Incomplete bowel evacuation

Posted by emily @emilystewart30, Oct 3 8:15pm

In fall 2020, I started feeling constipated when I ignored the urge to have a bowel movement. I didn’t seek relief afterwards, and I didn’t do anything to try to relieve the constipation. Since then I’ve felt constipated, but I’m not sure if constipated is the right word because I’m going most days.

Most days I’ll have decent sized bowel movements, but when I go I feel like there is more stool in me, and like I’m not getting total relief when I go. I don’t know if constipation is the right word because it’s not like I’m not going, but when I go I feel like I’m not letting everything out, or like there is stool in me that is too hard to get out on my own.

It seems like I’ve gone through cycles with my bowels, like I’ll be constipated for a few days and don’t go much, and then I’ll be consistently going most days for maybe a week or two or more, and then I start feeling like there’s something /more stool in me that I need to get out but it’s either too hard to get out on my own or like it would hurt too much. Usually after I get that feeling, I won’t go for maybe a few days or so, and then I’ll slowly start getting back to going everyday, and the cycles repeated.

I saw a nurse practitioner spring last year, and she mentioned to try taking meta mucil everyday for a month and see if that helps, and if not then follow up with a GI doctor or someone like that. I didn’t take the meta mucil, but I’ve been hesitant to do that because I don’t know if it’d make how I’m feeling worse. I’ve been hesitant to try the meta mucil because I don’t know if it would cause me to feel like I need to go but nothing comes out. In the past I tried prune juice and maybe drinking a lot of water at once, and after I did that it was like it softened some of my stool, but like it didn’t completely solve the problem and I felt like there was stool that was maybe too hard for the prune juice to affect.

Does anyone have advice about this, or know what could possibly be causing this? I feel frustrated with this because I’ve let it go on and haven’t dealt with it, but also because I don’t know what’s wrong, and if somethings wrong. I don’t even know if constipation is the right word because I am going most days, but I feel like something else isn’t right.

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mostlyjackie | @mostlyjackie | Oct 5 7:27am

This is similar to what I'm experiencing and after visiting a GI doctor, I just chalk it up to " my new normal." He did suggest that women who gave birth to big babies, with or without an episiotomy often have this complaint years later. If that's the case, I'm not sure what the cure is.

frouke | @frouke | Oct 5 8:50am

emily, I have read your message about what you’re going through and I must say that it sounds a little bit like a problem I’m having for about 2-3 months, I have some more symptoms but I do have the same feeling of having a bowel movement and not feeling that everything came out. I also tried Metamucil but it made me feel bloated all the time, you’re required to drink copious amounts of water with this product otherwise it can cause blockage, I did use Restoralax for a week and it worked but once I stopped it came back, the symptom I’m having trouble with is a constant burning sensation in the rectum, it’s so frustrating and makes sitting down very uncomfortable, I have a colonoscopy booked in a few weeks and I’m very nervous to get the results, sometimes too much researching is not always a good thing.

emily | @emilystewart30 | Oct 5 7:21pm

In reply to @mostlyjackie "This is similar to what I'm experiencing and after visiting a GI doctor, I just chalk..." + (show)

@mostlyjackie I’m sorry that you’re experiencing this too. I haven’t given birth though

emily | @emilystewart30 | Oct 5 7:24pm

In reply to @frouke "emily, I have read your message about what you’re going through and I must say that..." + (show)

@frouke I’m sorry that you’re experiencing this, it isn’t fun. I hope that the colonoscopy comes back clear and alright. Could you update me about the colonoscopy if you feel comfortable/want to?

Lisa Lucier, Moderator | @lisalucier | Oct 5 10:21pm

In reply to @emilystewart30 "I’ve been feeling constipated since fall 2020, and I’m going almost everyday, but I almost always..." + (show)

@emilystewart30

I’ve been feeling constipated since fall 2020, and I’m going almost everyday, but I almost always feel like I’m not getting everything out. Sometimes I’ve felt like I needed to go, but it was too hard to push or it would hurt too much to get out on my own.

Maybe last summer, I started having a feeling of fullness right below my chest. This feeling would come and go, and I’ve wondered if it was related to doing an exercise type activity where I was putting pressure on my back. Maybe last fall, I started having pain either in my chest or right below my chest (like near my sternum), that has come and gone. Sometimes it felt like the pain would radiate to my back, or I would feel the pain in my arm.

Since then I think I’ve stopped having pain in my chest, but there’s times when I feel like I have a pain maybe below my sternum, or maybe above my stomach but not in my chest. When I get this pain/feeling, it scares me and makes me think something is wrong. It seems like the pain doesn’t really last, but I don’t know if it truly doesn’t last or if I’m trying to get myself to ignore it and stay distracted in my mind so I won’t feel it.

Maybe 2-3 days ago I was washing something outside, and the next day I woke up with my back feeling sore, but it kinda felt deeper than just my back. This evening I was sitting and eating, and all of a sudden I felt the pain or uncomfortable feeling maybe near my sternum. It didn’t last long, but it scared me for a while after that because I don’t know If something’s wrong.

Sometimes when I have this feeling/pain, it feels like it’s more than just stress and it’s physical. Sometimes it gives me the urge to have a bowel movement, and like after having the feeling I feel like I need to go.

Does anyone know what this could be? When I have the feeling, I’ve thought about maybe going somewhere but I’ve been feeling this way off and on for months/possibly close to a year. I have a doctors appointment later this month too, but in the past I haven’t brought this up.

Jump to this post

@emilystewart30 - just to let you know I moved your post to join with this one you started previously which also talks about constipation.

Has anything gotten in the way of your talking about this to your doctor before?

boriesmom | @boriesmom | Oct 6 12:08am

For the last few years I had days of constipation and then I’d be fine , now for the last several months I’ve had that but then a couple days of diarrhea then back to the constipation so I was told , in GI dept to take Metamucil or Citracel, and mix it with MiraLAX each evening, Which I did ; I called it my evening cocktail. It made for looser stools, but still had days of constipation each week , a little soft stool now and then , then a couple days of diarrhea and staying home. That pattern persisted. So then I had a CT via urgent care because I had lower left ab pain, and stopped by there, they ruled out diverticulitis; referred me to my MD, (oh, I did have a colonoscopy last winter which I’ve had every three years. There’s always polyps some benign some precancerous. So I return now in 5 years. Vs 3. Hmm.). So ok. Met with my MD , he said he’s just not a G.I. doctor and referred me back to the G.I. department. There they told me to do a total cleanse and then start a medication, called Lubiprostone and. Stop completely the Metamucil and MiraLAX A; I was also taking Ducolex at times and an enzyme. Am to Stop all that. And in the last year I have been put on metForman and a beta blocker. For other issues. Life!! So they are I assume treating this as IBS, though not sure as I was told it is difficult to diagnose. Friends with similar issues and different MD’s have done the FodMap way of eating and have changed what they eat, some are doing the Metamucil, MiraLAX drink, some do probiotics and pre iotics. Due to the painful bloating I use a probiotic, Too. I neglected to mention that to the GI folk so not sure what they’d say. The cleanse was just this weekend. I start that medication tomorrow. So.. now I read where Mayo has various tests they do regarding issues as mine and the FodMap is discussed and friends of Mine who have a mayo GI have used that…along with Miralax, Metamucil! so thinking if this does not straighten out I will contact Mayo GI. My cardiologist is with Mayo as is my spine/back MD…so why not go there for GI issues? I have decided GI issues are diverse and treatments are just as diverse for each of us. And all frustrating to figure out and takes time to obtain a remedy that gives us a more normal life again,

rashida | @rashida | Oct 6 11:01am

In reply to @boriesmom "For the last few years I had days of constipation and then I’d be fine ,..." + (show)

@boriesmom

Jump to this post

@boriesmom each body reacts differently to different treatments and medications, so what works for one, doesn’t for another. Trial and error, I guess. 🤷🏼‍♀️

emily | @emilystewart30 | Oct 6 11:31am

In reply to @lisalucier "@emilystewart30 - just to let you know I moved your post to join with this one..." + (show)

@lisalucier sometimes I think I haven’t because I want to think I’m fine and I’ve been living with how I’m feeling. I think I’ve also been hesitant to because I don’t know what’s wrong and if there’s something really wrong, and I haven’t been honest with my doctor about my bowels

Lisa Lucier, Moderator | @lisalucier | Oct 6 11:48am

In reply to @emilystewart30 "@lisalucier sometimes I think I haven’t because I want to think I’m fine and I’ve been..." + (show)

@emilystewart30 - I hear ya. I think I always thought I was honest with my doctor. However, I found myself really hesitant to either know what was really going on or share what I'd seen at home in certain situations that were more embarrassing or serious in recent years. For example:

1. I had an unexpected diagnosis of a neuroendocrine tumor thought to be a polyp till it was tested in the lab in my very first colonoscopy. I had lots of scans and other tests after that to test for residual cancer. I think I just wanted to be fine, which sometimes caused me to do things like cry my eyes out during a scan, lest they find any more cancer. I just didn't want to hear that.

2. I took semaglutide (Wegovy), which caused me to have chronic diarrhea. It got so bad that I had a couple of incidents of fecal incontinence in my bed. I was humiliated and didn't want to tell even my sweet husband, cause that was horribly embarrassing. I didn't want to tell my primary care doctor, either. But I eventually told them both. Very humbling, yes. I was offered anal manometry by my doctor, which I declined, cause I knew it was only due to the medication. That turned out to be true.

3. I had to explain to my primary care doctor about some memory issues lately after my teenage son said to me multiple times, "You told me about that before, Mom," or some version of that. I didn't really want to go down the memory issues road and have to undergo testing, or forbid that I be told I had early dementia of some kind. Instead, my doctor said that the kind of memory issues I had at times were just "busy working mom brain."

So, I've basically forced myself to explain nerve-wracking, embarrassing things to my doctor, and undergone testing that could have had really scary results I didn't want to know. Not at all fun, but I do think ultimately good things came of it.

What are your feelings about talking with your doctor about your bowel issues at your upcoming appointment?

peggyp2 | @peggyp2 | Oct 7 3:23pm

I boil water with teaspoon of sugar and pink salt add lemon and drink first thing in the morning it’s working after a few days lots cheaper than drugs

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