Hey y’all wanted to introduce myself

[fellow Ibs sufferer]

Hey y’all! New here, but quickly scrolled through a few posts and sending so much love and support to all of you. Here’s my long story.

I have always had poop problems. My earliest memories were being constipated probably around five and bleeding at probably around 12 or so. Im 28 now but ive had surgery for a rectal prolapse due to straining for so many years. Before surgery i had multiple tests including being filled up with sonogram jelly and having to excrete it into a pull-up in an MRI machine and disynergy test? Or something like that where they stick a balloon up your bum, inflate it and ask you to try to push it out. During surgery it was discovered that i had a redundant sigmoid colon which was then removed with most if not all of my sigmoid colon during said surgery. After that ive had an anal fistula for which i had a fistulotomy and at the same time two hemeroidectomies. After the first surgery i started taking metamucil/ generic.. and it was life changing. My surgeon didnt want me to strain and the metamucil made it mostly all one blob which came out easily and left not too much residue. It was amazing. Then like after 2 years or so, my body started rejecting it. Total mush. Like you could see the pieces of psyllium in the mush. It was awful and so terribly stressful. My sister who is a physician suggested that i give it a break for a bit which i did, for about a week and a half. After which i started again and it worked… a breath of fresh air….. for three days.. then back to mush. So i switched to citracel. Not bad. Though nowhere near as good as metamucil. I was on that for several months but occasionally had violent diarrhea. And it still wasnt perfect anyway in the residue/ clean up department .  So i switched to fibercon/ generic. Not bad overall but recently has been pretty awful. Since starting on metamucil, ive pretty much cut out cellulose. I found or at least my theory was that the Metamucil was going through as a blob swallowing up all of the poop as it went along, but if there were things with cellulose that didnt digest (think like corn) then those would prevent the blob from sticking to itself and would come out more mushy which was a problem for me as i really shouldnt be straining so i dont get another prolapse. For lack of a better analogy, think like trying to squeeze nutella out of a bag lol. Anyway, i wish i could go back to the metamucil, wondering if any you have had similar problems with rejection of it and have figured out a solution… but even if not its nice to be with people who at least may understand what ive been going through. 

my joke to my first GI doc even before my first surgery… when she referenced the poster of the bristol stool chart on the wall and asked me which one i was… i said something along the lines of, “ what do you mean, theres sunday, monday, tuesday….”

its so stressful as im sure many of you know, to come late to so many things because one minute you might feel ok or constipated and the next have violent diarrhea. My first GI doc diagnosed me with IBS and my second specified IBS-C.

My apologies for the long graphic story and while i wish somebody could relate, i also really hope for your sake that you cannot.

Again, much love and support to all of you.
 

 

Edited August 29 by fellow Ibs sufferer

[Jeffrey Roberts]

Love your positive attitude despite the uncertainty of your symptoms and surgeries you have had. ❤️

[fellow Ibs sufferer]

Thanks Jeffrey! Appreciate your kind words! Cant say I’m always so positive. Some days it really is hard. But you push forward and do your best😀