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Hi everyone...I'm new here! Please read and tell me if this is what you all experience......

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Irritable Bowel Syndrome
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Posted 7/23/2008 4:04 AM (GMT 0)

Well, well, well...where to start?

I have been dealing with painful pooping for many years now, but it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I realized that my problem was most likely IBS. Here are the things I experience when I am having an attack of IBS...please tell me if you experience the same.

Warning...may be graphic....or gross....

So, it start with an achy stomach and low back pain (similiar to menstrual cramps....I know you fellas know EXACTLY what I mean...lol)

Anyhoo...I start feeling very gassy and bloated.  I begin getting these SHOOTING abdominal cramps every so often, and that's when I run to the porcelain god.  Of course...it takes about 5 of these pain attacks before anything...ummmm....brown comes out....it's just urine the first 4-5 times.

Finally..that ONE big labor pain comes and off I run to the bathroom.  After about 10 minutes of grunting and pushing....my first whopper arrives with a thud....it's usually big and hard.  Congratulations to me, right? Wrong!  I know that this is just the beginning.  Over the next 15 minutes, my life (or butt) revolves around the toilet.  And while circulation is being cut off to my butt cheeks because of the toilet seat, I take the time to look around for a plastic wal-mart bag, an old maxi-pad bag, a toilet paper bag...or if none of these are present, I am forced to take the trash can next to my toilet and dump the contents out.  Why you ask?? Because this is when the rest of my litter starts coming.  While I'm having my contractions every 4-5 minutes with stool that gets softer each time, I have a baggie or bucket between my knees while water just POURS out of my mouth.  Then the back jaws start to get tight and clench, and i know that if I allow myself to gag, then it's gonna start coming out both ends.  So as I'm pooping, salivating, and hurting, I just try to breathe to ease the pain. 

After I have finished, and the toilet bowl is full, I feel much better. The problem? Now my poor little behind feels like it's on fire and it's time to get in the hot shower to comfort the poor little thing.

Do these symptoms sound to you like IBS?  I've never been formally diagnosed...but I'm pretty sure this is it.  I have attacks about 1 - 2 times per month...used to be more before I lost a bunch of weight....does anyone have these more or less often? Please tell me your experiences....

As for me...it's time for round three of the night to try and see if the fun listed above can begin!

Posted 7/23/2008 5:59 AM (GMT 0)
Hi and welcome to the board! :-)
For starters... WOW! That's quite a picture you paint. At least you have a sense of humor about it. I would be traumatized.
You really need to get checked out by a doctor. IBS isn't just explosive D once or twice a month, it's a daily battle with your gut. Lots of pain, gas and usually nausea as well. Vomiting isn't all that common with IBS either (it happens, but it's rare). Are your episodes happening just before or during your period? Terrible cramping with D, along with vomiting, at this time of the month is common for some.
I really encourage you to see your doctor about this.

Hopefully you were able to avoid the "fun" tonight. Good luck!!!
Posted 7/23/2008 2:19 PM (GMT 0)
Wow...

When you say water is pouring out of your mouth, do you mean you're throwing up? Or that you're salivating way too much? I sometimes get the ridiculous amounts of salivation when I have a particularly bad attack, but not as bad as you're describing.

I would definitely find a GI doctor and get yourself checked out. I don't know if you have IBS, but there's definitely something NOT RIGHT going on and you should probably see someone about it.

Hope you were able to get some rest and didn't have too much "fun" last night!
Posted 7/23/2008 6:49 PM (GMT 0)
I've had the water out of the mouth thing three times. I have IBS-C with severe pain in the evenings. All of last year and up 'til June of this year, I built my own house. The stress from my young kids, building the house and work caused my IBS pain to EXPLODE. A couple of the evenings I had to work through the pain. The only way I could do it was to get really angry and push myself physically until I finally became exhausted and threw up. about two minutes before I threw up, I salivated about a cup or more of fluid.
Posted 7/23/2008 8:45 PM (GMT 0)
Get your gall bladder checked out THOROUGHLY. You describe one of my toilet episodes almost exactly (only I didn't throw up--but I always had the trashcan nearby because I felt like I was about to). Even down to the burning and it coming in waves, like labor (I think--never been pregnant myself, but that's how I have always described it too). Is either your stool at the end or the vomit yellow or green in hue (the toliet paper is a better indicator of color than what's in the bowel)? That's a pretty definite sign of bile--and that just about only comes from a bad gall bladder.

Lil makes a good point of seeing if this times to part of your period or ovulation cycle. My cousin used to get so sick she'd throw up once a month. Always had to stay home at least one day because of it. It got better after she had kids and some types of birth control can usually help.
Posted 7/24/2008 5:09 AM (GMT 0)
Hi ev1 thanks for your comments. To answer some questions....

The water thing is hypersalivation. It doesn't last for the whole attack...just during the most painful "contractions". I have not noticed it being consistent at the times of the month it happens (like before or during my period) , but after I posted last night, I started thinking about what I had eaten before the attack started. Wouldn't ya know? I had eaten 3 slices of processed cheese...american singles. Now I'm thinking I need to stay away from all that processed crud. Today I ate nothing processed and have felt fine.

These attacks happen less frequently than they used to. I have had my gallbladder checked and there was nothing there. I have also never had an bleeding or black stools.

It starts as a constipated feeling. Finally, something will break loose, and then all the soft and diarrhea stool comes after that in waves for about the next 15 minutes. But never anything green or weird looking. Usually just light brown.

Thanks ev1 for you comments!
Posted 7/24/2008 3:53 PM (GMT 0)
I had my gall bladder checked three times before it showed up as bad. HIDA scans can definitely give false negatives and ultrasounds are not even half the picture when done alone.

But the cheese connection is interesting. One, cheese is naturally constipating, so that might be some of the problem and two, have you considered you might be lactose intolerant? It can cause sudden sickness like this.
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