder to move bowel movements and even more puffy/always present hemorrhoids…. Exactly what I DON'T want. To hell with more fiber, it makes things worse. (At least for me it does.)
I got a colonoscopy in December of 2013 to rule out colon cancer (I pretty much have all the symptoms). It was the first one I ever got. (Make sure if you ever get one they put you to sleep before the procedure…. it was REALLY EASY like that, believe it or not.) The results: No cancer, no polyps, just (what else?) hemorrhoids.
I have eliminated certain things from my diet that have helped curtail my IBS somewhat:
-No more coffee. (I used to drink one cup a day, that's it).
-No more Coke. (Occasionally drank one or two Cokes a week. It's the caffeine that bothers my stomach, me thinks.)
-No more 'Jolt' caffeinated gum. (It helped keep me awake when I worked 3rd shift).
-No more milk. (I used it in cereal and made my coffee with it instead of water. I use soy milk now instead. It helps.)
-No more popcorn. Used to have some like twice a month, just lightly salted, no butter. Popcorn tears me up. I will go to the bathroom 6 or 7 times the next day, until every kernel that was in there seems to come out and I will bleed down there too. It's horrible. Popcorn is roughage and I just can't handle it anymore. Never had this problem before my IBS hit.
-No more raw, unsalted almonds. (My FAV. I miss them!!! They are great for you but they constipate me.)
-No more chocolate. (Oh, hell, no! I had to do it. Chocolate can constipate you too.)
Pizza with lots of cheese on it gives me constipation too, but I love pizza and will deal with that a couple times a month because ….um…. I love pizza!
What foods have helped relieve my IBS?
Last winter I have a bowl of homemade chicken & brown rice soup every morning, right after a bowl of cereal. I barely had any IBS symptoms for two months. I said I BARELY HAD ANY IBS SYMPTOMS FOR NEARLY TWO FREAKIN' WONDERFUL MONTHS! I felt like a new man! (After two months? More IBS, but not quite as bad.) What's in it that I think helps? It's HEAVY on garlic (two ENTIRE cloves of garlic, sectioned and chopped up) and 3 chopped up onions. Other ingredients? Ginger root, sweet potato, thyme, carrots, celery, jalapeno and red peppers, tomatoes, parsley, spinach, sweet corn, lots of oregano, salt & pepper.
Garlic is wonderful, a superfood. You don't want to have a bowl of this and go on a first date, but we gotta do what we gotta do, don't we? Plus it's delicious.
The last several months? IBS ruins me for a few hours each day. I cannot stand it. I just want to be normal again. I've prayed and prayed about this, but (as usual) I haven't gotten a reply. I will admit sometimes I have thoughts of suicide. I have a gun at home. I don't want to live like this every day. I don't want to slowly develop rectal prolapse. My butthole is bad enough and always has that puffy look now (I call it 'labia butt'). I also don't want to kill myself, but how much of this sh*t can one person take? It's way uncomfortable, every day. I hate it. I am a Born Again Christian and I know suicide is obviously not the right thing to do, but sometimes I just feel like giving up... Where is the quality of life when it gets bad?
The things you have to do, like having to tell all your coworkers what is up with you so they don't think your dodging work when you're in the bathroom, struggling to go. It's embarrassing. Or trying to meet someone in the afternoon and having to tell them you might not (or cannot) make it because you have IBS.
The best thing to do is just not to eat, or barely eat, but we must eat to live, but-of-course. Eating as little as possible helps.
I attempted my first fecal transplant Friday morning (7/25/2014) in order to try to rid myself of my IBS-C…. I followed the directions on this thread:
http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/topic/165423-fecal-bacteriotherapy-for-ibs-d-success/
I also watched this video a couple of times:
"DIY Fecal Transplants to cure yourself of digestive disease"
(The video is a bit long, but still informative.)
I fasted for three of four days beforehand. I also drank prune juice to clean out my clock for the first couple of days. I wanted to make sure there was room for my transplant, because there always seems to be more boo-boo that could come out when I eat normally.
I used one of those rectal syringes - you know, the bulb with the removable slim end on it. (I sometimes use one every few days to help clear me out, but that doesn't always work all the time.)
I gave myself 3 fecal transplant injections with the rectal syringe and each time I will guess it was about 60% full? I tried to get all the air out of it first. The whole process was somewhat messy and smelled pretty darn bad (no surprises).
After my third injection my body rejected the transplant, meaning I couldn't hold it in, even laying on my side. (I might have even started to feel touchy at injection number 2.) I had to evacuate my bowels, and pronto tonto. Gangway! Look out!
-I think the mixture was too thick and I might have used too much?
-I think two injections with about 60% of the bulb full should be enough?
Important note: After I quickly evacuated my donor's transplant that was the BEST I'VE FELT IN THE LAST 3 YEARS. IT WAS AWESOME. I FELT LIKE ME AGAIN. This is how it was when I was normal, my pre-IBS-C days. I was happy. My butthole didn't feel knotted up anymore either. (I have a lot of tension down there.) This is how I want to feel every day again.
This makes me think there is definitely something to FMT.
I had a little bit of transplant mixture left over. I added some water and managed to get that inside and hold it in for a few hours, but I don't think it was enough.
I went to the bathroom about 4 hours afterwards. I felt the same I always do. Stomach kinda crampy, anal exit puffy. (I also started to eat again, fast was over.)
I went again about an hour later…. Same thing: Constipation. Lord have mercy.
I went to the bathroom several times the next day and bled a lot. I shouldn't have drank prune juice and took a laxative the night before, but I like that empty feeling. (I'm still blocked up a bit).
So in conclusion, FMT didn't work for me….But I THINK it may work, but I have to get it in way deeper and be able to hold it in. I may try this one more time myself, but I don't know. They also do fecal transplants here at the Cleveland Clinic, but I don't have health coverage right now so that is out.
Feel free to comment if you'd like. I know there are a lot of lurkers here who seldom if ever post anything, as I was one for a long time.
Good luck everyone!
I know it's difficult for a lot of people to talk about their IBS, but this forum is the place for it. I say let it flow and let it go (and that's in more ways than one).
I am a 48 year old male and have been an IBS-C (that's Irritable Bowel Syndrome/Constipation for any newbies out there) sufferer for about 3 years now, give or take. IBS-'D' runs in my family (my mom & younger sister both have it). Lately my father gets constipated too, but he is 78 and I'm not certain it is actually IBS. (Ah, wonderful genetics!)
I also have incomplete bowel movements and typically have to go 'boo-boo' again about an hour after my first bowel movement, pretty much every time I go, which is almost every day… I never feel normally evacuated anymore, like I used to before my IBS hit. It seems like there is always more ick inside me "that does, yet doesn't" want to come out. UNCOMFORTABLE. Not normal. I joke that it feels like I have a dead cat inside me that doesn't want to come out. It sucks. I also have to urinate often because I think there is sometimes fecal matter present in my rectum, pushing against my prostate. Lord have mercy.
On a related note, I have exterior hemorrhoids also, probably due to the fact that it's so hard for me to go to the bathroom and also because it takes me so darn long to go…. I'm sure some of the "ick" is still present inside my rectum after I go when it shouldn't be there anymore and helps inflate the hemorrhoids. Genetics probably also play a role in them too. (I'm quite the package, ain't I? lol)
It wasn't always like this.
A little more background info: I never had constant constipation until about 3 years ago, when I decided to try to switch my diet to mostly fruits & vegetables (still with some meat, but way less than before). Before that? Typical Italian dinners (lots of meat, pretty much every day).
So I bought a pricey Vitamix blender and started making fruit & vegetable smoothies. That's when my IBS started. I used to have about 3 to 4 bowel movements a night, when I worked the night shift. I'd go and IMMEDIATELY have to go again. Seconds. I would often bleed when I went (from hemorrhoids), but it would usually stop after a minute or so.
I had to leave work about 5 or 6 times in about a year-and-a-half's time (or just not even go in that night) because I was so darn uncomfortable… missing and/or leaving work is not like me AT ALL. Just the half-hour ride to work alone would sometimes drive me crazy….I couldn't stand it. I could feel the pressure to go inside my rectum.
Finally, after months and months of this #### (no pun intended) I told my supervisor at work, "This health food is killing me." (Funny but true quote!) I finally gave up my mostly plant-based diet... My body just couldn't take it. I had normal bowel movements for about a week or two after this, but then the same darn thing started again. (Ugh!!!!!)
Note: I don't know what the root cause of IBS is, but my best guess is it's the pesticides they use on and around our fruits & vegetables and the hormones they inject into our livestock we eat. Am I positive about this? No.
I went to a doctor a few times who treats hemorrhoids and he had me buy some fiber powder that he recommended. I tried it and tried it - even less of it then was recommended per day - and it was like a tree branch was stuck up my butt. SLOW movements. I've read a lot about constipation and they always say the same thing: EAT MORE FIBER. But for some of us, that is a recipe for disaster. For me, more fiber = more constipation, harder to move bowel movements and even more puffy/always present hemorrhoids…. Exactly what I DON'T want. To hell with more fiber, it makes things worse. (At least for me it does.)
I got a colonoscopy in December of 2013 to rule out colon cancer (I pretty much have all the symptoms). It was the first one I ever got. (Make sure if you ever get one they put you to sleep before the procedure…. it was REALLY EASY like that, believe it or not.) The results: No cancer, no polyps, just (what else?) hemorrhoids.
I have eliminated certain things from my diet that have helped curtail my IBS somewhat:
-No more coffee. (I used to drink one cup a day, that's it).
-No more Coke. (Occasionally drank one or two Cokes a week. It's the caffeine that bothers my stomach, me thinks.)
-No more 'Jolt' caffeinated gum. (It helped keep me awake when I worked 3rd shift).
-No more milk. (I used it in cereal and made my coffee with it instead of water. I use soy milk now instead. It helps.)
-No more popcorn. Used to have some like twice a month, just lightly salted, no butter. Popcorn tears me up. I will go to the bathroom 6 or 7 times the next day, until every kernel that was in there seems to come out and I will bleed down there too. It's horrible. Popcorn is roughage and I just can't handle it anymore. Never had this problem before my IBS hit.
-No more raw, unsalted almonds. (My FAV. I miss them!!! They are great for you but they constipate me.)
-No more chocolate. (Oh, hell, no! I had to do it. Chocolate can constipate you too.)
Pizza with lots of cheese on it gives me constipation too, but I love pizza and will deal with that a couple times a month because ….um…. I love pizza!
What foods have helped relieve my IBS?
Last winter I have a bowl of homemade chicken & brown rice soup every morning, right after a bowl of cereal. I barely had any IBS symptoms for two months. I said I BARELY HAD ANY IBS SYMPTOMS FOR NEARLY TWO FREAKIN' WONDERFUL MONTHS! I felt like a new man! (After two months? More IBS, but not quite as bad.) What's in it that I think helps? It's HEAVY on garlic (two ENTIRE cloves of garlic, sectioned and chopped up) and 3 chopped up onions. Other ingredients? Ginger root, sweet potato, thyme, carrots, celery, jalapeno and red peppers, tomatoes, parsley, spinach, sweet corn, lots of oregano, salt & pepper.
Garlic is wonderful, a superfood. You don't want to have a bowl of this and go on a first date, but we gotta do what we gotta do, don't we? Plus it's delicious.
The last several months? IBS ruins me for a few hours each day. I cannot stand it. I just want to be normal again. I've prayed and prayed about this, but (as usual) I haven't gotten a reply. I will admit sometimes I have thoughts of suicide. I have a gun at home. I don't want to live like this every day. I don't want to slowly develop rectal prolapse. My butthole is bad enough and always has that puffy look now (I call it 'labia butt'). I also don't want to kill myself, but how much of this sh*t can one person take? It's way uncomfortable, every day. I hate it. I am a Born Again Christian and I know suicide is obviously not the right thing to do, but sometimes I just feel like giving up... Where is the quality of life when it gets bad?
The things you have to do, like having to tell all your coworkers what is up with you so they don't think your dodging work when you're in the bathroom, struggling to go. It's embarrassing. Or trying to meet someone in the afternoon and having to tell them you might not (or cannot) make it because you have IBS.
The best thing to do is just not to eat, or barely eat, but we must eat to live, but-of-course. Eating as little as possible helps.
I attempted my first fecal transplant Friday morning (7/25/2014) in order to try to rid myself of my IBS-C…. I followed the directions on this thread:
http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/topic/165423-fecal-bacteriotherapy-for-ibs-d-success/
I also watched this video a couple of times:
"DIY Fecal Transplants to cure yourself of digestive disease"
(The video is a bit long, but still informative.)
I fasted for three of four days beforehand. I also drank prune juice to clean out my clock for the first couple of days. I wanted to make sure there was room for my transplant, because there always seems to be more boo-boo that could come out when I eat normally.
I used one of those rectal syringes - you know, the bulb with the removable slim end on it. (I sometimes use one every few days to help clear me out, but that doesn't always work all the time.)
I gave myself 3 fecal transplant injections with the rectal syringe and each time I will guess it was about 60% full? I tried to get all the air out of it first. The whole process was somewhat messy and smelled pretty darn bad (no surprises).
After my third injection my body rejected the transplant, meaning I couldn't hold it in, even laying on my side. (I might have even started to feel touchy at injection number 2.) I had to evacuate my bowels, and pronto tonto. Gangway! Look out!
-I think the mixture was too thick and I might have used too much?
-I think two injections with about 60% of the bulb full should be enough?
Important note: After I quickly evacuated my donor's transplant that was the BEST I'VE FELT IN THE LAST 3 YEARS. IT WAS AWESOME. I FELT LIKE ME AGAIN. This is how it was when I was normal, my pre-IBS-C days. I was happy. My butthole didn't feel knotted up anymore either. (I have a lot of tension down there.) This is how I want to feel every day again.
This makes me think there is definitely something to FMT.
I had a little bit of transplant mixture left over. I added some water and managed to get that inside and hold it in for a few hours, but I don't think it was enough.
I went to the bathroom about 4 hours afterwards. I felt the same I always do. Stomach kinda crampy, anal exit puffy. (I also started to eat again, fast was over.)
I went again about an hour later…. Same thing: Constipation. Lord have mercy.
I went to the bathroom several times the next day and bled a lot. I shouldn't have drank prune juice and took a laxative the night before, but I like that empty feeling. (I'm still blocked up a bit).
So in conclusion, FMT didn't work for me….But I THINK it may work, but I have to get it in way deeper and be able to hold it in. I may try this one more time myself, but I don't know. They also do fecal transplants here at the Cleveland Clinic, but I don't have health coverage right now so that is out.
Feel free to comment if you'd like. I know there are a lot of lurkers here who seldom if ever post anything, as I was one for a long time.
Good luck everyone!