Rectocele, rigid ring pessary and indigestion

Submitted by Alix on March 14, 2009 - 2:40pm
Body: 

I think my main problem is rectocele, although other things in there seem to be bulging too. I also have a long history of IBS with lots of bloating and pain, sometimes violent spasms. When I started using a rigid ring pessry, it seemed immediately to help a lot - I felt normal again (in action, though when I check manually the bulges are still bulging). But when I have an episode of indigestion, it feels as if the pessary might be causing it, or at any rate making it worse. Today I was uncomfortable all day, as my usual post breakfast bowel movement seemed to want to come but couldn't, and later came in agonisingly slow unsatisfactory installments throughout the afternoon. I seems to have spent hours sitting on the loo stopping myself from straining. I did wonder if the pessary was stopping my bowel from working properly.

Please has anyone else noticed a link between pessaries and digestive troubles? I did try a sponge, but it was very hard to get in and shot out again at the first opportunity.

Alix

March 14, 2009 - 2:45pm

My spasms are not anal like Gemommy's but in my diaphragm.

ChannelD

August 28, 2009 - 11:54am

Hi Alix;

I too have developed a rectocele since menopause (nearly one year to the week since my last period I began noticing these new developments "down there".) I also suffered from IBS through my life, and have spent many agonizing hours in the bathroom with terrible cramps and spasms. I wonder if there is a connection. It seems that frequent cramping and bearing down, straining and all, might start bending that old rectal canal where it should not bend? Are there any others out there with rectoceles who also suffered from IBS or other intestinal ailments?

Cynthia

Alix

August 28, 2009 - 2:13pm

I no longer think my pessary causes any discomfort whatever. I do wonder if having IBS with lots of bloating in itself creates pressure on my uterus etc and pushes things downwards (even though I never strain). It certainly often feels as if my abdomen has been blown up like a balloon and is ready to explode. I sometimes long for a vet to stick in a needle and let the gas out, as they do with cows, but I gather this doesn't work with humans.

mom30

September 4, 2009 - 6:07pm

Healthier without Wheat(A New Understanding of Wheat Allergies, Celiac Disease, And NON-CELIAC GLUTEN INTOLERANCE)

I just got this book, by Dr. Stephen Wangen. It discusses the various aliments associated with different food intolerances. I have gone off all gluten for the past few months and I have much better times in the bathroom. I was tested for Celiac disease, but came up negative. The doctor wanted me to have a defectogram done to see if it was from the prolapse, but I declined. I was having belly pains, and really didn't know what the defectogram was going to prove, other than that I have a rectocele which I already know.

Anyway, the book is really interesting. They have a website, where you could have certain blood tests done to see if you are intolerant of certain foods. I am really considering it. I am pretty sure I also have a dairy problem as well. But, for me it's really difficult to give up bread AND ice cream! lol!! But, that may be next.

I have also been taking Align, a probiotic that seems to help too.

ChannelD

January 5, 2010 - 8:46pm

I too suffered for many years with IBS. It seems perfectly logical to me that all those episodes of terrible pain and gas and diarrhea with the straining that went with it must have contributed to the rectocele. Two or three times a week I'd have a day when I was in and out of the bathroom, straining and straining.

Now I take an active probiotic every morning (one of the kind that have to be refridgerated because it is chock full of the lively little buggers) and I wash it down with a probiotic yogurt drink. It has almost completely eliminated (ha ha so to speak) the IBS. It is like a miracle. Now obviously this works for me because my original problems must have been caused by an insufficiency of these organisms. For someone else, whose IBS had different causes, another solution might be best. I can only speak for what works for me.

Cynthia