Anyone else have a Redundant / Tortuous Colon?

@sallyw133 My Gastro could not help me with foods, but was good about diagnosing.
My nutritionist is Jane Schwartz, janeschwartz.rd@
gmail.com. She’s in Princeton NJ
I am adding more regular meals slowly, but still strict

What is MCT oil? I’ve asked my gi a number of times about diet changes and never get an answer. Maybe my new one will be more receptive. I wish I could get the name of your nutritionist if she does virtual, but not sure how that works disclosing info on here.

I’m happy to share my progress. After reading about tortuous colon, I think my condition came from straining. I’ve had IBS for years, it’s common with fibromyalgia. I’ve been pretty regular and a cup of coffee usually did it for me every morning. I’ve read diet has something to do with it also but there are many contributing factors. For me, I’m going to learn what I can do to live with this condition and use what works for me. Drinking a lot of water has been a big help! It’s different for everyone. Try not to overwhelm yourself and do what you can to get things moving. Obviously we need this part of our bodies to function on a regular basis, but it might take a little time to find what works for you. Right now, senna softeners are helping until I apply better methods! Try not to let stress make things worse! I know it’s difficult sometimes when we don’t get the answers we feel we should be getting, but you will find what helps now that you know what’s going on.

I just went through this this week. My gi is out of state so my local hospital won’t accept orders. I have been backed up for days & had to ask my pcp to order an X-ray. I have explained to the nurse twice that they had to have them specifically look at my colon to see how much stool was in there. I went for the X-ray & told the tech the same thing. That night the nurse calls to tell me there are no gas pockets! Many things wanted to come out of my mouth! So I asked if there was anything about stool? Mind you, I’m in Walmart. Oh, no obstruction! What about large amount in descending colon? Oh it just says something about retained stool. That was as good as I was going to get. My pcp, who I have only had since January, and I constantly battle over this. I tell him I just need a simple X-ray to see how much stool is in my colon so I know how much stuff to take. My gi can’t order. Besides, my gi has basically told me he can’t manage my constipation. I’d have to call him every other day. I have to do this on my own. Yes, if it gets severe, I will go to the ER, but I can’t go there every time I can’t poop! He just can’t seem to get that! Sorry to rant for so long, but honestly. I was totally ready to jump through the phone!

In response to hopeful2:

To answer your question about Raynaud's. As a slender woman, now seriously underweight (unknown cause), I experienced Raynaud's in my fingertips when hiking in the cold as a young person. Now in my late 70's, it occurs daily - not necessarily because my hands are cold. Unfortunately it no longer easily responds to my wiggling fingers or aplying heat and rubbing until it relents an hour later. I never correlated it to my redundant colon that I think is mostly inherited and then is exacerbated by strain bms that caused my inguinal hernia.

Sorry if this is tmi. If you find a correction with Raynauds vascular malfunction and tortuous colon, please share.

I've been following this thread about tortuous colon since I was diagnosed after a colonoscopy fall 2021. The symptoms seem to come and go but mostly show up as a combination of constipation/bloating and diarrhea. This is what I believe is happening - I'm rehearsing it here before I run it by my internal medicine doc.

The tight bend in the colon blocks stool from getting through (constipation/bloating) and then when slightly loosened a watery stool gets by (diarrhea). The pain comes when it is mostly blocked. Miralax for the constipation just makes the diarrhea much worse. I am fairly small (110#) and narrow. My hips and hip flexors are tight in spite of 3x weekly yoga and lots of walking. The descending colon is right behind the hip flexor and psoas muscle runs through there somewhere too. A pelvic floor specialist has me doing hip openers to stretch the area and also self-massage of the transverse to descending colon. I've been doing all these things and still have episodes of pain and bloating. A physical therapist I am seeing for structural pelvic imbalance which causes me hip/pelvic and leg pain, tried reflexology (foot massage) on the side of the descending colon and I got some relief which lasted only 1 day. Some of this is bound up with stress and anxiety so I take a hot bath (when I have time) and rest and relax. It seems there is no easy answer but I will check out the diet mentioned. Thanks!

Thank you for your encouragement and suggestions. I have had fibromyalgia for 40 years now, so I am an old war horse. This whole thing puzzles me because I ate only organic food and cooked my own for 35 years. Lots of fresh fruits and vegies, only whole grains and very lean meat. I'll check out the food websites just in case there is something I am doing that is fundamentally wrong. I want to follow your progress, if possible, since we have the same diagnosis timeline.