Firstly i want to say. I do not go one day without blessing each day and the fact that i am still here! i feel very fortunate to have survived.
However. the radiation treatments on my pelvic region i went through for my cervical cancer are still having an impact on my life. i feel surely i must not be alone.?
I have an embarrasing condition with my bowel. and lately it seems to be much worse. so much so i broke down at work today and had to come home.:(
i have a chronic bowel condition. my life revovles around the bathroom, a never ending supply of imodium and stress which is a double ended sword!
over the years i have figured out what the triggers are to my ongoing trips to the bathroom! alcohol is an absolute NO NO~ spicy, greasy fatty foods, stress, lack of sleep. too much sleep.. not enough exercise..and the list goes on.
i am seeing a dr tomorrow and asking to see a dietician as i know i cannot manage this on my own anymore.....
is there anyone out there who has the same experience!....anything to offer in the way of reassurance!...i am so worried that they will want to operate and put me on a bag. the condition is getting that bad that i am actualy starting to think is that the answer so i can go on with a somewhat normal life..? there are many things i do not do because...what if!?! there is no bathroom near by..:(
I am so vey sorry to hear that you are suffering the full force of what the leaflets euphemistically describe as "a few problems later on". I went through that sort of Immodium in handbag, where's the nearest loo?, must take own supply of tissue everywhere in case none provided, immediately after I'd gone through the Chemo/RT to my pelvis. I can therefore understand how you are feeling. The friend, whom I met whilst having Brachytherapy, suffered much worse and for far longer than me with this (although she just had RT). However she is a survivor, and I'm not supposed to be.
I really hope that the doctors can sort you out. I think there is something called re-sectioning, an operation they can do to the bowel remove a short piece which is damaged, and may be causing you all the trouble. Obviously we get quite a hammering with the RT, and it's a fair warning from you what can happen further down the line. I just hope they do take you seriously and that you do get help - because I know what a strain it is to live like tha just for a short time. Please let us know what happens. However, at the end of this message I want to say Congratulations for beating te Cervical Cancer! Well done, Ocean! xxxx Penny
i have been wondering about that. and then i remembered a friend who had a section of her bowel removed after a car accident. she didnt' need the colostomy bag..which has been my greatest fear.
tho i do need to say here however..in case someone reads this who does need one. that i have another friend who lives with a colostomy bag and she manages quite well! i had been friends with her for something like 5 years and didnt' even know she had one! ( we were neighbours so i saw her often)
my fear about it is ....another operation! i have had enough of them. i just not long ago had one to remove an ovarian cyst on the ovary the surgeon left behind 17 years ago to help me not go through menopause...umm didn't work. but that is another story for another day.
I had a realy good nights sleep last night and am feeling a bit better about things this morning. i am ringing my dr' practise at 9am this morning to see if i can get an extra appointment as she isn't in till next tuesday.
does anyone know of anything other than imodiom that can be taken..??? i realy need to get back to work.....:(
Can understand your reluctance with operation, as you have been through the mill already. Yes, I have ovarian cyst as well, which they were going to treat "next" until they realised they had added 2 + 2 and only made 2. As soon as they realised that they should have told me Scale 4, they said they "wouldn't bother" with the cysts. Now I'm waiting to see if they burst and kill me before the cancer does! :}
Glad you had good night's sleep. Lack of sleep has very negative effect on morale, doesn't it, and everything looks worse at 2am. :
yes there is a product called Lomotil over here..which i found out at the pharmcay and not at the drs.
i couldn't see my reg GP as she wasn't in..so they squeezed me in with someone else. my whole reason for going was that i wanted something stronger to STOP it...she gives me some script for something else that doesn't stop it..but binds everything up in there....i found out about the lomotil at the pharmacy when she asks..umm do you have gall bladder problems..i am like NO..she says hmmmm i am surprised she didnt' give you lomotil!..like what the!?!?!?
so anyways...today i start on this other medication stuff and see if that will help..as i am OFF the imidium to have a break from it..and then see if it will start working again.
easy for them..in the meanwhile i can't go to work or leave the house..lucky my boss is soooo understanding!!
i see my reg Doc next week! should get it more sorted out then. in the meanwhile i now have some tests to take in and hopefully get the results back ASAP to see that nothing else is going on in there. in my favor..there is no bleeding and no signficant weight loss.
Glad to you have managed to get something that will work. Lomotil is the one you have to be very careful to drink plenty of water with, I think, as it can be dangerous to get dehydrated with it. Good news that there is no other significant change. Hope the digestive tract is back to behaving itself asap. xxx Penny
have just got back from pharmacy with a stock of CHOLESTYRAMINE....at first i was a bit taken back by it.
but being the type of person i am ..i asked my pharmacist a zillion questions..and have just been scanning and reading what i can online.
i think this may help. time will tell of course..but i am willing to give it a go..and do it with an open attitude. today has been a not so bad day..and my emotions are leveling out..thank god!!
i will post back here anything that changes and as i go along with it.
i get some test results back tomorrow..but i am feeling very positive about them.
i have not had any imodium, nor needed any for over 5 days now! that is a miracle..as not one day in the last 17 years have i gone without it. i know i am still taking something..but it is giving me somewhat of a normal expreince with that end of things. i think i just need to sort out the dosage..maybe even just a half a pack a day! as ..can i can't believe i am going to say this..but i have been a litte errr constipated......LOL>>LOL..sorry cant' help but laugh..been a long time since i can say that word.
i was feeling a bit stressed about the whole * need a break* from it..but the new medication seems to be working.
i have a bit more energy, have lost a bit of weight, and feel more normal in my emotions etc. finaly.
mind you that is if i even know what normal is anymore! i even am feeling inspired to eat more healthy aswell. when i see the doc tomorrow tho i am still asking to see a dietician and see if i can get some good advice on some things.
phew..thank God for another miracle...finger crossed it stays this way.
I get lovely mental picture of jade green seas when I type your name: have you just invented Word Therapy? Glad to hear you have somethng else to try, and that in any case, you are are recovering. Do you think it could have been a bad stoumach bug all along? Keep us posted! xxx Penny
hi (((penny))) well i don't think so now but will wait and see..there has been a lot of stress factors around me for quite a while..nothing dramatic..just the way life takes us sometimes.
i think i have been caught up in a vicious circle of stress/ loo visits/stress etc etc...i think you get the picture.
a few things....
i see my reg doc tomorrow,
i get some results sometime this week to see if i have had a germ in my gut etc..or if there is something else going on.
and i think an over use of imodium hasn't been helping. i was not aware that it can actualy stop working! hence the break off it and the trying the cholestyrium( or whatever it is called again..;)
the condition has been gradualy getting worse over the last year..and anytime i was feeling the slightest say normal work load stress or home stress..( husband/family/step kids etc etc) it realy aggravated it.
i say...Breathe Breathe Breathe!!!
i am now ready to go back to meditation if i can find a group here..( recently moved to new country, new town, new job, you name it)..i never do things by halves...hehee
will keep you posted on how things pan out this week...:)
and word therapy!...well i am a rec therapist..i devise therapy programmes for people with dementia and the elderly..:0) i LOVE my job.
maybe i can think of some word therapy for them. ;)
I can only go by my own experience I'm no expert lol when I was having problems my physio explained to me about fibre and the difference between soluble and insoluble and how the balance of both is vital. I take 2 imodium half an hour before I eat in the morning, I only do this every other day or I get very constipated and then tear myself when I try and go to the loo.. Vicious circle! So between balancing my fibre and taking imodium I'm sort of coping with it. Some days are better than others but the bad days are getting lesser. I was really sore most of last week as I was finding it hard to go but it's been grand this week. I find fatigue plays a large part too even more so than diet, if I'm tired my stomach will be more runny which was the case for a few weeks before I got bound up. This week I've been able to do a little exercise each day, apart from today I'm having to rest because I've the shakes and my eyes are burning so I know I've overdone it. It's trying to balance so many different balls to get everything working is the hardest thing! Aloe Vera juice is good too if you just add a little to juice in the morning. Hope your symptoms ease soon x
