Bowel Movements

Hi

When I was younger, in school, I only needed to have 1 bowel movement a day in the mornings.

However since I have been diagnosed with UC I have between 1 and 3 bowel movements a day.

This has made me feel like I always need the toilet when I am out and I am suffering from anxiety about it, and always needing to go to the bathroom before I leave even if I dont need to go.

Does anyone have any tips to get over the "toilet-phobia" ?

3 BMs a day really isn't much. Do you have urgency as well? In terms of things to eat to help reduce your urgency, there are a lot of things I can recommend. Emotionally, however, I have to agree with lemonhead. Deep breathing, reducing stress, preparing early to go to your destination so you're not rushed, mapping out public toilet locations and keeping supplies in your car (a bucket, spare underwear etc) all can help make you feel calmer.

Are you on any meds?
for me, 2 - 3 bms in the morning with urgency would be a flare.
2 with no urgency wouldn't.

Eventually, as you heal, the feeling should lessen.

q

Do you have any other symptoms? It sounds like it's pretty mild. 3x a day isn't a ton but, for me, 3x is not convenient or normal. If you're having other symptoms, perhaps you should speak to your GI about increasing the Asacol or adding a rectal enema nightly to see if you can get into a remission where you're back to your normal 1x a day? Though I am not sure we can compare being an adult to being "young and in school", not sure how old you are but when I was a kid, I seriously only went every other day. I know I won't get back to that type of bathroom schedule. While flaring, I am exactly as you describe, always concerned about when or where I will be when it happens, whether I can get there quick enough but while in remission, it shouldn't be more of a concern than it was throughout other times in your life. If you're not feeling "normal", you should go see your GI and ask about the options for treatment.

Unless you have hemmies or a fissure, inflammation will be what gives you the feeling of needing to go.

When you have gas, does it sort of disappear in the rectum instead of being easily released?

I feel nothing at all during the day unless I have an external hemmie or my fissure is bothering me.

Flaring has a heavy feeling consistently.

q

At Quincy: I have this feeling of gas, with like a sort of stomach rumbling before I need to go. Usually it can be controlled if I go before I leave the house. But for some days like today, I just got to university and the rumbling started, then I had to find a bathroom.

Not too sure if its stress related or what.

On a separate note, to anyone reading this, what's the guidelines for high fibre foods (such as muesli and oats) for UC? I was eating a specific brand of muesli for breakfast and found my bm were limited to once a day when I had that. But I was told by a dietician to avoid all whole grain and high fibre foods? Any advice would be appreciated.

oatmeal or museli or anything grains such as that would cause me extreme discomfort/gas, PAIN!
It's not something I would consider to eat, even before I had UC.

I would suggest to initially set up an actual food base that includes protein, veggies, fruits and carbs.
Start basic, cooked veggies, easy to chew salads (maybe spinach and young field greens) and peeled fruits or thin skinned fruits or canned or cooked, and not whole grains that can cause you excessive gas.

Fibre supplements to add to your meals...I use metamucil caps.

Probiotics.

The basics of food intake vary from all of us.

q