- Painful bowel movements
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Alternating constipation and diarrhea
- Intestinal cramping
- Nausea and/or vomiting
- Abdominal pain
- Rectal pain
- Rectal bleeding
From the time I was born I would regurgitate a lot of Dairy and wheat so finding out I had an intolerance to Spelt, Wheat and Dairy made perfect sense thinking back. My pain level from surgery at 7 yrs old until I was 14 yrs old was not bad at all in my bowels. I never had side effects from the surgery and because I was young I guess I healed quicker than an adult would.
When I turned 15 I started to get severe rectal pain. Sharp stabbing pain that would come on at anytime. I never put two and two together with my period because this pain would be random. However the day before my period my bowels would completely evacuate and that was very abnormal for me as I was always constipated. That was the indicator for me to start popping Aleve or Naproxen whatever I had on hand. If I didn't and I waited and my period came I would be in for it because no med would help at that time. During the course of the week during menses I would become constipated again and the pain would be so intense until around the 5th or 6th day when I could finally go then the pain would subside to tolerable cramping (if that is even what you would call it)
I finally went to see a Gastro and she performed a colonoscopy at 15 yrs old and found nothing called it IBS. UGH!!! Never believed it but had no choice to let it go since every test I had came back negative.
During my surgery they found and removed a recto-vaginal nodule, a Mensentric cyst (Mesenteric cysts are rare and are found in approximately 1 of every 100,000) in the sigmoid colon plus bowel Endo. The doctor shaved and cut out the Recto-vaginal cysts and I was told all the Endometriosis was removed.
After all that was done the rectal pain disappeared, it no longer hurt to have a bowel movement but I was still constipated, so instead of being 7+ days constipated it was 3-4 days before I could go.
Three years after my first surgery in 2007 I started to get bad pain the right side underneath my 3 inch laparotomy scar it was like the stool was getting stuck in that area and would become trapped and you could see a huge lump and the pain was intense. Also it coming down the rectum I started to get a sharp knife like pain and would feel like it ripped me. I started to do enemas after my surgeon told me that it wasn't Endo and to move on. How can someone move on in this sort of pain? That is the one thing I never understood about this doctor at all. Needless to say had to find a new doctor because he refused to operate on me again because I was too high risk because of the damage done from the first surgery.
While waiting the 3 yrs I could barely digest food, so no raw uncooked food, no meat, no wheat or Dairy because it would just make things worse, so I had to juice and have soup and soft foods like mashed potatoes and rice etc just to eat and not feel pain. I was doing 3 enemas a week just to not be in pain and to be able to go to the bathroom.
In February of 2013 I finally convinced a surgeon to operate on me after an entire years hopped on meds that I knew wouldn't help me just to satisfy them and tell them again that the pain is still here the meds have done nothing!!
I did have a partial bowel obstruction from adhesions as well as an embedded ovary and ureter in the same area. My left ovary was stuck to my uterus and the uterus was stuck to the bowel. Needless to say the surgery got too complicated and she closed up leaving the organs embedded into the pelvic wall only to cause me problems later. UGH
So here I am in pain when I eat. It is like my body is rejecting food and can't break it down properly. I have no idea what to do next or if this is a permanent thing thanks to Endo and taking 14 yrs to diagnose. I feel that I have to accept that the damage has been done and it is not irreversible and that I have to come to terms with this being my life. Right now I am just not there yet.
