New, and wondering about pain/menopause

Hi Katya, and welcome.

Good luck with the colonoscopy. If you have doubts about it, ask the doctor if you can have a fecal occult blood test first, then see if it is necessary to have the colonoscopy. This test is non-invasive. It picks up blood from bowel cancer very well at an early stage, though it won't pick up other abnormalities like kinks or polyps. Normally, if you can see the blood in stool it is new blood from very near the anus, usually an anal fissure, or maybe haemorrhoid. You cannot see blood from colon cancer. It is black. But just remember that I am not a doctor.

I do feel for you. It is awful when your whole health is suffering and you don't know what to investigate first, or who to trust.

BTW, these Forums are TMI Central. We specialise in it, because we will talk about things that others will not, or cannot talk about! And there are some things that need to be talked about! We have debunked quite a few wives tales, and sent a whole lot of fear packing, just by being open about our own experiences.

Take baby steps, and make sure you get a copy of all your results (or write them down) from everybody you visit. It will be useful for reference, particularly if you change practitioners, and you will be able to follow your own progress. It is after all your body.

Cheers

Louise

Hi Katya,
i am sorry you are having these symptoms. Prolapse would not bring on menopause--that is hormonal, though there is a lot of interesting research around diet and how it affects symptoms. you might want to look into that, as it might really help. (sorry, can't be more specific in my very tired state this morning...)

and again, i wouldn't think a rectocele would cause anemia. i know that post births my periods got much heavier. accupuncture really helped with that reducing the heavy bit to just 12 - 24 hours rather than days, but i still tend towards anemia which right now i'm trying to reverse with floradix and homeopathy. we'll see how it goes! heavy periods are hard though, i know, and very draining.

apparently if you have rectal bleeding from hemorroids or fissures ongoingly it can be enough to cause anemia. as Louise said, if it's bright red, it's usually those. have you had any pain / itching that would indicate them? did the doctor see anything? But important to know there is nothing serious.
I'm sure you'll sort out what is going on soon, and hopefully find ways of improving the other symptoms.

KIki

I had a colonoscopy last summer and I was very nervous about air inflating my colon and making things worse too. My procedure went fine and I did not notice any change in my prolapses or in my colon (and I have diverticulosis..pockets in my colon)

You should have an opportunity to speak with the doctor that is performing the procedure. Tell him/her your concerns. He did talk to me throughout the procedure which also made me more comfortable. I did not have a lot of "gas" afterward, but they kept me in the "recovery" room until I could pass gas.

The nurses also told me to lie on my tummy if I felt uncomfortable once I was home.
I hope everything goes well for you.

~Mary Kay

You need to get to the bottom of this. That pain could be anything. Have you had a pelvic? Could you possibly be pregnant? (Even if you are having periods.) If you have an acute onset of pain severe enough to be compared to labor, you might consider going to the ER. I would insist on getting in for the colonoscopy pretty quickly, and a pelvic manual, ultrasound, and/or MRI or CAT scan even sooner if possible. Unilateral abdominal pain, if severe, and doesn't go away, needs an immediate evaluation. Your bleeding from the back however is probably just a fissure.

This could be as simple as gas or very serious. Because you have other symptoms (anemia, "peri", weight gain) it is suspicious. Don't fear the colonoscopy, it will not make the prolapse worse. As for using the pediatric scope, you can ask but you want the doc to use what he is accustomed to and most experienced with. Better to choose the right DOC.

possibly have an ectopic pregnancy going on? Your symptoms are also some experienced in pregnancy, and pain does come with an ectopic. Pain that takes your breath away and requires you to sit down just anywhere is an enormous red flag. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Get yourself checked TODAY. Please.

Hi Katya

I think we all go through periods when all the wheels try and fall off at once. It is not nice. I think I am just about finished with menstruation, but the year before last I had a couple of episodes of the type of labour pains you describe. Mine was one long, hard contraction lasting about 3/4 of an hour from start until I knocked it on the head with drugs. A bit harder to handle than one minute duration, and five minutes apart! I could barely walk into the pharmacy by the time I drove 4km into town for some Ponstan. 20 minutes later I was fine. It was about 4 days before a period. It happened again a few months later so I took Ponstan again and it went away just as quickly quickly. Once again, a period four days later. There have been a few other women who have also described this type of pain.

Beware of Ponstan and other prostaglandin inhibitors if you are nearing menopause. They will make menopause symptoms worse for 24 hours or so. I can attest to that after a very hot and cold night, but it was better than being paralysed with pain. It has only happened the twice and I hope it doesn't happen again.

Sounds like the end of the picnic was a bit of a disaster. I am sure the shoe will still be there if you can get back and find it. How satisfying would that be? I bet you will find all the wheels that have fallen off, sitting under the bush with the shoe! ;-)

Being female certainly does have its moments, and in the same situation I would have felt exactly the same, and fled the scene. Too hard! However, when you think about it, it sounds like nobody came to your assistance. That's really sad, cos I know the pain you were having. I could no sooner have picked up a toddler and fled as fly to the moon.

I detect some feelings of shame about how you handled the situation. I think you could benefit from asking yourself if there was anything that you did wrong; anything you could have done to have it turn out better. The answer is probably no, except for minor things, or perhaps asking for some help if it was available. And since when has 'not asking for help if it is available' been a mortal sin? You were not a bad mum. Shame on those who did not help you if they could! Even good mums have times when the wheels fall off. So pour warm soothing water on the shame, if it is there, and forgive yourself for being human. Tomorrow is another day. I am sure that is why we sleep at night. Every day is a new start. Boy, have I had a few days like that in the past!!!

Hope the floradix helps you to feel better. I think you could also benefit from seeing a good women's health clinic to have your hormones checked out thoroughly, at a time when you know where you are in your menstrual cycle. You might be wise to ring and find out if there is a 'best' time in your cycle to test hormone levels. I cannot really see the point in getting tests done during perimenopause if the Dr doesn't know where you are in your cycle, because hormone levels rise and fall during your cycle anyway! If my experience is anything to go by, and bearing in mind the weight gain this week you could expect a period to arrive within the next few days. Are you on an oral contraceptive?

An alternative to the hormone tests would be to learn The Billings Method (Natural Family Planning) of fertililty management. This will teach you how to find out where you are in your cycle by observing your vaginal mucous, what your cervix is like, and your waking temperature. It will also teach you about the changes to these measurements as you approach menopause. I was so grateful, in hindsight, that the woman who taught me about NFP had just experienced menopause herself, so even though it was totally irrelevant at the time, I really appreciate it now. She has since died, and it saddens me that I can no longer ring her to say thankyou.

We were using it as a means of detecting ovulation when I was having trouble getting pregnant thirty years ago. It is just as valuable for this stage of my life (I am 56 now) so I haven't needed to keep asking a doctor what was happening in my perimenopausal body as my reproductives wound down.

You are dealing with a lot of things at the same time, Katya. Just take baby steps. There will be plenty more picnics to enjoy down the track.

Take care.

Louise

Yeah, I've experienced excruciating pain that turned out to be some kind of completely benign rectal "spasm". There's a medical term for it that I can't recall off the top of my head. Might be what you had. If so, I can testify it is intensely painful, as bad as labor. If it's going away that's really good indication it's not serious, but still follow up with doc. Hope you continue to get better.