# manually extracting bm's with gloved hand



## Cordy (Jul 1, 2002)

Does any one else have to do this? Sometimes, I get so desperate, that I have to. The stools are so close to the opening, like less than one inch, and still they WILL NOT COME OUT. I have to get in there with my finger and help them along. Could I be damaging myself? I have actually been doing this off and on for a few years. Could I be setting myself up for more problems? I feel sore down there afterwards, and was thinking, maybe, I am damaging the delicate tissue and making it difficult for it to work on its own.....yikes! If THAT is the case, I'm in sore trouble.Has anyone any information on this, as to whether: 1) you can damage your bodies ability to function by doing this, and 2) if AFTER you HAVE damaged it, can you GET IT BACK? Like by letting it heal, not doing it any more, whatever?Should I use prep H suppositories to help heal down there?Oh, boy, I am wondering what I should do. I fear I have really damaged myself/ hurt my chances of becoming "normal" again. Any thoughts or suggestions ---would be so appreciated!


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## Cordy (Jul 1, 2002)

Let me see if I can say this a little better. I betcha that my doing this has caused the anal tissue to be so injured that it CAN'T work on its own. Just trying to come up with the right words to describe this.


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## Cordy (Jul 1, 2002)

(sorry for the numerous posts)When the stools are down there so low and yet will not come out, I feel like I am pushing against a brick wall of nothingness....like the stools are right there ready to come out, but there is no PUSHING POWER up above them! Can anyone understand what I am saying? It's like when I push, I'm pushing against nothing, there's no power, there's no force coming from above the big ball of stool and it needs that finger from down below to get started. I really need to get back into my exercise....perhaps the colon tissues are flaccid and out of shape and need to be strengthened by exercise to be able to have that power to push the stools that are below them out.Sometimes I feel like i have a pocked in my anus where the stools just gather and bulb or bulge out into a balloon like area in there, instead of coming OUT. I was checked by a gastro ent. a couple yrs ago, and he said I did not have a rectocele. But it sure feels like it!I need to get back into doing situps and aerobic exercise and eating vegetables.


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## Paula J. (Nov 23, 2001)

I don't feel like that would be harmful, but it's your body. You ought to try suppositories, and see if they would help, cuz they also lubricate, then maybe you could get away from doing what you are doing. I have a friend who once worked in a nursing home, and she said when the patients were impacted they had to manually go in and work it out . She passed out the first time from observing. I would have had to look for another job. Fast. If you are using such vigor as to cause pain to the tissue, I think you need to lubricate the finger with a water soluble lubricant like K-Y jelly, or like I said try the suppositories. Good luck.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Some people have pelvic floor disfunction and they tense the muscles they should relax when they try to have a BM.I do not know how much damage you could possibly do (much probably depends on how vigorous you are







)Sometimes when I have a hard to pass stool massaging down the outside of the crack will get it down (with less potential for mucking up inside) But then I usually do not have problems passing stool.Using a glycerin suppository to lubricate may help you pass, but if you really have that I push and I push and I push and all that does it make it harder to go it may be time for some pelvic floor tests.Usually the problem isn't so much the colon isn't strong enough, it is that the sphincter muscles do not relax when they should and the more you force, the more they tighten (when it should be the more you force the more they relax).In some Chi Gong breathing you do things with lifting and tightening the pelvic floor (pull up on it) then relaxing and lowering the pelvic floor and this may help. Usually for pelvic floor problems they do biofeedback so you can learn how to relax them when they should be relaxed and tighten when you should tighten (so they do this both for "can't go" and "can't hold in" problems)K.


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## hanktotem (May 27, 2001)

If your stools are hard and you are experiencing pain and bleeding, then it's possible that you have an anal or rectal fissure from attempting to pass large, hard stools. To get this to heal, it is necessary to soften the stool. The first thing to try is drinking lots of water, adding fiber to your diet (or a fiber supplement), and avoiding caffeine.


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## ghitta (Jul 6, 2002)

cordy - i do the same thing, have the same prob. in my case, i can poop really well in the morning (like today) but by four or five or six p.m., there seems to be more little pebbles or hard balls in there that i can't pass without going up there (i do this in the shower) with a latex fingercot on my middle finger, lubricated with Prep H cream (not jell, the cream) and i have to pull it out. i have also been concerned whether i am damaging tissue up there but for the moment all seems to be ok. i occasionally experience rectal bleeding, not a lot, looks like tomato skins or something, which may be from some 'roid or something up there. which is why i do my best in all areas to have loose stools .....yu are not alone with this, also, wherever i'm living i install a handheld shower and use that like a little enema, whooshing water up me (in the bathtub, natch) and that often helps them to come out. for the longest time i thought i was the only one on the planet to do this, until i discovered this selfhelp IBS site. what a relief! g-


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## carolauren (Mar 14, 2002)

I do the same thing, several times a day, and I am D-type. The stool will come down into the rectum but then will not come out completely, or not at all. It just sits there. It doesn't matter whether it's solid or soft mush (depends on the day, and the drugs to control the D I've taken). When I was on Lotronex I rarely had this problem, so for me I think the contractions of the colon are all screwed up, and it's not a pelvic floor problem.


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## Beckster (Sep 9, 2002)

I also have this problem. My husband tends to make fun of me when I say I have to go to the bathroom, but all that comes out is one marble. The constipation I have is painful. I usually have a bowel movement once or twice a week - that's all! I constantly feel bloated and yucky. When I finally have the urge to go, I push and push and push - sometimes the pain makes me scream. I've been too embarressed to go to a doctor about this. What am I supposed to say, "I can't ****?"


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## jeremy (Oct 17, 2002)

I am so happy to know that I am not the only person on the earth that does this...sure its not the best way to remove the stool but sometimes its just enough to get things moving and at times not. Drinks lots of water and get the fiber for me this works when I go off of either on I really pay the price..


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## Paula J. (Nov 23, 2001)

Hey Super Beckster, You need to tell the doctor when you go. This is what doctor's go to school for, to help you. They aren't so special that they can't bear to hear certain things. Try fiber, or get one of the many fiber products that's available. This will be the first thing the doctor tells you, probably even before tests. Try soluble, like psyllium. If you've already tried fiber, drink more water, and eat fruits, and veggies. It's really trial & error, and it may take a very long time to find what works for you. Don't give up, and keep us posted.


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## ghitta (Jul 6, 2002)

paulo -i have a Q; maybe i'm totally wrong here and if so, need to be corrected, but i thought pysillium was insoluble fiber, not soluble, like fruits, veg, fructose etc. if i take what i thought was insoluble fibers (metamucil -pysillium products, bran, etc) then i get the worst pain, bloat and gas possible. anyway, it's just a question of terminology but i should get my terms straight. g-


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## Cordy (Jul 1, 2002)

Ghitta- I don't know what the correct name for pysillium/bran/etc. is, (my guess would be insolouble), but I am so glad I'm not the only one who has terrible pain gas and bloating from those things, even from citrucell! .


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## kamie (Sep 14, 2002)

Getting to the point that one no longer has to pull the stool out with a well oiled finger takes a lot of prudent work.Unfortunately if the stools are that hard it means that your gut is pulling all the water out of your stool.So the thing to do is to work very hard on keeping moisture on the the gut.The category of mucilage and cellulose would be the category of fiber you will want to investigate.The reality of psyllium is that we need that kind of fiber to keep moisture in the bowel. No moisture in the bowel leads to old dead hard poop that has to be removed with great effort.Not Good.If you are having trouble with psyllium it could be that you are taking too much at one time and not drinking enough water.It could also be that the foods you are eating are contributing to the intestinal pull of the water.It could be that some of the choices in fiber are slowing your gut down too much simply by the nature of what they do in the digestive system.All forms of fibre are not equal.Some are worse and some are better just depending on what is going on with your body.However, it will be no mistake in figuring out if ones fibre is the right or wrong kind.Right fiber gets you going.Wrong Fiber will tell you all about it when you get up to go fetch the oil bottle and the glove.It's a process of elimination in figuring out the harmonies of the body.We are all different.When I used to have the stuck poop problem I always used dark green oilve oil to remove the stool.Dark Olive is my preference for healing irritated tissue.I haven't had the stuck poop problem in a while.Thank goodness for small miracles.Oh yes, and while I was in the working out stage of making sure my stools would always stay moist, those little friendly glycerine suppositories did a world of good.Kamie


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## ironmac (Oct 31, 2002)

Greetings All, My wife suffers from the same problems some of you describe here. As we are still experimenting with getting her working well, I can tell you that she has been doing treatments with Colon Hydrotherapy (where they gently cleanse your colon with warm water) and it has really helped here. Thought you all should know and I hope it helps.Darin


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