# Fecal Impaction?



## Matt b (Feb 27, 2011)

I'm starting to wonder if I have a fecal impaction or if I'm just overreacting? I have extremely bad anxiety. Hypochondria anxiety. These last three months I have felt as though something is wrong with my bowels. I have been to the ER and had many blood test done. It started with feeling extremely week and dizzy. That escalated to lower back pain. Then I began to feel pain on my left side under my ribs. On bad days I feel this full bloated feeling under my left and right side. I thought it was my kidneys at first but all test came back normal. Last week I was passing gas like I never have before in my life and this week gas just won't come out of me. Actually last week i was having a bowel movement every day for a few days which actually scared me a little. Thats never happened before. I have had blood in my feces. I'm pretty sure I have hemmoroids. I also have had an anal fissure this past month which caused a good bit of bleeding when i passed a rather large stool. I use prep h which if anything lubes everything up down there to help feces pass.How do you know if you have a fecal impaction or if you are just constipated. I have been constipated my whole life it seems. For the past month I have been taking Milk of Magnesia on and off and it has worked but now it seems to leave me extremely bloated and in pain. Ever since I stopped the mom I'm just waiting for a fecal impaction. I take an opiate painkiller also which worsens everything although I was constipated long before I ever took opiates.So as far as bowel movements go I had one one on Sat and I believe I even had one on Thursday. The bowel movement on Saturday morning was quite large for me. It was only one stool but it was very long. Over 12 inches and soft. Yet I still feel stopped up down there. I feel as though I cant really pass gas when I need to. I took an enema Friday night that did not work. Although I did have a bowel movement on Saturday morning(next morning). It was very orange looking if that means anything. Then last night (Sunday) I took another fleet enema and a rock of stool came out. It was like a bunch of balls clumped together. Not a whole lot at all though. It felt like a lot more needed to come out though. I know I'm taking too many enemas and I did have a bowel movement on Saturday but I just feel completely stopped up! My rectum will allow only a small amout of feces out before it shuts off! It literally feels swollen shut down there. I wonder if I have proctitis or some other kind of information down there. Is there any kind of cream I can buy that can reduce swelling down there if there is swelling?Why would a enama not work on Friday yet I have a normal looking bowel movement on Saturday? Then the day after that normal looking soft bowel movement I pass a hard ball of feces with an enema. That quickly I have a huge ball of feces that would barely come out?This morning I had a coupe of balls of feces come out and that is all. My colon on my left side feels totally bloated and hurts a little. I just feel totally stopped up. I also feel tender in my lower left part of my colon. I don't know if I'm still just bloated from the Milk of Magnesia which I last took on Thursday or if I am extremely backed up with feces. I have gone two weeks without a bm and never felt like this though.Is it impossible to have an impaction if I had a normal looking bowel movement on Saturday? I could go back to the Milk of Magnesia and it might work in a few days but I will get extreme pains in my right and left side along with back pain. It didn't do that when I first started taking it but now it does. I'm worried because my bowel movements only happen when I take something to make them happen. Now enemas don't even work. Although when they were working I was using the fleet extra enema which is much larger than the smaller ones I have been using recently. If I do another enema today that will be three in four days. I'm sure that's not good for you. I am about to go out of town and I have to have a bowel movement before I leave also. I never have bowel movements in strange places.


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## Sean (Feb 8, 1999)

Hey Matt,The fact that you are having some bowel movements, even if induced by enemas and laxatives, suggest that you don't have a fecal impaction. The only way you can tell for certain is to have an abdominal x-ray to see how much stool is in your colon and where it is. Perhaps it would be worth the peace of mind to get that done. Given your history of severe constipation, it is possible that your colon is blocked higher up. The large bowel movement that you had on Saturday morning is probably a delayed result of the enema you used on Friday night. Perhaps the enema stayed in your lower colon and drew water into the impacted stool, softening it and increasing the mass. That allowed you to pass it on Saturday morning. Then it was back to constipation on Sunday. If you are really worried about impaction, give yourself a large tap water or normal saline enema with an enema bag. Use at least one and, preferrably, two quarts of water. That should flush out most of your colon. The results will be a lot more dramatic than with a Fleet. If you don't want to do the large enema, pop 3 dulcolax tablets at bedtime. That should clean you out good the next morning. Sean


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## eva b. (Feb 5, 2010)

Hi Mattmany of your issues sound similar to mine - thye bloating, the feeling of fullness, and the reaction fo mom (except I'm taking epsom salts as well, and suppositories not enemas)Like you, I've become obsessive about it all, specially impaction, and am terrified even though mris and other tests show nothing except (except!) spasm in my intestines - lower small intestine - which amounts to the same as a blockage as nothing can get out of the small intestine except water. All I seem to pass is either brown water or very thin paste. Like you, I just don't be able to figure out what to do about it all and don't understand what's going on. The docs aren't much use either.let me know how you're getting onbest,dorots


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## em_t (Jun 8, 2010)

Hi Matt,As I have been diagnosed with faecal impaction, I can only tell you of my experience. The pain of faecal impaction is much more intense than usual constipation, it literally cripples you and has you doubled over in pain. I was taken to the doctor and could hardly breathe with the pain. I had severe nausea, extreme pain and could not pass any urine.I frequently worry about not being able to pass gas because I have a lot of gas pain but cannot pass it, this is due to a suspected prolapse - could be the same in your case (its not only women suffer this) or it could be because there is a large stool there. Your stool was probably orange due to taking laxatives, an increase in transit time can cause stool to be orange. I would be cautious about using the enemas so frequently - unless you feel no peristalsis in the bowel I wouldn't use them as you can become dependent on them and then have the problem of getting constipated above the point at which the enema works. This maybe sounds like a gross idea but instead of doing enemas you could do digital manipulation. Using a GLOVED finger, insert your finger in the rectum and move your finger clockwise to try and stimulate a bowel movement. This way you will also know if there is any stool there to get rid of or not. People who have tetraplegia and multiple sclerosis often do this and find it is a very good way of managing their bowels.


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