I usually always have a BM/s everyday. But it always seems that less is coming out then how much I"m eating.Laxatives and enemas have become less and less effective. So less and less stool is coming out.My mom works at the hospital, and she tells me they'd never do surgery, like a colostomy on anyone that was having any kind of bowel movement everydayI was wondering, if you have to be completly impacted, or stop having BM for a month, before a doctor would consider corrective surgery?I have major problems urinating, both my local urology and GI doctors, told me it was probably because of excess stool pressing on my prostate.I'll be doing urination testing, with my new urologist, who is in the same university hospital as my new GI doc.
How much poo is in you?
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Typically the only constipation they do a colon removal for is severe slow transit constipation and those are typically people who go once or twice a month without laxatives.It is very hard to judge how much should come out based on how much went down. Much of the volume is water so how dry a stool is greatly effects the volume and you absorb a lot of the food. There are some bacteria in the stool so that then adds back some volume so you can't expect three platefuls of stool to come out if you eat three platefuls of food a day.Most people have from 16 to 72 hours worth of poo in them. It is normal for the colon to have stool in it at all times.Have you tried just going on a low residue diet so you don't have much stool at all. you may need osmotics to keep it moving, but maybe you eat more fiber than you can tolerate. More and more fiber is not always the answer for constipation.If there is some anatomical problem that causes the bowel to be in the wrong place (if that is why you get pressure you shouldn't) then they would correct the problem rather than remove the colon. If it just needs to be tacked back up then why remove the whole thing?Although I don't know if something is off with the anatomy or you are just mis-sensing things that are normal. (sometimes things can be perceived incorrectly by the nervous system so you feel something that isn't accurate).Are they sure your prostate doesn't need something? That it is totally normal and you'd be fine if you weren't constipated? Because that can cause a lot of problems for a lot of guys all by itself.
Great reply Kathleen!Yes my prostate does have problems. It has had for a few years.Urinating every 2 hours round the clock. Waking me up at night. And dribbleing after urinating, I have to put a piece of tolite paper in my pants to catch it.What is a low residue diet?
My colonoscopy, and cat scan didn't see any abnormalities as to my colon being in the wrong place.I got my stools going, on a daily basis, with miralax and Milk of magnesia. Eating roughly the same amount of food. And the stool being the same consistency. There seemed to be less and less stool everyday, even though I increased the laxative amount. My urination seemed to become more diffucult as this went on also.I started using enemas daily, and I would go in the morning like I had been. And then a huge amount of stool was released with the enema. I could also urinate okay then. This went on for about a month.Then the enema's stopped producing much stool. And the urination also became harder.
Even at the point of the enemas releasing the most stool. My GI doc in iowa city, pressing on my stomach said he could feel impacted stool on the left and possibly right sides of my colon.In the past few weeks, it has been harder and harder to have stools. I've tried almost every kind of laxative. They seem to do okay at first then become ineffective.Yet I still seem to get a little bit of stool out everyday.I'm also taking enemas again, they seem to be producing some stool again. But not like they were before.*Mag Citrate prep solution, I've tried that twice once about a month ago. And once a couple of days ago. Both times that turned my stools to brown water and made me go like crazy. I suppose if I take it many more times or in smaller doses it won't be effective either though.
I saw my local urologist 3 times. And got the same story from him basicly all 3 times. It's stool pressing on your prostate.Asked him if he could do a few Xrays or a cystoscopy, so we could maybe get an idea of what we are dealing with.He didn't want to do any testing as I am going down to iowa city to see the urologist in 3 days. As it's free down there as I'm on medicade. And he said the information wouldn't help them down there.He said if they couldn't get anything going for me, at iowa city. He would try and set something up.
I've tried some Urinary medications, from the local urologist. Rapaflow and candurarapaflow increased my constipation and didn't help with the urine flow. And Candura, actually seemed to make the urinary problem worse.I read a post here recently by a girl that said she had stools everyday, but still ended up going to the doctor being totally impacted.I can just see that being me. Plus having to deal with one of these prostate type surgeries at the same time.I don't think I'll be able to handle it.It may sound odd, but I think handling the constipation problem first with surgery would be a better idea. recovering from that, then having the prostate surgery.
I took half a bottle of mag citrate yesterday. It took 15 hours to start working I thought it wasn't going to. Got basicly the same result that I did from a full bottle.A thought occured to me. That maybe there is a tumor in my prostate. And I didn't notice it when I had diarriah all the time from the crones disease. But once I became constipated, the problem presented itself.And now it has grown so big. That unless I"m totally cleaned out. Any backed up stool starts pressing on it. And I have problems urinating.Still doesnt account for why I have so little stool everyday, from any other laxatives I take.
It is very hard to judge how much should come out based on how much went down. Much of the volume is water so how dry a stool is greatly effects the volume and you absorb a lot of the food. There are some bacteria in the stool so that then adds back some volume so you can't expect three platefuls of stool to come out if you eat three platefuls of food a day.That's a good answer. But crazy as it sounds. From what I've noticed in the past when I have been going good for any period of time.I do seem to return a similar amount of stool as compared to how much I've eaten.That could vary somewhat on the looseness of the stool of course. But when I have felt cleaned out, and not backed up. That's what it seems like.
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There seems to be a lot of "where did it all come from" or "where did it all go" type of questions because it isn't always three platefuls in looks exactly like three platefuls out. There is some variation between humans. Diet plays a role. you eat a lot of fiber rich food there is a lot more stool than if you eat a very low residue diet. How hydrated the stool is can make a difference. If you have rabbit pellet stools from the constipation it is a lot more dense than someone with loose stools.
I was reading one of the posters here on the IBS forums. That said they take mag citrate pills daily in higher doses. Then drink a bottle of the mag citrate liquid once in a while. And that works pretty good for them.I drank a 1/3 of a bottle today of the mag citrate liquid. And put what was left in an ice cube tray.As the bottle says it goes bad after 24 hours. I thought freezing might preserve it?I was wondering how much of a bottle you would drink everyday. Just to keep yourself going but not get totally cleaned out.A bottle costs $1.12 not that expensive if you just took a small sip daily and threw the rest away.
Just got back from the urologist in iowa city. He did a cystoscopy on me.Said I had no strictures, no enlarged or varied prostate, and my bladder looked fine.I asked him about stool pressing on my prostate, impeding my urine, and he said yes he thought that was probably happening.He scheduled me for more tests. Similar to the cystoscopy, but with another measuring device placed into your rectum to monitor tummy pressure.The cystoscopy, was painful and no fun. the doctor seemed to enjoy torturing me.
An odd, thing, all 3 times I've taken the long bumpy ride down to iowa city. I could urinate just fine.I use a small vibrator at home to help me get the urine out sometimes. The ride to iowa city is much more intense. I asked the urologist about it, he seemed perplexed and had no answer about vibration.
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