Rectal Intusseception?

Body: 

So the pressure from yesterdays incidents felt different, but I couldn't pinpoint. Today, after waking up symptom free, I began to feel it again after walking around. My research indicates that it is anal Intusseception. I felt fine after my normal morning BM but about midday the pressure which seems to be rectal intusseception. How does this play into the cystocele and WW posture and possible rectocele. Can you have rectocele and rectal intusseception? I was left with what my OB called a "Tag" i believe after my first baby 20 years ago. This feels like a further unfolding or exiting of that "external "hemorrhoid"? It mainly feels like pressure.
I've never had a problem with constipation because I've always tended toward IBS. After getting the flu, and a bad cough and traveling in January, I felt a little constipated and weak. It was early February that my POP came on during a workout.

For about as long as I can remember, about 2x a year I've had to apply pressure with my hand on the perineum for fecal evacuation if my stool was not soft like usual. I've always felt that I had lost some feeling there from my, 3rd degree, or whatever, I know those are subjective, episitotomies (I had 2, one with each birth).

I don't have pain, just pressure. I don't appear to be leaking and still feel the urge. I am doing really well with lopo. I just thought that there might be something else that I could do?

Is all of this a part of the cystocele and shift of organs and nerves…? This is so confusing.

Hi

Yes you can have a rectocele and intussecuption together. According to my consultant they usually go hand in hand. If it's intussecuption it stays within the rectum, if it's severe it will come down to your anal canal. If it exits, then this is classed as an overt rectal prolapse as opposed to intusseception which remains hidden inside. Also referred to as occult prolapse or internal rectal prolapse. Since the birth of my baby 10 months ago, I have immense rectal pressure. It's just awful. I hope your heaviness subsides.

Hi Maxhar, Thank you for your prompt response. I was not diagnosed with rectocele but I am learning from this forum that I must have it. Since my cystocele ( I was examined on my back as 1, approaching 2), I have been having completely unusual for me BM issues.
My question is this: I feel pressure, have an ever so slightly unfolding of the skin of the anus from internal to external which is a new sensation. I don't usually feel anything there so this in my mind feels like pressure or something coming out. It looks like an exaggeration of the little skin that my OB called an external hemmorriod. How do you know if it is external and what about lifting things… I feel more pressure there upon lifting. If this is more like a hernia, do you still lift in WW without irritation or additional pressure? …or is this more of the same with cystocele, rectocele… and par for the course?

Hi Sierra,

As much as I don't trust the medical profession to treat Female Pelvic Organ Prolapse and greatly believe in and adhere to the WW posture method for stabilization, I do believe that rather than self-diagnose yourself re Intussusception (if that's what you believe you have), that you should go to a doctor to either confirm it, or rule it out.

It sounds quite possibly to be a hemmoroid which can cause pressure sensations. I would take sevilla's advice and see your Dr.

Hi Sierra,

Sorry to hear about your problems. I have written a couple of posts on my intususseption rectocele and enterocele. In my research/experience it is unlikely to be true internal rectal prolapse (intususseption) without severe obstructed defeacation and/or leaking problems - however there are also many other reasons for these problems.

There is pretty much no way a normal gp will be able to tell if the tissue you feel is a internal rectal prolapse coming outside of you, or prolapsing hemmoriods. Even 3 of the top colo-rectal doctors specialising in rectal prolapse that I saw were unable to agree from a close up photo I sent them which mine was without checking themselves where it was falling from further up. A colonoscopy also will not show this. You need to get to a colorectal consultant who deals with pelvic floor and prolapse and get anophysiology tests and proctogram to show if you have got high grade intususseption (coming right down to the anus) or if it's just hemmoriods. From what my consultant said a lot of people have rectocele without intussuception, however if you do have intussuception and your bowel has telescoped down inside your rectum you are likely to also have a rectocele at this point. You also will at this point likely be struggling to pass even very small thin bowel movements as you have 4 walls of bowel rather than just two inside your rectum, narrowing and blocking the exit everytime you bear down and also likely affecting your top sphincter muscles in the anal canal as the bowel wall which has fallen down is now obstructing this also - causing a lack of sensation leading to loss of ability to clench and leaking problems. Hope this helps, and I hope it is not full thickness prolapse for you :) good luck finding your answers - once you know you can start to rectify xx

That my second birth has totally re-configured my whole digestive tract not just contributed to my prolapses. I too am waaaaay more bloated and gassy especially in the evenings. I find it easier to deal with gas now than immediately post pop but think my body reacts totally differently to foods that never used to bother me before.
I too do better on non bloaty days....today has not been one of them...

Refresh my memory, I can't recall of either of you have mentioned whether or not you've tried going off dairy, gluten, or both. I never thought I could do it, but i'm 3 weeks in, and years of digestive issues have gone away. Along with several pounds, and some of the swollen tummy look I've carried around for years. I know this is not for everyone.......I however am sold. - Surviving

I've been doing whole foods for a while and it's helped a lot with the urge type issues but I might have to give up my beloved cheese and bread if it's as good as you suggest surviving... Have already lost a ton of weight but it's only coming off my legs! I look like a lolly-pop...
Wheat and especially refined flour are definite nos for me now but I'm still trying to figure out what foods are trigger. Today broccoli is officially on the banned list.

Yeah it's not a simple thing for me at all. Fortunately I have a spouse who has been mastering this for a couple of years. I've also cut out as much sugar and processed stuff as I can.

As I understand it, cheese isn't too bad, because most of the whey is removed. Can't be the processed stuff of course. I haven't indulged, I'm holding out to a point where I won't miss certain things and feel deprived. - Surviving

I think that if gluten and/or dairy are affecting you, you see the difference almost immediately after going off. I certainly did. So if you can go months, and still not be sure, then i venture to say that isn't the problem. I went off both at the same time, so I will never know if one or the other alone would have been enough to achieve what I'm getting out of it. But don't really care at this point. SH I hope you find a solution. I know my digestion did change radically after childbearing, but in your case the worst of it seems to have occured after this last one. That is what is so frustrating I know. - Surviving

Dear Safely Held,
I also have a problem with onions, and have them rarely.
We eat garlic often and I never put it with onion as well and I am ok.

The trapped gas has happened to me and I put that down to diet, tension, water intake, and to recovery after birth as the nerves were misfiring for a while.

I need to drink water as well, and have had cramping in the intestines and also once a couple of times in the sphinxter which can be painful enough for panadol. It used to take 3 days for my intestines to relax properly again and there would be gas and stool during that time....a form of constipation and tension together....

If I am working outside the home, I will either not go or go twice in the morning and that second time usually stops after I give up work or a stressful situation...It is like the fight or fight response, as the brain is closely connected to the gut/intestines which are often called the second brain....

Since starting WW the cramping symptoms are gone, (work seems to bring on the 2nd trip to the loo), but I am much more mindful of my diet, water intake, and stress.

I have tried the low carb thing but can't do without the roughage of fruit, fresh and dried, root veg and wholegrain bread, homemade porridge, and legumes along with a decent amount of water. I have some milk and butter, but limit how much, and don't eat much sugar.

Lately in the morning before I have anything else, I have been having a tbsp of organic apple cider vinegar ( which has the mother included in it), in water drunk with a straw, and plain water after to get the acid out of my mouth, so minimal affect on tooth enamel.. That seems to help in general with digestion and elimination, and with excess windiness, though some is considered normal.

Maybe, Safely, your body is still getting over the birth and returning to normal, and the organs are still finding their niches and perhaps new WW positions from before!

Breastfeeding took a lot out of me so I made sure that I ate well and drank a lot of water, and rested to get through - one of mine didn't like solids for a long time and I ended up fighting her for about 2 weeks to supplement feed her from about 8-9mths and my 2nd one took one bottle without a fight and never took another, but she liked solids at 5mths, so less pressure on me, but I needed a sleep every day that I wasn't out, to recover from the births as I had significant blood loss with the first two...

So take it easy, maybe try meditation, which is what I am doing along with the WW and yoga really helps the gut, and elimination. Walking is helping too in my garden using the arm swing and the arms up and down like a bird ( not the whole time - I do about 50).

Hope this helps,
Aussie Soul Sister

I still find i can get some bloating and water retention right before my period, and then on my first day, I pee a lot and by the second day the bloating is gone.
I felt tremendously better when I gave up dairy. I did try the gluten free for awhile, but it really didn't seem to be a problem for me. I do make my sourdough bread though which seems to really make a difference over store bought bread. I do find that if I eat too much bread or other starchy foods, I can still get constipated, so I really try to mix it up to balance different foods. Moderation seems to always be a good motto for me to go by.

Hi Foxface and everyone else,
I have not been diagnosed by a doctor with intussusception but I've ruled out most everything else at this point and my symptoms match. My question is whether or not those on this forum have seen any improvement with their intussusception doing the whole woman work?

Hi MWP - If you have found all the discussions on this topic (Christine has addressed it numerous times) using both the home page search, and the forum search, then I think you've exhausted the resources here, unless someone sees your post and chooses to respond. The word itself gets frequently misspelled, so you might be missing some references due to that. Sorry not to be of more help. - Surviving

Thank you for replying surviving 60. I'm still practicing the whole woman posture, as I do have other prolapsed organs, but I was hoping the posture could also help with the intussusception as well.

I 'm wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Also Happy New Year too.

I feel a bit better than I did before.

Hi cleo - thanks for checking in, glad to hear that you are feeling better. Keep in touch! Lots of love to you. - Surviving