non erosive gastritis

I have been experiencing regular bowel movements every evening with the help of metamucil and 100 mg magnesium in my multi vitamin.

I recently had a colonoscopy and endoscopy. All was normal except my endoscopy showed mild gastritis. 

My problem is when I move my bowels it takes me 1/2 hr - 45 min to finish. I was experiencing my bowels to be small hard marbles.. Since using magnesium and sometimes colace to soften them, the hardness is not as bad.. But I am still in bathroom emptying out for a very long period of time..

I work full time and cannot leave my desk for a long length of time to be in bathroom.

I was thinking of taking a probiotic pill daily as I do not eat yogurt.. I cannot eat dairy, fried, or greasy foods and have not eaten these products in many years as they were the culprit of giving me a race to the bathroom and being almost diarhhea. Wheat breads also gave me very loose bowels.. I do eat pasta with no problem and fruits and veggys.

Anyone have any suggestions to help me thru this as my doctor  is not helping me to resolve this.. 

Thank you

Lynne

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to move my bowels in a shorter time period

Thankyou for your response Marcy. Unfortunately I do not drink tea.. I never have liked it and cannot swallow it.

Colace worked to make me softer but I cannot empty out quickly.. I cannot continue to be in bathroom 1/2 - 45 min and sometimes back again.  Its an ongoing problem and all my doctor recommendations are not shortening my stay in bathroom.

Most people can move their bowels and be out of bathroom quickly - 5 10- min would be acceptable to me but it never happens that fast.. Why I cannot get the bowels to empty out, I do not understand.. I am 63 and weigh 100 lbs.. I have good eating habits - like I mentioned before.. no junk food, etc...

Did you ever have or hear of anyone who is stuck in bathroom for a long time until they were finished moving their bowels?   Frustrating !  I eat well and great nite sleep 8-9 hrs.. and no answers.

I have been told to eat more bulk - breads, meat, things that will stick to me so I dont lose weight and it doesnt help my situation.

Any other ideas?  Would love to hear from you.

thank you

Lynne

hi Marsky

Yes I have tried everything.. And you are right. Not to experiment before my next day of work.

The enema thing could help but not keen on doing it... I really want to try a probiotic pill daily since I do not eat or like Yogurt ad it seems I need good bacteria in my body . I do not eat sugar except the little that is in my foods.. Very little though.. I do not have diabetes so sugar is not a problem but seems to be a stimulant if eat it so I basiclally eat a healthy diet..  But again, moving my bowels quicker than what I have went thru is NOT workig. 

I have appt with my regular dr tomorrow whom I work for and see if he has any suggestions.. May G.I dr wanted me to try a colon clean out but I used that for my colonoscopy prep.. I would prefer to get me normal and regulated a natural way - by eating better and not stuck in bathroom.  I dont want to NOT eat because I am going out.. which I have done past 6 months. I would skip breakfast and lunch, excpet for a little fruit and lots of water and so thatmy first meal of day was not going to react on me but of course that has failed sometimes..

Didyou ever try a probiotic pill or do you eat yogurt?

Thanks for you suggestions.

Lynne

I looked up more info on the Fleet's Natural enemas, they are designed for cleansing only and can be used daily. You could try one in the evening after dinner to clear out the gunk and it might give you a normal output day, the following day (which would be a workday). Anyway, don't rule this type of enema out, because it's not harsh like the saline or mineral oil ones (for medical procedures).

I also now take a daily probiotic pill. I used to eat at least 3 cups of Brown Cow organic yogurt cups a day, but I realized by gleaning info from the Ulcerative Colitis forum here that even if you eat a gallon of organic yogurt (organic has the highest count of good bacteria), it wouldn't total what you can take in a probiotic pill.

That said, I take Renew Life, Critical Colon, 80 Billion count, found in the chilled section at my local health food store, near yogurt. Somewhere along the way - probably the UC forum here at HW - someone said to take the pill on a completely empty stomach so I take mine at bedtime. The pill is enterically coated so it won't dissolved until it gets to the lower colon, just where I need good bacteria and where you might need it as well Lynn. I've been on this probiotic for over a year now. It does seem to level things out for me and I see improvement when I'm on it. Sometimes I take two a day, one several hours after breakfast if I think I need extra protection.

Renew Life offers lower count probiotics which of course are cheaper. But the 80 Billion count (Aqua colored box) one seems to be what I need (costs about $42 for a 30 count bottle). Look up the entire Renew Life line of products online before you head to your local health food store, you can also read customer reviews on their products. Which I find helpful also.

Post Edited (Marsky) : 6/26/2011 8:52:16 AM (GMT-6)

Lynne - no you can't continue living like this with 2 jobs. That has to be difficult to manage. I feel for you.

Might I suggest you read topics over on the Ulcerative Colitis forum here? While you don't have their exact symptoms, they're a very nice group of people who offer advice, numerous suggestions and approaches to living with UC, it's where I learned about the Renew Life products.

It is my firm belief that managing any bowel syndrome or disease is multi layered, listen to your doctor but also glean info from online message boards, read topics from real patients, what they struggle with, how they manage their specific symptoms, etc. What works for one, may not work for another but for nothing more than not feeling so isolated with your current health situation, these forums are useful, IMHO. And you may find a suggestion from one patient who would help you the most.

If I had listened to my doctors years ago I'd be eating anything I wanted and taking 12 immodium pills per day. That is not a way to live! BTW, I tried that and it made my life a living hell.

For some reason, my bio is missing under my name - perhaps our bio's are disabled right now - I just want to add that my health situation - multiple bm's per day, for life - are from having had colon cancer, existing now w/o my sigmoid and 15 inches of my colon and also complicating matters is living w/o my gall bladder (although I have never experienced the yellow bile output, just occasional all out dumping episodes that can last for hours, leaving me completely void of stool, much like a bowel prep would work).

Hang in there, hoping the probiotic helps you immensely!

Mary/Marsky