[fizzixgal]

I've had chronic constipation for years but I've always been able to go eventually, either with the help of Zelnorm or using stimulant laxatives like senna. Everything changed for me starting two weeks ago when I woke up with horribly distorted hearing in my left ear. I've never had anything like this. I went to a local otological institute which diagnosed sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL). They prescribed a course of prednisone 20 mg tid for 7 days followed by tapering gradually, plus acyclovir (anti-viral). About 5 days into this course I started losing weight and noticed worsening constipation. A week ago Wednesday I used a half dose of Ex-Lax (one chocolate piece) and didn't go much at all. By Thursday night it got so bad I used a Fleet enema in the evening after dinner. It only worked VERY slowly which is not too unusual, but normally my bowels relax at some point and I get a lot out. This time I just went little by little until nothing more came out. Okay, maybe just a one time thing.Over the weekend I felt okay but noticed I wasn't going much in the morning at all. I always use a Fleet suppository to stimulate things in the morning and that was all I was getting out. Things got bad on Monday again so I used a Fleet enema in the evening, not too different result from Thursday but I felt some relief. So I tried a normal Ex-Lax dosage overnight and by morning, I felt very crampy but had no urge to go and couldn't get anything out without a Fleet enema, which did bring me some relief but much less than I normally get. Yesterday, no BM at all in the morning even with a suppository. By evening I decided to go to the ER. I was frantic! On top of that my hearing never really went back to normal, just got better and worse, and yesterday at the ER I was having some vertigo too. So anyway they took an x-ray which showed a large amount of stool in the transverse and descending colons, and around the splenic flexure, with very little in the sigmoid. That is about what I expected from the way it feels, stool is not getting into or below the sigmoid except very slowly. They did a soap suds enema which got some out, they said a lot but it really didn't seem that way to me. A little relief not a lot.Today I am back in hell. No BM at all. Swimmy vertigo constantly. My next appt with the ear doctor is tomorrow. The best my GI doctor can do is schedule me for a colonoscopy on Monday. In the meantime the only thing I can do is try mag citrate (the only thing I haven't tried, and I doubt it will work, but I drank half a bottle about a half hour ago so we'll see). If that doesn't work, it's back to the ER. I am so afraid. I am thinking terrible things like all of this is the first sign of MS, or I have colon cancer and the ear problem is actually a brain met. I am sure there must be some kind of obstruction just above the sigmoid, or else my peristaltic muscles there have stopped working. The BEST case would be if it was a temporary effect from the prednisone (is this possible? at the ER they said maybe -- but my last dose was Monday) but right now I'm so afraid, what if it isn't? I don't know how I am going to get through this. I'm about to switch jobs and if I'm disabled, I won't have a job (or insurance) at all.Pray for me, I don't think I'm going to make it.

(((((

 

[Pinecone50]

I've had chronic constipation for years but I've always been able to go eventually, either with the help of Zelnorm or using stimulant laxatives like senna. Everything changed for me starting two weeks ago when I woke up with horribly distorted hearing in my left ear. I've never had anything like this. I went to a local otological institute which diagnosed sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL). They prescribed a course of prednisone 20 mg tid for 7 days followed by tapering gradually, plus acyclovir (anti-viral). About 5 days into this course I started losing weight and noticed worsening constipation. A week ago Wednesday I used a half dose of Ex-Lax (one chocolate piece) and didn't go much at all. By Thursday night it got so bad I used a Fleet enema in the evening after dinner. It only worked VERY slowly which is not too unusual, but normally my bowels relax at some point and I get a lot out. This time I just went little by little until nothing more came out. Okay, maybe just a one time thing.Over the weekend I felt okay but noticed I wasn't going much in the morning at all. I always use a Fleet suppository to stimulate things in the morning and that was all I was getting out. Things got bad on Monday again so I used a Fleet enema in the evening, not too different result from Thursday but I felt some relief. So I tried a normal Ex-Lax dosage overnight and by morning, I felt very crampy but had no urge to go and couldn't get anything out without a Fleet enema, which did bring me some relief but much less than I normally get. Yesterday, no BM at all in the morning even with a suppository. By evening I decided to go to the ER. I was frantic! On top of that my hearing never really went back to normal, just got better and worse, and yesterday at the ER I was having some vertigo too. So anyway they took an x-ray which showed a large amount of stool in the transverse and descending colons, and around the splenic flexure, with very little in the sigmoid. That is about what I expected from the way it feels, stool is not getting into or below the sigmoid except very slowly. They did a soap suds enema which got some out, they said a lot but it really didn't seem that way to me. A little relief not a lot.Today I am back in hell. No BM at all. Swimmy vertigo constantly. My next appt with the ear doctor is tomorrow. The best my GI doctor can do is schedule me for a colonoscopy on Monday. In the meantime the only thing I can do is try mag citrate (the only thing I haven't tried, and I doubt it will work, but I drank half a bottle about a half hour ago so we'll see). If that doesn't work, it's back to the ER. I am so afraid. I am thinking terrible things like all of this is the first sign of MS, or I have colon cancer and the ear problem is actually a brain met. I am sure there must be some kind of obstruction just above the sigmoid, or else my peristaltic muscles there have stopped working. The BEST case would be if it was a temporary effect from the prednisone (is this possible? at the ER they said maybe -- but my last dose was Monday) but right now I'm so afraid, what if it isn't? I don't know how I am going to get through this. I'm about to switch jobs and if I'm disabled, I won't have a job (or insurance) at all.Pray for me, I don't think I'm going to make it.

(((((

 

[Pinecone50]

I am so sorry that you are having these problems and I will definately pray for you.I know that it is very hard to do, but try not to allow your mind to take you to dark places. Stess and anxiety are your enemies as you try to relax the colon.If you are unable to get your bowels to move and you continue to struggle, I think it is a good idea to go to the ER and seek medical help. Still, try not to think the worst.Keep us posted on how you are doing. God Bless.

 

[fizzixgal]

I am so sorry that you are having these problems and I will definately pray for you.I know that it is very hard to do, but try not to allow your mind to take you to dark places. Stess and anxiety are your enemies as you try to relax the colon.If you are unable to get your bowels to move and you continue to struggle, I think it is a good idea to go to the ER and seek medical help. Still, try not to think the worst.Keep us posted on how you are doing. God Bless.

Thank you, I was there again today. They discharged me immediately. They said, there is no reason to keep you and there is nothing we can do for you. His dx was: laxative colon. He said I've become dependent on rectal stimulation to the point where now that doesn't even work. It does explain his attitude towards me, he really believes I did this to myself.My GI doctor wants to do a colonoscopy on Monday. Of course that means a colonoscopy prep, and the only thing I can think of is... that will be relief at last!! But... not necessarily. With everything I've tried already, and nothing working, (the mag citrate didn't work) maybe the prep won't work either. The way my bowels feel, I don't think anything from above will work.I took another Fleet enema tonight. Normally I take that after Ex-Lax has already started things going and it really cleans me out though sometimes it takes an hour to really start things moving. Tonight it did even less than it did two days ago. I got bits and pieces out, and no after-push.I think part of my colon is dying. Literally. I don't think I will make it until Monday.

 

[annie7]

fizzix--so sorry all this is happening to you!i don't like that er doc's attitude to you at all. i'm sure he has been trained well in emergency med basics but he's not up-to-date on the latest gi info. i've posted this and similar links before but really his attitude that we do this to ourselves with ordinary lax doses has been proven wrong. although lax abuse--with extremely high doses is another story. my gi doc (now retired) told me this and referred me to the mueller-lissner report here listed under references in this link and there have been other posters on this board saying their gastro docs--including mayo clinic docs-- have told them this as well.a link similar to this is also on the unc website. http://www.aboutconstipation.org/site/about-constipation/common-questions-mistaken-beliefsanyway---yes please try to relax your mind and body--so much easier said than done i know--i've been there--but truly it does help. severe stress does make c worse--certainly in my case. have you tried using an enema bag--the quart size one that you can get at the drug store instead of those smaller fleet ones. the bag works so much better for me than the small fleet enemas.also--have you tried ducolax instead of exlax..it works better for me.goota go--just lost power here--storms last night. pm me if you want--thank goodness for laptop batteries. praying for you! keep us posted.

 

[Pinecone50]

Annie is right about the higher volumes of an enema working more effectively. When I was severely constipated a couple of weeks ago, my physician told me to use two Fleet enemas instead of just one. I did and it worked. After that, I took Miralax everyday for a week to get everything moving more consistently.Hang in there...I know how stressful this can be. Don't give up. Get a colonoscopy, work with a good GI doc, and go from there. There are answers for you!

 

[fizzixgal]

Thanka Annie and Pinecone. There is a larger size Fleet's enema but not a quart bag that I was able to find. I have the largest enema sold at CVS. I will try that one this morning if I don't get moving my normal way after breakfast. Then I will go to my GI doc's office. I am expected there to pick up the colonoscopy prep but I will take the opportunity to beg him to put me in hospital to do this. I am very afraid of what will happen if I try to do the prep at home and it fails. I'm also afraid that something terrible will happen before then, intestinal rupture and peritonitis or worse, necrotic bowel. My aunt died of that. I woke up early this morning in a cold sweat, everything was drenched. Something is very very wrong.I tried my other mainstay last night, a pint of prune juice. No effect but lots of gas. I can still pass gas, strange that it can get through so easily but no liquid. Because of the mag citrate I think everything in there is liquid now.I haven't been eating much, to slow down the inevitable, and am starting to feel weak from lack of food and stress. Things are starting to taste funny and the world seems surreal. Of course my mind goes to the worst possibilities, some kind of paraneoplastic syndrome but I don't know what else could cause it.I do know that "cathartic colon" is unlikely to be caused by what I've been doing, I just haven't been using serious laxatives often enough. I do wonder about the Fleet suppository every morning though. But if it isn't that, then I don't know what else it could be other than something very serious like ischemic bowel damage (stricture, nerve death), nerve damage from the prednisone (hyperglycemic spike maybe? I don't have diabetes though or any tendency that way) or colon cancer.Also, to answer Annie's question about dulcolax -- no, I tried it several years ago and found it more an irritant than a laxative. I actually had some bleeding from it. Ex-lax has always worked for me, until Monday night.Update: my morning Fleet suppository after breakfast did something -- I had a small burst of diarrhea. Not a lot considering how backed up I am. Isn't that a very ominous sign? Seepage around a partial obstruction?

 

[annie7]

about enema--i was referring to the enema bags--you know--the (usually) red bag with the nozzle and tubing--fun stuff. i got mine at cvs and i think they had them in the feminine hygeine aisle since you can also use them for a douche bag (i think). they hold about a quart which for me at least seems to get water way up there in the transverse colon. when i have big c problems it seems like all the stuff is just stuck up high there in the transverse part--like there's a spasm or whatever that won't release and is trapping everything way up there...there's nothing in the rectum --it's all higher up. but anyway the enema water releases it all.oh no i don't think you've been doing anything to cause cathartic colon either. the suppositories--at least, the plain gyclerin ones--they are the only ones i'm familiar with--are really just soap--glycerin--and from what i've read and experienced they work on any stool that is in the rectum..i don't know about prednisone side effects..maybe that would cause c...if you don't fell like eating much (i know i wouldn't if i were in your shoes) maybe at least try to get some nutritious drinks down like ensure or carnation instant breakfast---and juice or soup--you need something nutritious--even if it's liquid--to keep you going, make you feel better and also keep the stress down. of course if you have a colonscopy coming up you might have to stick with clear broth for a while or whatever they tell you to do.and i know it's hard but please try not to panic, try a bit to relax, take a deep breath (it really helps to do that and at the same time try to clear your mind and slow down) and take it one minute at a time. slow your mind down if you can and try not to worry about all the possibilities of what could be causing it etc. on the positive side you are getting the colonoscopy done and yes talk to the doc about your concerns about the prep and hopefully the doc's office will be reassuring and maybe even admit you to hospital.better go now--save on the lap top batteries...good luck!!! praying for you..keep us posted..

 

[fizzixgal]

Annie - I will look for the enema bags! I have not seen them anywhere and of course I've purchased maxi pads at cvs (been a while though) -- but I'm not a shopper, I go for what I need and may have missed them.Thanks for describing what you've suffered from, it does sound a lot like what I've been dealing with. It really does feel as if there's a spasm somewhere in the descending colon keeping everything up there. For me it's as if the suppository relaxes the spasm temporarily allowing stool to come down into the rectum. I'm pretty sure there wasn't anything there this morning before I used it, and anyway it was all liquid.I'm just guessing the prednisone since I was on it at the time and I've never had anything like this -- ex lax has always gotten things moving before and then an enema usually makes everything come out, though sometimes it's a "delayed reaction" lol.The thing about prednisone is it really had incredibly major effects on my whole system... I had unlimited energy and stamina, could ride my bicycle 15 miles as fast as I wanted with no fatigue, and was starting to feel like superwoman (ha!) even though I also knew it wasn't real and just wanted to be off it since I was afraid of what it was doing to my body. So I could easily imagine it affecting the nerves and muscles down there too, and maybe even just psychosomatically... plus with all the stress I've been under with my ear (terrified that I have Meniere's disease), it's possible some combination of all that has caused one spot there to just clamp down and not let anything through. I am trying to hold onto that anyway because all the other possibilities are so much worse.Anyway thank you so much for writing and replying. It does help.

 

[annie7]

i remember cvs had the enema bags way down on the lowest shelf...other places should have them too.about the delayed reaction to the enema. sometimes i get that too--feel like there's still an amount of water inside me. i found it helps to lie on my back for a few minutes and roll from side to side--hear the water sloshing about in there--and then get up and that makes me have to go again and gets the water out. or i lie on my left side--can feel the water slosh over to my left--, do some relaxing, deep breaths and then get up and that works too...something about the left side...closer to the rectum i guess.yes prednisone is a pretty heavy drug--maybe it does cause c since it has such a profound effect on the body. about six years ago i had a pretty bad, persistent ear ache, finally went to the ent and he wanted to put me on pred but i have big-time insomnia problems and told him i couldn't take it because i know it makes insomnia much worse. but of course your situation sounds much more serious than an earache and it sounds like pred is the recommended treatment so you didn't have much choice--had to take it.stress really makes that whole transverse colon jam-up a lot worse for me. it's like major stress just shuts my colon down and even the rest of my digestive tract too..it's like i just get so tense inside and out that nothing moves--it all shuts down...so that's why i try different relaxation techniques--meditation (daily basis--extra when stressed), deep breathing, focusing on something like the breath or on anything, really--just to slow my mind down and get it out of that worry/panic cycle. writing down all my panic-y thoughts journal-style and then putting all that through the paper shredder helps too believe it or not..

 

[fizzixgal]

I will look for the enema bags. Are they saline enemas, like the Fleet's?What I meant by the delayed reaction is that after I let the enema out (plus whatever it reaches), there might be a half hour before I have to go again, but then it really starts coming and I wind out getting very cleaned out. I also sometimes feel like there's water inside me, but it always comes out eventually. What sometimes happens is there is gas behind the leftover enema and stool and all that has to come out first to let the gas out... it's gross but I usually wear a Depends for this because I usually soil whatever I'm wearing in the process. Well I just came from the gastro... he wants me on a 2-day clear liquid diet. He also said not to eat anything solid even tonight. I'm already weak from lack of food and don't know any way to get adequate calories and nutrition for a whole weekend that way. He told me I can do two preps to be sure of cleaning myself out, a miralax/gatorade prep for tomorrow and then the real prep, movi-prep, on Sunday. When I said I don't think either are going to work and I'm just going to be letting small amounts out with enemas, he didn't have an answer. Doing the prep in hospital is not an option.

What to do? I'm really at the end of my rope here. If the prep doesn't work I will be very sick on a weekend, alone and with nowhere to turn for help.

 

[annie7]

the enema bags are empty. you hook up the nozzle to the tubing and the tubing to the bag, fiil the bag with water, slightly warm if you like, and well i hang the bag in my bathtub, get in the classic and oh so glamorous knees-bent, resting on my forearms, butt-up postion and use the little release lever thingie included in the enema kit to gently release water. there are instructions and illustrations on the box. you can also lie on your left side to do the enema. i know it sounds terribly ungainly and messy but you get used to it, get a routine...more effective than the smaller fleets i think. does your dr office have an emergency number you can call if the prep doesn't work? i'm not familiar with movi-prep. haven't had a colonoscopy for eight years. some preps involve ducolax and miralax and there's other combos of course. wish i could be of more help. maybe the prep will work...think positive. hopefully the dr took your condition in consideration and planned the prep accordingly. good luck!

 

[fizzixgal]

Okay, I understand. Ordinary water, or water with soapsuds which is what they used at ER, doesn't give me any urge to go. It just loosens things up a little but I didn't think it really got that much out even then. Maybe it's healthier though than stimulating peristalsis artificially. I really am starting to wonder if that awful ER doctor isn't partly right, that I'm dependent on rectal stimulation to get that part of my colon moving. It wasn't that way though even a month ago when I had an attack of diarrhea after dinner. So my bowels were working then. Something happened since then.I'll have to decide what to try next for relief. I'm full of liquid still from the mag citrate, and very little solid food. I don't think I need loosening up, I need to get that part of my colon to relax.There is an emergency number but I know what they will say, just go to ER. There is no medical advice over the phone any more.

 

[annie7]

i think with the enema--for me at least--it's the pressure of all that water inside that stimulates peristalis. but yes you can add things to the water to increase that stimulation--like the saline enema or some people use coffee--i hear that works well for some. i've never tried coffee--sounds messy.you mentioned ordering tegibs in another post. maybe taking tegibs now would help increase peristalis and get that mag citrate out?i sure do know what you mean about the full of liquid thing. that's what osmotics alone do to me--just fill me up and then slosh around inside. i need the peristalic push of some kind of stimulant to get stuff out. miralax doesn't work for me so i take mom and tegibs or mom and senna or ducolax. taking both an osmotic and a stimulant works better for me than taking either one separately.yes you're right --my doc's office is the same way. no one you can talk to after hours. just go to the er and there you get the overworked interns who have been up for thirty-six hours and to them you're just a gastro case they don't understand and just want to get rid of. and i don't mean to fault the interns because the hours they force those poor people to work are ridiculous and inhumane--not good for either the interns or the patients.hope you can get stuff moving today.

 

[annie7]

oh and a thought about getting the transverse part of the colon to relax. what i sometimes try for that is one of those microwaveable heating pads and gentle massage--even during hot weather like what we're having now..it's still comforting to me and sometimes works to unkink things. i lie on my back with the heating pad on my tummy, relax my mind, breathe deeply, let go and gently massage along the transverse colon bit by bit and work my way down along the left side of the colon. or sometimes i just lie on my left side on top of the heating pad and sometimes just that helps. either way, i can often actually feel something unkink in there and then the gas and/or liquid inside moves along--can pass the gas and get relief this way.

 

[fizzixgal]

Hi Annie,I guess we're all different. For me it isn't the transverse colon, it's the descending colon just above the sigmoid. I can press there and feel the gurgling so I know there's a lot of stool there. When I need to pass gas what works for me is to get on my tummy with my left arm under me and put pressure on my lower rib cage, working my hips up and down. That also works to get liquid + gas out after an enema. Sometimes when I raise my hips in that position I can feel stuff get past the sticking point and start to come down into the rectum. That's what scares me that there might be a partial obstruction there.The prep instructions are confusing, they have stuff whited out that leaves incomplete sentences and also makes it not clear when I'm supposed to do things. He wants me on a 2 day clear liquid diet which because I'm already so weak from lack of food, I'm afraid to follow because if the prep works and the floodgates let loose, could stimulate the vagus nerve and cause me to pass out. If it doesn't work that could be even worse. I've already decided to have my normal routine first thing this morning but make the breakfast low residue. Then with a suppository maybe I'll have a "normal" BM or at least diarrhea since it's all liquid in there. Then I'll switch over to clear liquids.Then the prep seems to say to take a bottle of mag citrate tonight, but do only half the usual movi-prep tomorrow. I think this is to make it easier on the patient, get partly cleaned out the first night or in the morning and then finish off with less diarrhea from the PEG (that's what movi-pre is, plus electrolytes, it's pretty much the same as golytely). But there's no one to ask now and I already know that mag citrate just fills me with water and makes everything slosh around. That will be totally miserable and I probably won't sleep. They whited out the dulcolax tablets which they normally have you take at some point. I don't know why. Without that or a senna equivalent like ex-lax I don't think the floodgates will open for me.I take tegibs every day still. I think it helps a little, as does misoprostol.

 

[annie7]

thanks for the tip about the position you use for moving gas/liquid through the descending colon. i'll have to try it. sometimes i have problems in that area too. hope you were able to have a decent bm this morning or at least pass something to give you some relief.that is odd why they whited out some of the prep instructions...i feel that if they decided to change the instructions, they should have explained it all to you and gone over everything with you--especially with you having to do the prep over the weekend with no one to call. and i understand your concern about the two day liquid diet especially since you haven't been able to eat properly for quite a while now. i get episodes of vasovagal syncope periodically--if i'm dehydrated, haven't eaten in a while or extremely stressed out..or all of the above. and yes lots of diarrhea can sure bring on syncope as well. really i wish they'd have let you do the prep in the hospital especially since it's over the weekend and they haven't given you anyone you can call if need be.good luck. hope it all works ok and isn't too difficult or debilitating. keep me posted...

 

[fizzixgal]

Thanks Annie. This morning wasn't too bad. I did have an omelet and a Boost bottle (yes, that's against the 2 day diet but it's at the start of the first day only, I had good reasons, and from here on in it's clear liquids only) and felt a good peristaltic push starting right away. I had a pretty good BM with the suppository, partially formed, a rectum full but nothing "trailing behind" from above. I would have considered it "back to normal" if I wasn't so backed up already. It was partial relief, but more than I've had without an enema in over a week. So I'm starting to think my system might be slowly recovering back to my usual sluggish but livable normal. At least I hope so. If it does, I will make sure to never, EVER let anyone put me on prednisone again as that's the only explanation that makes sense. My GI doctor said it wouldn't be a reaction he's seen or heard of, but everyone is different.They did go over the prep instructions, sort of, just to make sure I knew that I was to follow the 2-day prep and not the usual set they gave me along with it, but I didn't really try to read them while I was there in case I had questions. I was very tired from heat and lack of food and not really totally with it, so it was my fault too. I was also the last patient and everyone was rushing to leave. I put in a call to the answering service about 3 hours ago and am still waiting for the doctor to call back. It sounds as if my doctor is on call (I'm allowed one lucky break per month and I'm overdue lol) so hopefully it will be him. If I don't hear back in a couple of hours I will try again, just to make sure they didn't forget to pass on the message.

 

[fizzixgal]

Well a new development in my ongoing story. I've been following my temperature this weekend just in case, and because Friday morning I woke up in the middle of the night with the sheets drenched in sweat. Now I'm running a low-grade fever (99F). For some people that is within normal but mine is normally a whole degree lower this time of day. I put in another call to my GI doctor.This is really strange and I need answers as to what is going on with my body. I didn't think too much of that one night sweat because I'm weaning myself off of HRT and it's one of my menopausal symptoms. So I thought, okay, let me try an estrogen patch. But I never had a fever. All kinds of possibilities are racing through my mind. Steroid withdrawal can cause fever, but my last dose was Monday. I'm probably immune suppressed from that and could have picked up an infection at the ER. But the ones that cause night sweats are mostly bad ones like hepatitis. Then maybe my bowel problem is some kind of colitis. Then come the worse thoughts, some kind of cancer like lymphoma, or necrotic bowel which my aunt died of.Hope I'm still here to post later chapters in the story...

 

[annie7]

oh so glad you had the good bm this morning...that's great. hopefully a sign that your system is on the mend, getting back to what's normal for you. sorry about the low grade fever though. hope you didn't pick up a summer bug at the er..and i really hope it is your gi doc who's on call tonight. you are so right--you surely do deserve a break in all this...what an ordeal.oh and another thought--wonder if the fact that you're weaning off of hrt might be stressing out your body and making your c worse... all the extra stress your body is going through from a big hormonal change could be affecting your c. i'm post menopausal now but my c got a lot worse when i went through menopause and it stayed that way. the docs out here don't go for hrt much so i didn't do hrt but i do have my premarin cream---never would have made it without it.good luck--hope your dr calls back soon.