# It has been over 2 months with no bowel movement and I am desperate for advice



## lishak (Apr 29, 2012)

I am a 33 year old female that is scared to death with all that is going on...... When I was in kindergarten I was diagnosed with IBS and I had the diarrhea side of it badly and all the way up until I was 25 evertime I would eat, I would have a bowel movement within a couple minutes, it was always very loose stool and sooo embarrasing, I stopped going over to peoples houses and eating out because it controlled my life. When I was 25 something happened and my body did a total 360, I stopped having bowel movements and I would only go once every 2 or 3 weeks and it was hard to even have a bowel movement and I had to take tons of fiber to even go. I had several colonic's done and the workers were suprised that they got no movement, she said that I was the only person she had worked on that the colonic did not work at all, after 7 of them with no luck I stopped going to have them done.Over the last few years it has became chronic, I was put in the hospital by my family doctor last year because it had been 64 days since I had a bowel movement and for the weeks prior to being hospitalized he had me cut out gluten completely and had me on a daily regimen of metamucil, benefiber, several stool softeners and of course all of these things did not work at all so then he said he would try the heavy duty things and that they would definately work, he put me on 2 bottle of magnesium citrate and the following prescriptions; lactulose, the rx form of miralax and metoclopramide 10 mg (which is a drug that increases digestive contractions) and I continued to drink my at least 9 glasses of water daily.Needless to say none of that worked either, he was stunned, it had now been more than 70 days since I had a bowel movement and the pain was unreal that I felt on a daily basis. He told me to keep taking all of that and it was bound to start working, well 5 days later I stated to vomit and called his office and he has me immediately admitted into the hospital because he was afraid I would start vomiting up stool. I was in the hospital for a week and they did some x-rays and a CT scan where they said I was completely full of stool but they saw no blockage, they continued the Rx regiment that my family doctor had me on and after a week still no bowel movement so they released me since I was not vomiting.A couple of weeks I had a small bowel movement that was rock hard and would not even flush and then I continued all the fiber and over the counter med's and it has allowed me to have a very small bowel movement once every 2 months or so, now a year later I am at the 70 day mark and last night I woke up with the most awful pain in my stomach, I felt like I was just going to explode! I was going to go to the ER but I knew I would just be told to go home and have a bowel movement and nothing would be done.....Here is my concern overall, everyone.... and I mean everyone in my family has had some form of cancer, all of them have passed away except my dad, mom and older sister, all 3 of them are still living but have had cancer, my dad had prostrate cancer, my mom had uterine cancer which required a full hystorectomy right after she had me and then my sister had ovarian cancer which was removed. On the passing people of the family, my grandmother (dads mom) had lung cancer which spread everywhere, my aunt had breast cancer and my dads brother recently passed from lymphoma. So you can see why the thought of cancer (colon cancer) worries me every day! But my doctor never orders any tests or anything and I do not have insurance so that of course does not help any, but from stories that I have read, people have the same issues that I have and do not get tested and then 10 years later find out that they have full blown cancer and pass away in their 40's. I am at a stand still and all I can wonder is how in the world does my body have over 2 months worth of food in it and is just sitting there?? How have my intestines not exploded yet??? What in the world is going on with my body?? Why am I the only one that seems so concerned?? It just makes me cry I am praying that someone feels my pain and can offer some advice or may have been where I am at and can offer some advice as to what to do..... Today my pain is at a level 10 and woke me straight up out of a sleep and I am just sitting here rocking in pain, can someone help?The only other information I can think to offer is that I have no children, I was told years ago that I have endometriosis and cannot have children because of all the scar tissue. I have gotten pregnant 4 times, all have ended in tubal pregnancies, one in which I had to have my whole left tube removed and the tube I have left is 100 blocked with scar tissue. I had my galbladder removed in 1998 because it had adhesions all over it, and that is all medical wise that I can think to offer that may help.Please help, I am scared and desperate!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Sounds like you need to see a colo-rectal surgeon and get evaluated for slow transit constipation and may be a candidate for a procedure where they remove most of the colon and hook the small intestine up to the rectum.This is a relatively rare condition, but if you pass no stool at all (some people say months, but they mean months of small, inadequate, unsatisfying BM's rather than no stool at all) it sounds like time for that evaluation.They will need to make sure the outlet works (that you aren't just not able to let things out so get all backed up) and may do a sitz marker test to verify your transit is abnormal with a measurement rather than just a report from you)Usually with this, when you aren't bad enough to need surgery, the treatment is less fiber, not more and more fiber. After all you are only really supposed to have 3-4 days worth of fiber max in there, so 30-40 days worth of fiber is bound to be really uncomfortable. Along with the less fiber (so you have a total of what would normally be 4 days worth in there no matter how many days you spread it over) with lots of osmotic laxatives (like a stool softener, but may be labeled osmotic like miralax where you can't really over dose yourself on it) to keep the stool wet and easy to move for however long it takes to move through.I don't think this is considered something that makes you more likely to have cancer, but with the symptoms as presented it needs to be looked at by the kind of doctor that treats this, not just the ER or family doc. It may mean getting a referral to a major medical center that can do the necessary testing, like someplace associated with a medical school.


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## lishak (Apr 29, 2012)

Thanks for your time and your reply.... I know what you mean when some people say months and mean months of just little movement and or unsatisfying movement, but with me it is literately months of no movement, months of absolutely nothing coming out, not even the urge to have to go, today is day 70 with nothing at all and I am beyond misrable. I have tried reducing my fiber to just the "recommended" amount and then I have tried all the things my family doctor have recommended, nothing is helping. It is just amazing to me that I can eat 3 and 4 times a day and my poor body has 70 days worth of food in it with no relief at all My family doctor just keeps trying different things and does not seem to think a specialist will see me since I have no medical insurance. All I know is this morning I swore my stomach was going to explode and it has been the most painful day of all.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Check with the hospitals at a state university, with a medical school. I know the ones here have a certain amount of financial assistance for people who can't get medical insurance and may be able to help you. I just think this is beyond what your family doctor can handle on his own.You shouldn't have to suffer with this and I think there would be somewhere in your state that would help you out.And which recommendations for fiber are you using, the 25-40 grams a day for people with normal elimination of at least 3X a week? Or a recommendation for someone with severe slow transit constipation that only goes 6-10 times a year?


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## oceannir (Mar 6, 2012)

It is absolutely essential that you see a GI specialist and a surgeon. You can get a ruptured bowel from this condition which can be fatal, it is amazing to me that you are in such good shape relatively with 2 months of no bowel movements.Do you have money to pay for the specialist? Even if it costs thousands, it is imperative that you see them right now.


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## mztopper (Jun 3, 2012)

lishak, I cannot believe that you have not pooped in over 70 days and the hospital you were admitted to sent you home even though you did not move your bowels there either because you stopped vomiting. OMG what morons. I would definitely switch dr.s and find someone to listen to you as this is not in any way normal. I cannot believe that you would even want to eat if you have not pooped. Maybe just drinking some prune juice or something similar and using a mineral oil enema a few times a day would move a bit out and then use a fleets enema and just do not take as much fiber which may be plugging you up.??? Not sure about this but I know I would want to poop if I were you.


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## IBSCinGeorgia (Oct 6, 2007)

I can't imagine going that long being constipated , but I have gone as much as 29 days without pooping and it was miserable! I felt it at my bunghole every day and it was like stuck and wouldn't come out. I couldn't get an enema tip up there or even a suppository so I had to dig a little out each day (gross I know) Finally on the last day I put my finger up there for my daily dig as I called it back then, and it was like the boulder falling from the mountain! I do hope you get some relief soon!


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## water22 (Oct 25, 2010)

IBSCinGeorgia said:


> I can't imagine going that long being constipated , but I have gone as much as 29 days without pooping and it was miserable! I felt it at my bunghole every day and it was like stuck and wouldn't come out. I couldn't get an enema tip up there or even a suppository so I had to dig a little out each day (gross I know) Finally on the last day I put my finger up there for my daily dig as I called it back then, and it was like the boulder falling from the mountain! I do hope you get some relief soon!


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## water22 (Oct 25, 2010)

Sorry i can not believe that you have not gone in 70 days. You would be dead from toxic mega colon. You need counseling and a good GI.


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## Uno1234 (Jun 6, 2012)

lishak said:


> I am a 33 year old female that is scared to death with all that is going on...... When I was in kindergarten I was diagnosed with IBS and I had the diarrhea side of it badly and all the way up until I was 25 evertime I would eat, I would have a bowel movement within a couple minutes, it was always very loose stool and sooo embarrasing, I stopped going over to peoples houses and eating out because it controlled my life. When I was 25 something happened and my body did a total 360, I stopped having bowel movements and I would only go once every 2 or 3 weeks and it was hard to even have a bowel movement and I had to take tons of fiber to even go. I had several colonic's done and the workers were suprised that they got no movement, she said that I was the only person she had worked on that the colonic did not work at all, after 7 of them with no luck I stopped going to have them done.Over the last few years it has became chronic, I was put in the hospital by my family doctor last year because it had been 64 days since I had a bowel movement and for the weeks prior to being hospitalized he had me cut out gluten completely and had me on a daily regimen of metamucil, benefiber, several stool softeners and of course all of these things did not work at all so then he said he would try the heavy duty things and that they would definately work, he put me on 2 bottle of magnesium citrate and the following prescriptions; lactulose, the rx form of miralax and metoclopramide 10 mg (which is a drug that increases digestive contractions) and I continued to drink my at least 9 glasses of water daily.Needless to say none of that worked either, he was stunned, it had now been more than 70 days since I had a bowel movement and the pain was unreal that I felt on a daily basis. He told me to keep taking all of that and it was bound to start working, well 5 days later I stated to vomit and called his office and he has me immediately admitted into the hospital because he was afraid I would start vomiting up stool. I was in the hospital for a week and they did some x-rays and a CT scan where they said I was completely full of stool but they saw no blockage, they continued the Rx regiment that my family doctor had me on and after a week still no bowel movement so they released me since I was not vomiting.A couple of weeks I had a small bowel movement that was rock hard and would not even flush and then I continued all the fiber and over the counter med's and it has allowed me to have a very small bowel movement once every 2 months or so, now a year later I am at the 70 day mark and last night I woke up with the most awful pain in my stomach, I felt like I was just going to explode! I was going to go to the ER but I knew I would just be told to go home and have a bowel movement and nothing would be done.....Here is my concern overall, everyone.... and I mean everyone in my family has had some form of cancer, all of them have passed away except my dad, mom and older sister, all 3 of them are still living but have had cancer, my dad had prostrate cancer, my mom had uterine cancer which required a full hystorectomy right after she had me and then my sister had ovarian cancer which was removed. On the passing people of the family, my grandmother (dads mom) had lung cancer which spread everywhere, my aunt had breast cancer and my dads brother recently passed from lymphoma. So you can see why the thought of cancer (colon cancer) worries me every day! But my doctor never orders any tests or anything and I do not have insurance so that of course does not help any, but from stories that I have read, people have the same issues that I have and do not get tested and then 10 years later find out that they have full blown cancer and pass away in their 40's. I am at a stand still and all I can wonder is how in the world does my body have over 2 months worth of food in it and is just sitting there?? How have my intestines not exploded yet??? What in the world is going on with my body?? Why am I the only one that seems so concerned?? It just makes me cry I am praying that someone feels my pain and can offer some advice or may have been where I am at and can offer some advice as to what to do..... Today my pain is at a level 10 and woke me straight up out of a sleep and I am just sitting here rocking in pain, can someone help?The only other information I can think to offer is that I have no children, I was told years ago that I have endometriosis and cannot have children because of all the scar tissue. I have gotten pregnant 4 times, all have ended in tubal pregnancies, one in which I had to have my whole left tube removed and the tube I have left is 100 blocked with scar tissue. I had my galbladder removed in 1998 because it had adhesions all over it, and that is all medical wise that I can think to offer that may help.Please help, I am scared and desperate!


I wonder if you have hormonal problems? You said you have endo.... Hormones have a HUGE impact on digestion.. They are found all throughout the digestive track... Maybe you could try some Dong quai or maca?


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