# Has anyone else been diagnosed with a "tortuous sigmoid"?



## Ashers86 (Dec 31, 2007)

As some know, I finally just had my first colonoscopy at the beginning of January...Things haven't felt right in the back end since, so I called the office on Monday to ask what was up and see what advice I could get.My follow up appointment (for the tests) with the GI is booked for March 3. The GI isn't in the office at all this week, and there's no way I can see him before March... but the receptionist read my results to me.Besides an internal hemorrhoid, it is noted that I have a "tortuous sigmoid". The receptionist commented that that meant it was 'twisted'. There was no notes or advice on the condition though and/or what should be done. In fact, she said she'd try to squeeze my "incomplete evacuation problem" question by him, but couldn't guarantee that she'd even be able to get back to me this week...I understand "tortuous" is different from actually being "twisted", but I'm worried. Worst part of it all is that when I try to look up information on it, I can't find anything!Does anyone else have this problem?? How is it handled exactly?? I'm really curious... I even wonder if I should be on soft foods for the meantime since I've been constipated and straining since the tests (assuming that could only make it worse).Any advice is appreciated! I thank everyone who's tried helping me by searching info., but there does seem to be no definite answers anywhere...


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## CatUK (Dec 15, 2006)

This is what I found out by googling.Sigmoid means "S" shaped. Tortuous means it's more curvy than usual, but rarely has particular significance. A tortuous sigmoid simply means that there are a lot of "twists and turns". By itself, this is an anatomical variant and not linked to a specific diseaseHope this helps a bit.


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## Jeffrey Roberts (Apr 15, 1987)

I have been told I have a tortuous sigmoid. I actually never put much thought to it other than knowing that my abdominal pain is usually always in that area of my colon and it seemed to make sense that a tortuous sigmoid might be contributing to that. I reckon that it's just another word that GI's use to describe a sigmoid that is difficult to get a scope around, but not really of any clinical significance.Jeff


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## distressed (Jan 7, 2009)

Well I have a tortuous esophagus following abdominal surgery....as i understand it it means curved...and in my case the curving can make it more susceptable to spasming than one that was straight....but basically yeh....an anatomical variant and not something to be worried about.By the way...after a scope it is normal to have a lot of wind, you can have some pain that comes and goes or is even constant if they took biopsies and obviously if you have a problem a scope will definitely stir everything right up. Only reason I can think of to be worried following a scope is if you started bleeding or had a weird reaction such as an allergic reaction to the anaesthetic.


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## Ashers86 (Dec 31, 2007)

Jeffrey Roberts said:


> I actually never put much thought to it other than knowing that my abdominal pain is usually always in that area of my colon and it seemed to make sense that a tortuous sigmoid might be contributing to that.


That's about the only thing that makes sense to me too... I thought it was normal to have severe pain and spasms in my lower left side with IBS, but knowing this paints a bigger picture for me.And thanks everyone else, for your added two cents! The GI office called back and apparently said it's normal that I'm having a hard time trying to pass stool. But I don't want to have to wear protection all the time because I'm so messy :SHow does anyone else deal with this?? I guess my emotions are getting the best of me right now... everyone says it's the sigmoid that must be causing my problems, not IBS ("it's just that you have more curves, thats all!")... but like yeah, that's all?! That just proves to me why I can be in so much pain that it's hard to sleep on that side!It's all still new to me, so of course I'm freaking out... but even my future mother-in-law, the nurse who recommended this GI, says that's all that's wrong with me and diet and exercise will fix it. Yeah, because that's easy?! I've told the GI how housework makes my stomach crampy and he totally understood and said - just do what you can. It would be nice to think that it could SIMPLY be fixed that way, but when I tell everyone I've tried these things before, they just respond with "well you must not have tried hard enough" or "you didn't try it for long enough".*sigh* It's depressing... I just hoped there was a answer for something...


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