# Help with Anal Moisture/Leakage and other bowel irregularities



## RutherfordTheBrave (Apr 27, 2018)

Hi all,

I am a 23-year-old male. My symptoms began in December 2017, and have changed somewhat in the past 5 months. At present, these are my symptoms:


My anus frequently becomes moist, especially (but not always) when holding gas or bowel movements, soon after eating, or even while eating. When I take Psyllium Husk (4-5 capsules 2-3x a day with a large mug of water), this moisture is transparent and mostly odorless, like sweat - but I don't know if it's actually sweat, or if it's water leaking from my anus. I haven't always had it, and when I don't take psyllium husk, the moisture is yellow-brownish,apparently a leakage - so I have reason to believe the moisture I'm still dealing with isn't sweat.
My stools are frequently soft and unformed - not full-blown diarrhea, but something in between. They're yellow-brown in color, and are sometimes mucousy, leaving residue of mucous on the toilet paper.
I have bowel movements at least 3 times, sometimes 5 or 6 times a day. Between these and having to wipe moisture off or pass gas safely, I'm in the bathroom almost once an hour or more. Ever since high school I've had relatively frequent BMs, sometimes 3 a day, which always led me to believe that I just had a fast metabolism. But since last December, when coupled with all these other irregularities, they've become really concerning.
Sometimes passing gas makes my anus wet, and sometimes this wetness contains fecal residue / color
Based on how frequently I have bowel movements, it would seem as if my bowel movements are incomplete
When pushing out stool / gas, I've noticed that the tissues surrounding my anus bulge out on the left side. I can feel this with my finger (covered in toilet paper) when pushing my anal muscles in this way. I discovered this when attempting to clean my anus more completely by wiping while pushing. It doesn't feel like this bulge is something emerging from my anus, so I don't think it's my small intestine or anything, though I can't see it so I could be wrong. Is it natural for the tissues immediately surrounding the anus to bulge when pushing? My main concern is that the left side bulges so much more than the right side - this makes me wonder whether it's a hemorrhoid or a prolapse of some kind.

So those are my current symptoms. It all began one day last December when I was at work. Out of nowhere I began to feel as if my anus was soiled. So I went to the bathroom and sure enough, it was - yellow-brown residue on the paper. This began to occur without warning multiple times over the course of a few hours. It occurred totally passively: it wasn't as if I couldn't hold a bowel movement, but rather that for several hours after a bowel movement, after having cleaned thoroughly, when my bowels felt empty and I felt no urge whatsoever, my anus would leak.

At the time, I was very foolishly taking Magnesium Oxide. I had read in some health article about what a key nutrient magnesium is, and that some very large percentage of Americans have a magnesium deficiency - so foolish me figured "why not play it safe and take some for good measure". Little did I know that magnesium oxide causes diarrhea - and it would seem that this is what had triggered my anal leakage. At the time, however, I was also drinking homemade kombucha that my housemates had brewed - this makes it a little bit more difficult to pin the blame fully on the magnesium, but my housemates suffered no ill effects from their kombucha. Needless to say, I stopped taking the magnesium oxide as soon as I discovered its possible connection with my anal leakage. That was in early January. I expected that in a few weeks or months, my leakage would clear up, but it didn't.

In the meantime, based on recommendations I'd read on this forum, I had begun taking Psyllium Husk as described above. The psyllium made my bowel movements fewer and cleaner, and made my stools much more well-formed - for the first time I had begun have the snaky S-shaped stools that indicate "healthy poop". The Psyllium Husk began to clear up the fecal matter / color in my leakages as well, but I was still experiencing the clear anal moisture. Without the Psyllium Husk, the fecal-tinged leakages would begin again. Sometimes they were mucous-y, sometimes not.

So I began to worry that I had a physical defect of some kind - I became convinced that there was something wrong with my internal sphincter - possibly a defect brought on by my habit of hovering over the toilet rather than sitting during bowel movements (based on a misunderstanding about what it meant to "squat" when pooping - I thought hovering was the healthy thing to do). I went to a gastroenterologist in early March, who put his finger in my anus but couldn't find anything wrong. He told me it was unlikely that I'd messed up my pelvic floor by or sphincter by hovering, but also that it was unlikely that the magnesium I'd stopped taking two months ago could still be having an effect. He referred me to a colon and rectal surgeon for a manometry.

The surgeon put some kind of measuring device in my anus - I couldn't see it, and I should have asked what it was, and what the procedure was. I don't know whether this test was a manometry or not, but at the end he told me that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my sphincter strength, and that "everything looked good down there". He said the magnesium had probably thrown my system off balance, and recommended a high fiber diet. Since I'm a vegetarian, close to vegan, I already consume a very high-fiber diet - especially when coupled with the psyllium husk I'm taking now.

Since then, I've been taking the psyllium husk and hoping that this moisture would clear up, but it hasn't. I've developed an increase in gas, wetness when passing gas, and bowel movements. The psyllium husk no longer makes my stools more consistently well-formed and healthy, and when I stop taking it, my colored leakage begins again. I've started taking a Garden of Life RAW Colon Care Probiotic as well as sauerkraut to address the possibility of a bacterial imbalance or yeast infection. I'm seeing another gastroenterologist in a few days, and getting checked by my primary care doctor for gluten sensitivity a few days after that.

Does anyone have any ideas about what could be the source of my issues?

Does it make sense that the Magnesium Oxide I stopped taking four months ago could still be having an effect? Does the gut absorb the stuff for a long period of time?

I've heard that Calcium has the opposite effect as magnesium - do you think it's a good idea to try taking some form of Calcium, and that this might reverse the effects of the magnesium?

Does anyone have any recommendations for possible treatments to address my problems? Please feel free to share your own experiences!

Thank you all so much. I know that everyone on this forum is suffering with serious issues, and I wish you all the best of luck and strength.


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## RutherfordTheBrave (Apr 27, 2018)

Are bumps allowed in this forum? If so this is a bump. If not, someone correct me and I'll delete it.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

oh, you can bump.

sorry you haven't gotten any responses yet. i was thinking that maybe you might want to post this again over in the leaky gas/incontinence/odor forum. i've seen people with problems similar to yours (the leaking, anal moisture and also sphincter defects, etc ) post over there.

http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/forum/98-leaky-gas-lg-incontinence-odor/

good luck. i hope you get some responses soon.

(oh--btw--i don't think that the mag oxide you took four months ago could be having any effect. it would be long gone by now. i used to take mag oxide for constipation and the effect it had was more of a daily thing.)


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## RutherfordTheBrave (Apr 27, 2018)

OK thank you annie7! Should I delete this thread if I repost over there?

Good to know about the short-term nature of magnesium oxide's effects - thanks for the insight!

Also it would seem that the probiotic I've been taking for the past week or so (Garden of Life Colon Care Probiotic) has been at least partially responsible for the recent flare-up in my symptoms - the diarrhea, increase in gas and urgency, and the negation of psyllium husk's impact on making my stools better-formed. I stopped taking the probiotic for a day, and soon felt a decrease in gas and had a clean well-formed stool once more (thanks to the psyllium husk).

But I know that without the psyllium husk I'd be leaking and having frequent, urgent, unformed bowel movements on the regular.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

oh no--no need to delete this thread. you can leave both of them up if you want.







more of a chance of replies that way.

that's good that you figured out that the probiotic was giving you problems.


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## Nagenji (May 3, 2018)

I got the exact same thing as you! Like scary similar.

I have cut out dairy significantly and it seems to be getting better (dairy causes mucus).

Have you tried that ?


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## RutherfordTheBrave (Apr 27, 2018)

Thanks for the response Nagenji! I actually don't eat much dairy at all - I'm vegetarian (almost vegan except for the very occasional slice of pizza) and I haven't noticed any change in symptoms after eating pizza.

But anyway, sorry it's been a while since I checked this forum - I thought no one was going to respond!

So here's an update in case anyone reads this:

I recently saw a gastroenterologist who believes I am constipated, and that all the backup in there is causing my internal sphincter to be held open slightly, causing the leakage. I've never felt constipated (I have 3-5 bowel movements a day, which all pass easily), but decided he could be right. He prescribed a flushout with Miralax, followed by a moderate daily dose of Miralax for 30 days. I didn't like what I read about Miralax (do a search on Miralax safety to see what concerned me), so I did a flushout with magnesium citrate instead (I'm fully convinced at this point that the magnesium oxide wasn't what caused my leakage to begin with, though it may have loosened up some impacted fecal matter in my system). I followed this with a 6-day cleanse using Oxy-Powder from Global Healing Center. This flushed me out pretty good - but alas, I am still dealing with this problem of anal moisture, as well as lots of sweat in the surrounding area, and yellow-brown tints on the toilet paper when my anus should be clean.

Occasionally when I pass gas there will be a very small bit of yellowy brownish on the toilet paper (I've gotten into the habit of doing a wipe check whenever I pass gas, feel moist, after eating, etc).

I am now off the psyllium husk (per advice from GutSense - has anyone read anything on that site? Do you feel the info there is worthwhile? I imagine it's somewhat controversial, but it seems to make sense, so I'm trying to go off fiber supplements). Following my cleanse, things haven't gotten worse since I stopped the psyllium husk.

I am taking Alo Vera and Latero-Flora from Global Healing Center to assist with possible constipation (which I don't feel) and to repopulate my gut flora following this cleanse. I'm also taking Larch / Arabinogalactin powder. I'm contemplating doing another cleanse, but I just don't know anymore...I have a followup with my gastroenterologist on the 29th, and if I am still experiencing this leakage by then we will do an x-ray to see if I am still constipated.

I wonder if an internal hemorrhoid could be causing incomplete evacuations, which in turn could be causing my leakage?

However, I've also noticed that my coccyx area and buttocks get sweaty when I begin to feel like I need to have a bowel movement, and that this accompanies the wet anus feeling. Constipation wouldn't explain this. So I suppose it may be that sweat is occuring around my anus and loosening bits of fecal matter that wouldn't come off/be noticeable without the moisture? The only reason I'd have trouble believing this is because I am really a perfectionist with wiping after bowel movements; there is nothing left on the paper when I am finished,and sometimes the skid marks on toilet paper occur even when I used wet wipes the last time I'd cleaned myself.


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## Guild101 (Apr 30, 2018)

Rutherford,

It might well be an internal hemorrhoid. But, that might just be the tip of the iceberg in regard to your overall symptoms. I have been battling similiar (but not all of your) symptoms since I was 14 ( I am now 46). It started all of a sudden and for whatever reason it stopped when I was 16 or 17. The wettness in the anus area would only happen when I excercised a lot or when I was nervous, but from 14 to I was 16 or so, it was pretty much non stop and it made me smell like mucus (not poop or farts, but like a mucus.type smell albeit probably not much better than fart or poop smell). But like I said it went away after 17 and would occasionally come and go ever since but I also had a good decade or two with virtually zero symptoms...Until just this last year. It came back with a vengeance. I went to a Gastroenterologist who ordered CT scan which showed a build up of poop in my system. She said that was likely causing the extreme mucus. She then did a colonoscopy and found a precancerous polyup which she removed and biopsied. She also said I had one or two small internal hemorrhoids.... She put me on psyllium fiber 3 times a day. The fiber did seem to help with the mucus but to this day it is still way too excessive and my poops are not well formed. I have that moisture you describe but mine has never had a color to it. Looks like sweat and I believe it is but I think the internal hemorrhoids cause the moisture. She tested my sphincter strength and everything was fine as well. I am on two different probiotics which I alternate daily.

Getting back to you though, I keep thinking about all these posts I read on this forum and others talking about similiar moisture/anal leaking/with various odor issues and the one commonality always seems to be internal hemorrhoids and diet allergies of various kinds...

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk


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## RutherfordTheBrave (Apr 27, 2018)

Thanks for your response Guild101! It's wild that you were symptom-free for a decade or more before these issues came back for you :/ I certainly hope you find a way to resolve it!

Would a CT scan only detect fecal buildup, or could it detect physical irregularities in the structure of the colon, pelvic floor, bowel system, etc? I am a bit anxious about the idea of a colonoscopy, as I've heard these sometimes have risky complications...but I may opt for one.

As far as diet allergies, I was recently tested for Celiac and came back negative.

I think I'd be relieved if my problem was due to a hemorrhoid, since these can be removed, right? And sometimes they go away on their own? A hemorrhoid wouldn't explain the moisture on my coccyx and buttocks, but it makes sense with regards to my leakages and the possibility that they're caused by incomplete evacuations...I suppose impacted feces could be getting trapped behind the hemorrhoid(s) ?


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## Nagenji (May 3, 2018)

Hey rutherford!
Im so sorry to hear youre still experiencing this.

The way you describe it matches my symptoms perfectly as I previously said (the yellow smears on toilet paper at any given time of day, even after wet wipes!)

I have gone now 3 days without lactose and have been taking imodium and trying to drink alot of water and honestly its helping me. I have also cut out coffee and been taking metamucil and right now (knock on wood) theres no moisture at least not as much as there was before.

I feel its happening from irritation, either from diet (alchohol, coffee, soda, etc.) or possibly not enough water.

I can personally say I am slowly clawing away at it and ill update if this continues improving!

Dont hesitate to ask any questions


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## RutherfordTheBrave (Apr 27, 2018)

Thanks for your response Nagenji! I'm really happy to hear that you may have found a way to improve your problems - I hope your progress continues! It does sound like your issue may be diet-related; perhaps if you can narrow in on the culprit, you can stop this problem for good!

I'm under the impression that Metamucil is just the sweetened version of psyllium husk, right? When I was on psyllium, I didn't have any yellow smears, but still had a good deal of watery moisture in the area - sweat, perhaps? Or maybe a leakage without any fecal residue - I don't know. This was probably because the psyllium bulks up the stool, so that it stays together better and thus can't leak. I stopped the fiber because I read on a pretty convincing website called GutSense that in the long run, the increased bulk added by fiber will only make things worse :/ I don't know if this is true, but here's the link if anyone wants to share their thoughts on the accuracy of this site:
https://www.gutsense.org
The advice contained here is targeted mostly at constipation and IBS, but does seem to be at odds with the prevailing advice given by gastroenterologists and established medicine in general. Since the psyllium never solved my problem, for now I'm trying to address the possibility of gut/colon issues with probiotics instead. I don't know though...

I very very rarely have lactose - usually I'll go at least two weeks to two months at a time without consuming dairy - and I haven't had coffee in six months now (since the start of my leakage), or soda since well before this problem began (I never liked soda much). I eat very healthy, which is why I was baffled by this problem at first, until I began to consider that it may be physical rather than diet-related.

Interesting about drinking lots of water! During my cleanses I was drinking a ton of water - 80-120 oz a day - to make up for all the water lost through magnesium-induced flushing. And the funny thing is, I never had any leakage during my cleanses, even though the consistency of my stool at this point was watery beyond the point of diarrhea. So despite having a colon filled with water, I didn't leak at all - which indicates to me that my leakage isn't related to a weak internal or external sphincter. Lately my stools have been pretty healthy-looking, formed yet soft, neither diarrhea nor broken up nor overly bulky, but this problem persists. Which leads me to believe it may be caused by an incomplete evacuation of some kind - perhaps due to hemorrhoids, a malformed colon or rectum, or a prolapse of some kind. I'm not in any pain at all though, which is puzzling if one of these were the cause.

Keep us updated, Nagenji! Best of luck to you


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## Nagenji (May 3, 2018)

Hey Rutherford!

Great detailed write up, thats really interesting that your diet has been strict and the problem still persists; perhaps its not diet related as I thought!

I had a bowel movement this morning and found that awful yellow tint on the toilet paper once again.

I used to think it was hemmeroids as well but i had a colonoscopy in Feb and my dr didnt mention anything about that possibility.

I also feel sometimes it could be moisture or leakage because we dont completely evacuate our bowels.

Personally speaking, it takes me 2-3 bowel movements when i wake up to feel somewhat relieved.
And re: water, its hard to remind myself to drink all the time because i feel like im not always thirsty but i find that perhaps it helps with motility and helps things move along.

And yea metamucil is basically psyllium husk!


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## RutherfordTheBrave (Apr 27, 2018)

Hey Nagenji, don't give up on the possibility that it's diet-related - it may be for you! And who knows, I may have overlooked some factor in my diet as well. I'll keep the thread updated with any new info I learn that may help us out!


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## Nagenji (May 3, 2018)

That sounds great! Ive bookmarked this thread looking forward to some updates!

And ill continue to try to hammer out my diet aha


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## RutherfordTheBrave (Apr 27, 2018)

So here's an update:

While some of my other symptoms have diminished (which I'll get to in the following paragraphs), I'm now dealing with new symptoms. My stools are now flattened, as if the regular cylindrical shape was squashed down to look like either of the first two images linked at the bottom of the page (which I found with a Google search). The past two days, my stools have been even narrower than that - almost pencil-thin. This raises concern for some kind of physical obstruction, either from polyps or internal hemorrhoids or an internal prolapse/intussusception of some kind. I don't think I have colon cancer, as I have no pain, no bleeding, and I am too young for the typically effected age group (I'm only 23, and I eat extremely healthy). It could simply be a result of IBS, where my intestines/colon are kinda spasmodic and cause the stool to form in a flattened way. But my anus also bulges out when I am straining even slightly to defecate. I am debating going to a doctor again, perhaps for a defecography or colonoscopy, but will likely only go if things worsen. In the meantime I am trying to relax, to see if my IBS symptoms will normalize on their own with a decrease in anxiety.

And I'm doing a test: I will start taking plenty of psyllium husk again over the next few days. If it successfully bulks up my stool, I will assume that the flattening has been occurring in my intestines / colon. If it does not, I will assume that it is being flattened during its passage out of my body during defecation, like Play-doh through one of those Play-doh shaping toys, which would indicate a physical irregularity.

So now for the good news:

Since my last cleanse with Oxy-Powder (a little over two months ago), the yellow smears have gradually become less of a major problem. Sometimes after defecating and cleaning myself fully - til the toilet paper is white - I'll go back to check, and only sometimes will there be a smear on the paper, unless I press the toilet paper all the way up against the anus hole itself, with slight pressure into the indent of my anus even. If I do this, some yellowy-brown might show up, where it didn't before, but I am now wondering whether this might be normal - perhaps most people's anuses aren't entirely clean, what with passing gas and hemorrhoids and all. Unfortunately, I don't really have a standard of comparison for normality :/ but I do know that there has been definite improvement, since six months ago I was dealing with yellowy liquid leaking out into my crack. There is still the occasional leakage, but not nearly as bad as it was those months ago.

And another thing: I recently installed a bidet (only about $25 from Amazon) on my toilet - and ever since I've begun using it (about a week ago), there are no smears at all, even when I press the toilet paper all the way back against my anus during periodic "leakage checks". It may be that it is cleaning any residue from deeper inside of my anus that may otherwise linger there, inaccessible to toilet paper on a first clean. Without the deeper cleanse from the bidet, this inaccessible-to-toilet-paper stool might tend to move out later on, and only then become accessible to toilet paper. I highly recommend a bidet for all of us - it's gentler, less irritating, and a more effective cleaner than toilet paper. It's also quicker! Saves time and money spent on toilet paper. I don't think I'd want to live without one in the future.

As for the clear moisture/sweat, it does seem to have diminished to the point where I don't notice it nearly as much. Its diminution seems to have corresponded directly with my goals of not paying as much attention to it. I've been making an effort to relax more, and to create less anxiety - and associated physical tightness - around the urge of defecate. Sometimes my coccyx still gets sweaty and itchy, but it's less of a problem than it was since the cleanses and since my shift in mindset to stop focusing on and worrying about it. Of course it's also summertime here in NY, so it's hard to tell what's causing sweat down there.

I forgot to mention - sometimes when I get gas, it feels at first like the urge to pass a bowel movement. I'll sit on the toilet only to find that it was just gas. The feelings of needing to pass gas and needing to have a bowel movement used to be much more distinct, and I had no trouble discerning them until these past few months. It's all very weird.

Any ideas about the flattened stool? How have you all been faring? Any improvements?

Flattened stool:

http://www.savoirjoaillerie.com/upload/2017/12/05/diverticulitis-and-pencil-thin-stools-motorcycle-review-light-loose-stool-l-610767b27449c754.jpg

http://scarysymptoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/stools-ribbon-300x240.png


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## Nagenji (May 3, 2018)

Dude great detailed reply and i encourage you to check with a doctor, u never know what they might be able to do for you.

My stools are the exact same, my damn symptoms are the exact same. I never feel like im completely clean and it drives me nuts.

Not to be nosy but are you a hairer fellow? Perhaps its because theres hair in ur anus its hard to be completely clean


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## RutherfordTheBrave (Apr 27, 2018)

Hey Nagenji, sorry to hear your symptoms are still the same :/ try any new changes lately? Did changing your diet have any effect on your symptoms? I sure hope we can figure out some solutions that help all of us soon!

No worries about being nosy, I've already revealed a ton of details without being asked - it's necessary to get anything out of these discussions! I'm not a super hairy fellow but I do get a good amount of hair around my anus. Actually just a few weeks ago I tried shaving it with the idea you just stated in mind. I nicked myself a few times, but managed to get it pretty clean shaven down there, and to my surprise, it turned out pretty well. I've read some reports on Reddit or somewhere else of what kind of nightmares ensue when guys shave their butts (terribly slippery swamp ass, etc) but I didn't experience that. I did feel cleaner - not remarkably, but somewhat - and it was easier to clean myself. I probably won't have to shave back there again, though, now that I have the bidet.

The bout of psyllium husk does seem to be bulking up my stools again - they're bigger, with a dramatic difference from the almost pencil-thin stools I was having yesterday - but they're still squashed and kinda flattened. Definitely not close to cylindrical, though closer to cylindrical than they were the past few days.

Does anyone else have flattened stools?


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## Nagenji (May 3, 2018)

Good stuff Rutherford glad to hear its helped.

My issue is im feeling like throughout the day if i wipe it feels as if i didnt wipe at all and theres always stool left in there.

Might have to shave it eventually


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## RutherfordTheBrave (Apr 27, 2018)

Nagenji said:


> Good stuff Rutherford glad to hear its helped.
> 
> My issue is im feeling like throughout the day if i wipe it feels as if i didnt wipe at all and theres always stool left in there.
> 
> Might have to shave it eventually


Have you seen a gastroenterologist or other doctor about it yet? Does it seem more like mucous or fecal stuff, or both? I know that for me it was always hard to tell with the leakages.

I should mention that when I did the cleanse it did seem to help me somewhat...but if you haven't yet, I'd definitely see a doc first.

One important thing is that I've heard a lot of gastroenterologists want to jump to a colonoscopy, but a colonoscopy can't detect every potential cause of this...other tests may be needed. For instance, my impression based on what I've read (I'm no expert so someone correct me if I'm wrong) is that it'd take something like a defecography to detect an intussusception or mucousal prolapse.

You might want to take a look at this other thread too, Nagenji (see below). It's me asking the same question in another forum. I received some more input and information from other posters:

https://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/topic/350154-help-with-anal-moistureleakage-and-other-bowel-irregularities/


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## daniel88 (Apr 26, 2019)

Hello. im a 31 year old male, I got the same symptoms as you...I get this watery transparent liquid coming from my anus everytime I have to poo. and often get abit more after I pooped. and sometimes I get a little moist and then poop, and then I go out for a walk sometimes for hours then all of a sudden I get wetness down there and have to wipe. DESPITE EMPTYING MY COLON OUT OF POO. Sometimes its just a tiny bit and on a bad day its more than just abit. this is depressing me alot. I have noticed its worse if I eat poorly. like I ate sandwitches with alot of cheese. and the next day I had more watery leakage than usuall, and I read that cheese can worsen leakage dairy products and some other food types. you can google "foods that causes anal leakage" I will go for an examination in a month or so I hope I havent damaged my anal muscles or nerves or caused some minor stretching. but I do have hemoroids and skin tag that sticks out from my anal. and abit swollen anal wall. but I think this all happened after I put a dildo in my anus. I used alot of lube and I done this before just a few times total. this last time I had more pain afterwards than usuall. but no bleeding at all and the next day my anus felt fine. but then a week or so I started having major watery leakage from my anus that drenched my underwear. it got less and less during the months, and now its a tiny bit. but still concering. as it happens everyday and it has been 6 months since I used my dildo last time. but I think I worsened an already existing problem with my anus when I used the dildo, still my anus feels just as tight and strong as it has ever done, feels as strong and tight as it did before I even used the dildo. so im hopeful that I didnt actually cause some damage to muscles/nerves or I stretched my anal canal slightly. but its funny how my symptoms are still the exact same way as yours.


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