Bowel urgency

Submitted by ATS on February 5, 2008 - 4:38am
Body: 

I am freaking out here ladies. After my son was born (6 years ago) I suffered with bowel urgency for about 3-6 months and then it improved to the point where I no longer worried about it. Well its back again! The last couple of days I have had this sudden urgency when needing the toilet. Yesterday I got no warning and then all of a sudden I had pressure and knew I had to go. Its as if the BM makes its way down without my control and then I get lots of pain as its pressing on my roid/tear which is right at the opening.

It is my rectocele that has gotten worse over the last month or so and I have been having constipation issues but have NOT been pushing or straining and just doing warm water enemas when needed. Could the constipation be causing a weakness in the muscles?

This whole thing is just making me miserable and bowel incontinence is NOT something I can learn to live with. I really will become a recluse. What sort of life is that. I can prevent myself passing wind so still have control over that, for now.

Anyway else have any problems with rectocele and urgency/incontinence?

When will this end, my problems just continue to progress to the point that I think I cannot live with them. I can't take anymore.

Anita

MeMyselfAndI

February 5, 2008 - 7:35am

This could be just that you are waiting longer - Because if you wait longer you don't hafta strain at all as it is 'just there'?

It might be just a thing of listening to your 'bodys signals' more...

Remember - When you are freaked out - The bowel knows this (They don't say you can poop yourself' just for fun) - Fear can cause changes in the bowel and can make things change for a while ya know...

Deep breaths...

Give it a couple of weeks and I am sure it will just be something that has come and gone...

The more you freak out about it the worse it will be (I know this cos I freak out about everything myself)

It might be that you are eating alot of things that soften stool? Sometimes adding a ton of fibre to your food and things like that CAN and DO make this happen (Strawberries are a great thing to do this if you eat 2 yummy punnets in a row ya know)

Take it easy and try not to freak for a week or two...

((HUGS))

Sue

Look into the eyes - They hold the key...
http://www.bringmadeleinehome.com/img/maddy544x150Banner.jpg

ATS

February 5, 2008 - 8:01am

... I have dramatically increased my vegetable intake as the constipation issue is driving me NUTS! My roid/tear is just not getting a chance to heal so I started to shovel the veggies in and then eating an apple before bed. The minute I get out of bed in the morning the need is there, but then thinking about it that has always been my routine. Most people get a need to pee but I need a BM! But these last couple of days have been really urgent and I have needed to go more than once which is unsual for me. If I cut the veggies down will I become constipated again I wonder? Its such a fine line finding a balance.

So so easy to freak out. Stress incontinence is one thing (thank god that seems to have resolved) but bowel incontinence is quite another and I don't want any of that thank you!

Taking deeeeeeep breaths ............

Will see how it goes tomorrow as I think I am completely cleared out for today (sorry TMI!) and will cut down on the amout of veg with dinner tonight.

Thanks Sue.

Anita

MeMyselfAndI

February 5, 2008 - 8:09am

remember - just remove one item - Play with it a bit cos some veggies are more 'powerful' than others in the bowel way lol

Fruits - even more so for me...

It will be ok - My mother has a terrible rectocele - She has not become bowel incontinent - I think your constipation issues will make sure that never happens...

Just play with your diet and see what happens...

Mum says certain veggies like sprouts and greens make her more 'bund up' and constipated but peas and green beans etc don't - so its all a game of test and see :-)

Sue

Look into the eyes - They hold the key...
http://www.bringmadeleinehome.com/img/maddy544x150Banner.jpg

ATS

February 5, 2008 - 8:28am

... it was fresh sprouts and sweetcorn I had but I am eating LOTS as I am just getting so fed up with the difficult BM's. I will have a smaller amount to Broc and Cauli tonight and see how that goes.

But that urgency and not feeling it until the last minute has REALLY worried me. God knows what would have happened had I been out.

To top off my anxiety my daughter has just woke from her nap with a raging temperature.

Anita

MeMyselfAndI

February 5, 2008 - 8:34am

Sweetcorn has always done that to my son... Given his belly what for - lol...

Mum uses (When strawberries not in season) That normacol plus stuff from the Dr...

Hope your daughter is OK...

I really do not think you will have accidents while you are out - I have my problems with this every now and then and it also worries me - But no accidents have happened. The worry - Well that will always be there but - You will be ok - Think positive thats what my other half always says to me (I always think negative after this past year of hell i've been thorugh (Not prolapse wise) etc)

If you can get your body to listen to you and into a routine of BMs - Then maybe you will always go say first thing in the morning befor eyou go out...

Hopefully that will be ok and make you less anxious...

Sue

Look into the eyes - They hold the key...
http://www.bringmadeleinehome.com/img/maddy544x150Banner.jpg

ronshel30

February 5, 2008 - 4:09pm

hope baby is ok, i just thought id mention that beans or boiled eggs help me go toilet sometimes, beans work for most people i know! you probably tried them but if not then no harm trying, as for being sore below, have you tried just plain vaseline? i think if you use some but put it on thick then it helps?? hope this is of some help

granolamom

February 5, 2008 - 5:30pm

just noticing a pattern....these foods are known to cause lots of gas. especially if you eat lots of them and are not used to eating lots of them. I'd cut back, or trade them in for gentler fiber sources. I'm thinking pears, oatmeal, and I dont' know if this is the case or only what I personally have noticed, but stewed vegetables tend to be easier to digest, but they still have fiber.
beans are great, but go slow with them so your body gets used to them. same with lentils.

my thought is maybe the force of the gas building up is what makes you feel that you can't control the bm?

Clonmacnoise

February 5, 2008 - 7:39pm

Anita,

What about a fast day? What about just giving your body a break and just drinking lemon water for about 12 hours and then SLOWLY introducing one food at a time to see what makes you feel this way and what doesn't.

Judy

ATS

February 6, 2008 - 3:27am

Thanks for all the advice. This morning was 'normal', well as normal as you get with prolapse! I did cut down on the amount of veg I had and ended up making Spag Bol for the family and I had a small portion of the spaghetti with brocolli on the side.

I am actually right in the middle of the heaviest part of my period as well at the moment and that can and does cause looser BM's so maybe that coupled with the extra veg I was eating was not a good combination.

Time will tell but I really could do without the urgency, the prolapses are quite enough to contend with.

Anita

ATS

February 6, 2008 - 3:37am

What do you mean by stewed veggies? Do you mean putting them in a stew/casserole?

It definately was not the force of gas yesterday! Just very urgent and very soft BM's. I never thought I would be talking so in depth about my bowels like this - the things prolapse does to us. :o)

Anita

granolamom

February 6, 2008 - 9:05am

since we've been leaning toward a dairy free-vegetarian diet, I've been making lots of soups and stews in the winter. raw salads don't taste very good in NY in the winter, tomatoes like plastic, lettuce like celophane.

I oftentimes just toss whatever vegetables I have (in winter that's usually root vegetables with some onions and celery, maybe some winter squash) with a grain (barley's a fav as of late) in a pot. add some tamari soy sauce or tomato sauce and water and simmer. then you have dinner.

and the kids love the 'orange' soup (carrot, sweet potato, potato, onion, bnut squash, water, dill. cook then blend). that with some fresh bread is a meal itself. easy peasy.

I alternate those types of meals with a bean or legume dinner and fiber-wise that seems to do it for me.

ATS

February 6, 2008 - 9:13am

I actually used to do stuff like that when I was a vegetarian but I have gotten real lazy about cooking. I cooked everything from scratch when my kids were babies, they never ate from a jar but as they got older I started to get lazy and use frozen foods. Naughty me :o)

Thanks.

Anita

louiseds

February 7, 2008 - 8:56pm

Hi Anita

I was just reading this thread thinking about the little bout of bowel urgency I had yesterday on day 2 of my period. Then I read that you are in the same condition as me!! Of course it will resolve. It happens to me every month. I think it is just my body letting go of everything, just like a birth. I remember Christine writing something somewhere about the two anal sphincters and how you can tell which one is the problem by the symptoms, eg urgency, not knowing whether it is stool or gas coming, and a few others.

No, I never have the problem when I am out and about either.

Hope you are feeling better today.

Cheers

Louise

Clonmacnoise

February 12, 2008 - 10:43am

Gmom-

Want that super summertime taste? Put your tomatoes on top of your bananas and apples in your fruit bowl. Bowl must be room temp. Most winter veggies will taste a lot more like summer veggies in a few days.

Peace,

Judy

granolamom

February 12, 2008 - 2:52pm

I'll give that a try, Judy
but how does that work?

Clonmacnoise

February 12, 2008 - 8:17pm

G-Mom

I believe the vapors in the fruit help to ripen the whole bowl. If the tomatoes are in the bowl, presto bingo!

I think if you had fruit separated around the kitchen, and a bowl of it, it would rot quicker in the bowl than placed separately. Does that make sense?

Judy

louiseds

February 12, 2008 - 9:03pm

Hi All

Almost anything stored on top of bananas will ripen. I understand it is to do with ethylene gas that is pumped around the bananas to precipitate ripening in storage. It is a naturally occurring ripening substance used in an unnatural way, and oozes back out of the bananas in the bowl, and is produced naturally by them in ripening. See http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ethylene-Gas.htm .

If you come across nicely ripe bananas in the market and want to buy more than you can eat in a couple of days, you can stop some of them from ripening more by wrapping them in paper or cloth and sealing them inside a plastic bag, and storing them in refrigeration. The cloth or paper absorbs the water (from plant respiration) that would otherwise condense on the bananas, and it slows the blackening process, and it somehow stops the flesh from going translucent and squishy and getting that overripe flavour. They will eventually darken on the outside after a couple of weeks with this method but the flesh will still be pretty good.

The other thing is that fruit kept at room temperature will always have more flavour because the flavour compounds are quite volatile and are just more active at room temperature. eg, try drinking a white wine at room temperature and see how much more flavour it has than when it is chilled.

Sorry, but I have no idea what happens to the flavour in tomatoes when they come from a supermarket. They too are artificially ripened, so I imagine that they are just bulk picked then gas treated so the whole box ripens at the same time, regardless of how mature the fruit was when picked. Tomatoes ripen and become attractive and delicious to agents of seed dispersal progressively on the bush so that there is more chance of reproduction, rather than just one opportunity. Fruit that grows in bunches like bananas, grapes and tomatoes ripens at the end of the bunch closest to the stem first, with the little ones that flower last being the last to ripen at the pointy end of the bunch at the end of the season. Inflorescences of flowers do the same thing. Smell the roses, and watch the flowers grow. It is good.

Cheers

Louise

granolamom

February 12, 2008 - 9:13pm

I bought a few today, and have them in our fruit bowl together with some bananas and apples. very skeptical though.
the tomatoes I find here in the winter even feel and smell like plastic. none of that heady vine-y smell you get from august tomatoes.

Clonmacnoise

February 13, 2008 - 10:16am

Louise is right about the ripening - but I think they call it vapors not gas and apples have some ripening powers too. I wouldn't bother with the bag thing. I've tried that with pears and it's forever...but if you hang pears in a warm room in a plastic - yuck - grocery bag, it takes about two days to ripen the hardest pear.

Even in summer, I still put my tomatoes in my fruit bowl. We grow tomatoes at school and when they are accidentally broken off, we put them on the window sill in the sun and no matter what stage they are when they are picked, they always ripen.

We eat a lot of fruit, and usually have bananas, oranges, apples, grapes and avocados in the bowl - big antique bread bowl with big round sides, and somehow it works.

You have to leave the tomato there for a few days, so when you buy tomatoes, you have to buy enough like three, so when it's time to use them, you won't have to start all over again and wait the ripening time.

Works with avocados too.
Judy

granolamom

March 22, 2008 - 8:38pm

you're right, tomatoes are soooo much better when left out with the bananas. not the *same* as garden fresh of course, but definitely more flavorful than plastic.

now I'm enjoying tomatoes in the winter too : )