Anyone else have a Redundant / Tortuous Colon?

cazza, have you tried a mostly liquid diet to ameliorate your symptoms?

I was told I have this also. I have severe constipation then episodes of severe cramping, diarrhea, and vomiting. It’s some of the worst pain ever. It feels like I can actually feel the feces move thru the colon until I have a bowel movement. The episodes generally last about 4 hours then I sleep the entire day. I had an “episode” on an airplane once and you talk about humiliating. The flight attendant busted the door open because he wanted me to come out of the bathroom and I kept telling him I couldn’t and he kept saying I had to and I’m sitting in the toilet with diarrhea and vomiting in the sink at the same time. The pilot then told my husband they were going to make an emergency landing and my husband refused and tried to explain my situation. So then the pilot said they would get an ambulance ready at our destination and again my husband refused and explained it’s a chronic condition and it will pass. I was embarrassed and my husband could have just died, once we landed, my husband looked out the window and there sat an ambulance. I don’t know if it was coincidence or what but thank goodness they let me off that plane. I’m terrified to fly now because of this incident.

I have chronic idiopathic constipation and a redundant colon. Two years ago, my gastroenterologist recommended a new capsule called Vibrant. When a capsule is electronically charged and swallowed in creates parastatals in the colon, thereby pushing the stool along the colon. Most of the time it works very well for me and prevents constipation. Is anyone else using this? There are drawbacks which I won’t go into in my initial post.
Adrienne

I have been diagnosed with a tortuous colon (via a colonoscopy) and am totally enema and laxative dependent, so I'm excited to hear about Vibrant! Would love to hear more about it. Thank you for your post.

It’s comforting to find others dealing with the same issue. Let me know if you have any questions.
Adrienne

I, too, have tortuous colon. I’ve finally found what works for me. Constipation is my enemy. What’s working for me is fiber capsules, Miralax, and stool softener, plus a daily treat of raw carrots and celery. I also manipulate my colon by massaging my belly, to help the stool to pass. I take too many meds already and don’t want to add others if I don’t have to.

Hello Carol and others,
Best of luck, I have great empathy for you, the uncertainty is stressful. Good luck with your REGULARITY!!!

Disclaimer: This is only my experience going natural. I have used organic, integrative, functional, holistic Naturopathic doctor's advice along with my MD’s since the early 1980's. There is science in alternatives too.
I work closely with my ND, he said the Migrating Motor Complex and Osmotic Gradient are important. He bet I would find what worked for me. Goal: how to keep a longer than normal pipe consistently moist…. My ND also said attention would be needed from now on.

Before my ND's encouragement to find my own solution, I tried laxatives = not consistent + side effects like bloating, etc. All say for occasional use. They disrupt the system if taken continuously. I liked a co-redundant colon person said: “It’s physical” so regular constipation suggestions may not work. For me oatmeal and psyllium husks constipate so it is possible that laxatives you take may work opposite the way intended?? Don’t give up. It took me 4 months to feel I could depend on being regular. It is worth going natural. It has been over a year since then that I have been blissfully regular + have a back up of coffee and occasional Smooth Move when needed. Note: volume is twice as much each morning than before my regularity work over.

Dec 2023 doc did non sedated colonoscopy. I watched on TV. I had had a baby years ago (natural and could stand pain) so it was no big deal. Most people in world don't get put out. Very interesting and allowed scope to get through because I relaxed. He showed me the redundancy. No wonder I had been constipation on and off starting in my teens. I’m now in my early 70’s.

Start with keeping a record of your BM's. You probably have a chart of the way they look and which is best, that + our motility is slower. Because of the colon loops my husband and I thought about consistent moisture. For me I take magnesium, potassium and salt at night (I run low blood pressure so be careful if yours is high) Record, appearance, time, what foods you ate, amount, ease or not, stress state, water for the day, food, etc for a close look for your exact body. I would observe especially what I did on the great REGULARITY days and see if I could repeat it. Taking the warm water and ground seed goop in the morning and the supplements in the middle of the night was the key that brought consistency to my REGULARITY.

Throw sugar out along with processed and refined foods. Look up foods and drinks that constipate and give them up, at least as a test. OptiMag and K2+ Potassium are great supps. I take them when I go to bed and once in the night (important to keep colon moisture consistent). I include prunes/prune juice, winter squash, sweet potatoes, rhubarb etc in my diet. I eat cups of steamed vegetables each day. I grind 2T chia, 1 T sesame seeds and 2 T flax seeds, then soak in prune juice overnight. I add a T or two of carob now since it can help regularity. Take all in the morning. Drink lot of water starting with a quart of hot water in the morning - boy scouts. I drink warmed up diluted chicken broth at times too. It is soothing to my stomach. Have heard kiwi's are good but haven't tried them. Coffee and Smooth Move are my back ups. I don't like coffee and never have drunk it much but it usually works for me in a pinch. Thankfully I only need coffee a few times a month. I depend on this for daily REGULARITY first "chore" each morning. I am an early riser and when off the farm I don't want to wonder if I will have REGULARITY.

Check out helpful research of biological processes that take place in our gut:
- Migrating Motor complex which is the electroactivity in the GI tract during meals and fasting times between.
- Osmotic gradient. If too much water is pulled into the colon, diarrhea results. If not enough water is pulled into the colon constipation results. Balance of minerals is important. Magnesium, potassium and sodium brings water into the colon. I have found balancing these help prevent constipation. I have to watch my calcium supplement intake because it tends to encourage constipation. Calcium carbonate seems to be the most constipating. I depend on blood work from time to time to make sure my minerals are balanced.

Oh and letting stress go is important too - I know how scary it can be. Golly it seems there is no hope for relief but it is worth looking at diet and trying lifestyle changes that can help. Good luck, @farmersmith

I also have tortuous bowel, 3 extra twisted folded loops in my sigmoid colon, and like you a lot of diarrhea since about 30yrs old. The older i get, the worse it is since the bowel atrophies as you age...and i am close to 70. I suppose it also depends where your elongations are but here is what I have done. 1) I kept a meticulous food diary of everything that went in and what came out for 4 yrs (thats a lot of time lol). Also I checked my transit time first by eating a lot of beets at a meal to see how long it took to come out the other end. This helped know my transit time so that i could relate it to what i ate and the result at the other end. 2) I found that a high percentage of Soluable fiber foods (not Insoluable fiber which can be irritating) at every single meal was important, although a mix of different types of fibers is generally healthy. Also not to break down the soluable fiber by over cooking it. High soluable fiber is in oatmeal, root vegetables, hard crispy flesh fresh apples etc. Insoluable is in hard husks, skins, roughage, which can irritate an already irritated bowel. 3) Avoid strong spices, herbs ok and any other kind of irritant ie alcohol, vinegar, pepper, citrus etc. 4) Some fat/oil (tsp?) at each meal to keep things moving. 4) Keep drinking and keep moving when able.
Also there are somewhat different diets that work better with different blood types in general. So if you know your blood type that helps for food trials. I am blood type A so grains in general work well (but not a lot of animal food) whereas not for blood type 0 which doesnt do well with a lot of starch but good with meat. In the mornings I eat oatmeal, boiled prunes, heaping tbsp ground chia, a crisp apple half peeled, carrot/beet/parsnip lightly roasted and chewed to a pulp, scrambled egg. Morning meal seems especially important. I think they are discovering now that cooled resistant starches (refrigerated after cooking) are also helpful for the colon. These are starches that resist digestion in the small bowel and make it to the colon. So particular soluable fibers that are also resistant starches may be helpful. At one point i had GF noodles that were elastic and gummy from some kind of additive or combination of additives not listed that must have created some kind of resistant starch that made it to the colon and helped both form and stretched to move through twists. If the additive is 1% or less it is not required to be listed in Canada. Those noodles had brought me out of 7yrs of diarrhea but they changed them and they arent the same consistency anymore and so no longer work.

ps. Also take a good human sourced probiotic like Genestra Intensive/IBS at the end of first big meal of day to help maintain healthy microbiome. It has only the main microbes common to everyone. Also cooking your own meals from scratch during food trials helps determine what is working or not working. Bought food items have many ingredients and additives so it is complicated to figure out. Warning: Psyllium fiber generally does not work well with this condition and can cause impacted bowel from turning into hard ball in colon. This happened to me and I landed in Emerg. It could not be removed with enemas because of twists. Eventually it came out with great pain and bleeding.

Hello! Newly diagnosed tortuous colon at 74! I have struggled with constipation/gut pain/diverticulitis for 20 years, but had a 12 hour gastric bleed/mucous mix in November to get a colonoscopy yesterday!
Interesting reading your comments- now I begin to journal and worry about the kids and grandkids that ended up with infrequent bowel movements, as it seems to be familial. Any other tips for the newbie?