# Drastically decrease LG



## edi (Nov 15, 2017)

Hi all,

If you know me in Discord, sorry I left the group since I don't want to check tons of messages every day, it's just too overwhelmed for me. However, here I am, share my own experiences with you. It may not apply to you, but it's my story.

Here is my story:


I was constipated a lot before LG happened.
I had a bad eating habit, low on vegetables and high on meat and junk foods.
I strained a lot in the toilet.
My anus bled several times, but I did nothing to it and hoped it would heal.
Things got worse and worse until I drank Soylent to replace my meal, that's when my LG exploded.
I had constant loose stools and diarrhea after I was taking Soylent, and the reactions from people increased drastically.
I squeezed as hard as I could to prevent the gas leaking, but as you know, it made situations worse.
I thought I had IBS or serious stomach disease. Tried a lot of supplements, prescriptions from doctors, ointments, etc. Nothing worked.
Went to the physical therapist, she helped a bit to relax my pelvic floor, but not too much help on LG.

Finally, I sought help from Stanford Clinic since my insurance covered it. If you have insurance, I suggest you go find professionals to help you in LG case since they are the most reliable in scientific ways. I tried to find answers my own but I could only make speculations, not really solving LG. LG may sometimes underlie some more problems only sophisticated procedures like colonoscopy or manometry can detect like polyps or hemorrhoids. There are tons of "solutions" out there may or may not help LG, in some case, the "solutions" may even damage you further and aggravate LG. As a result, go find professionals if you can. If you had and no positive results, I am sorry, maybe you just need the right ones. I had gone to several doctors but they did nothing. Only Stanford can give me the right track on pelvic floor retraining. I hope you can find the right ones.

First, I did a blood test IgA, Serum, and IgA Anti TTG (2). From the results, I don't have celiac disease or dermatitis herpetiformis.

Then, I did the colonoscopy, nothing came up except anal fissure. So no colon cancer, polyps, parasites, IBD, etc. And the doctor prescribed me compound ointment and I don't feel the pain after bm anymore. That's the point I was starting to have decreasing LG reactions from people, but LG was still there. Maybe the anal fissure somehow put some more anal pressures due to pain, I am not so sure.

Afterward, I did the manometry. And here were the findings from the doctor:


The anal pressures were high at rest and normal during the squeeze.
Cough reflex was normal.
During the simulated evacuation, there was paradoxical anal sphincter contraction. Rectal pressures were normal. 
The rectoanal inhibitory reflex was present.
The rectal sensation was normal.
The patient wasn't able to expel the balloon out of the rectum within 4 minutes of attempted defecation.

Impressions of the doctor:


Findings of this high-resolution anorectal manometry and balloon expulsion tests are abnormal and suggestive of a defecatory disorder. There was paradoxical anal sphincter contraction at defecation consistent with type 1 dyssynergia. The balloon expulsion test was also abnormal. She will benefit from pelvic retraining and biofeedback with the goal of improving anorectal coordination and relaxation.

I'm still doing the biofeedbacks now, and the doctor found my anal resting pressures were high, so she told me that squeezing too hard may push the gas or stools out instead of keeping them in. Thus, I tried to relax all the time instead of squeezing all the time like before. Have you ever felt pain on your butt after you sit around people? Probably you try to clench and squeeze your anal muscles to stop gas leaking. For me, especially when I was around people, I used to squeezing hard trying to prevent gas leaking, but now I breathe out hard and try to relax my muscles. And LG stops. (Or drastically decrease, I don't want to make conclusions so early.) No muscle training. No botox injection. No surgery. LG just stops (drastically decrease). I was scared that it may be my false hope, but when I was around people more and more times, no more reactions like before. If you had LG for a long time, you know what I mean. You can sense the reactions in split seconds. But in this time frame, no reactions. So my temporary conclusions for my case: I put too much anal resting pressures, and it made my muscles fatigue and compensated by using other muscles. Also, I squeezed hard which may push out the gases instead of keeping them in. So maybe the wetness and warmness appeared based on this reason. I don't have the same wetness feelings after I choose to relax my anus muscles.

I was too wondered why my family or my girlfriend didn't smell my LG as often as people outside, maybe the answer is because we put more anal resting pressures outside with anxiety, and have lower anal resting pressures when we were more relaxed. Then maybe we still have LG with our family, but not as much as outside. Anxiety and nervous can increase anal resting pressures a lot, you can try to feel it. When you are calm, you don't really feel the tensions when you are nervous.

Thus, the solution is not to squeeze anymore, lower the anal resting pressures. It may sound funny, "Oh genius, you are telling me the things I have known for a long time now. So profounding!" Hold on there. But are you really relaxing around people? To me, my anxiety prevents me from doing this. I would have the urge to clench so bad that I thought my butt had its own mind. So from my experiences, the right mentality is the main key to lowering anal resting pressures. If you have the thoughts that say: "I will leak gas wherever I go." Then no wonder you feel nervous and anxious when you actually around people. I know you made that assumptions based on your past experiences, I experienced that too. But if you want to beat LG, you need to trust yourself first. Try to change the mentality to: "I will be LG free if I relax my anus muscles, if reactions happen, it's because I am not relaxed enough." As I mentioned, squeezing only made things worse, but if you reversed the approach, the result can be different. I won't say I am LG free since I still have the anxiety around people and wanting to squeeze really bad. But I usually breathe in and out hard to calm myself down instead of squeezing. Even you want to fart in public, don't squeeze, the anal muscles will hold them themselves like they used to before LG happened to us. You may leak a little bit, but that's it. Give it a try, maybe not a solution for you, but it is for me.

In addition, the word "Leaky Gas" itself really messed me up because I would think of myself leaking gas all the time. So I suggest maybe you can change the wording to yourself: instead of "Leaky Gas", how about "Pushed Gas" as I mentioned above? If you keep saying in your mind that: "I have Leaky Gas...leaky gas...LG...oh no...my gas is leaking...I stink because of my leak gas..." Your mindset prevents you to relax your muscles, you are the one who convinces your muscles never relax. So try to change the mindset to: "I have Pushed Gas, my gas is uncontrollably out because I squeeze too hard and too much, which push the gas out...It's nothing else wrong with me..." In that way, you can relax more.

On the other hand, prebiotics and probiotics combination solved my loose stools and diarrhea problems gradually. My guess is my gut bacteria went really bad after a long period of bad eatings and Soylent, that cultivated bad gut bacterias and they overcame the good ones. Probiotics alone are not enough no matter how many you intake, only consume probiotics with prebiotics can really cultivate fast enough to fight back the bad ones.

Furthermore, I switched to squatting on the toilet instead of sitting. I had a hard time to have bm when sitting, mostly I would need more than half an hour. But squatting on the toilet helps me stimulate the urge and have a better understanding on my full evacuation. I don't strain to have bm anymore, instead, I breathe in and out deeply and try to relax my pelvic floor and anus muscles, and let the stools come out naturally. This way I can sense more clearly if I have a complete evacuation or not. If I strained, I always had the incomplete feelings right after I stood up. However, the doctor told me that squatting may be putting more anal pressures than sitting, so I am now trying to switch back to sitting using the same relax mechanisms.

Last but not least, combined with relaxing anus muscles, prebiotics and probiotics combination, and proper bm techniques; I don't have any residues on toilet papers after I wipe. Before that, there were always brown and yellowish foul smelling residues on the toilet papers and could not wipe clean at all even with wet wipes. Loose stools and improper bm techniques may let the stools stick on the anal canal. I used to have weird sudden contraction when I was having the bm, like my anal muscles cutting my stools in half like Fruit Ninja, and that really messed up. I would have incomplete feelings all day and hard to wipe clean at all. So I would say if you have the wiping problem, try my methods and see if they can help you solve this problem.

In conclusion, don't sweat it, ladies and gentlemen. I have been there. I tried to suicide but I was a coward. I had countless anxiety attacks and crying moments. I had numerous times that I wished I could live in a place without people judging me. I had some much false hopes that I thought they would cure my LG, but eventually not. However, don't lose hope. Don't let LG control our lives. Even my method can't help in your case, keep fighting. There is always a door, you just have to find the right one. Thus, don't give up or waste your life due to LG, you can still do a lot while having it. I mean there are still people that are worse than us, I learned how to appreciate life more from LG, I hope you can too.

I may edit my post a lot due to my bad and incoherent writings. Thanks a lot.

p.s. If you have different opinions other than me, that's fine. Maybe your answers are better than mine, but I'm just doing my best to give hope to LG sufferer since I know their pain. Hope you can understand that.

Reference:

(1) Immunoglobulin A, standard range is from 68-408 mg/dL, mine was 154.

(2) Presence of the tissue transglutaminase (tTG) IgA antibody is associated with gluten-sensitive enteropathies such as celiac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis. tTG IgA antibody concentrations greater than 40 U/mL usually correlate with results of duodenal biopsies consistent with a diagnosis of celiac disease. For antibody concentrations, greater or equal to 4 U/mL but less than or equal to 40 U/mL, additional testing for endomysial (EMA) IgA concentrations may improve the positive predictive value for the disease. My value was 0.


----------



## SilverFox123 (Mar 13, 2018)

Yeah this makes sense. My proctologist once Said that my anus was too tight and this makes the muscle unable to Hold gas. I used to clech a lot when i feared that i Night stink. I will definetly try to keep it relaxed even if im scared.


----------



## PokerFace (Jan 13, 2017)

Its nice hypopressive are helping you too.
(Dissynergia is exacly what they were advise for)
Please keep us updated each month


----------



## ahapelvicfloor (Sep 1, 2018)

Hi edi,

Congrats on your diagnosis. I hope this is the right diagnosis for your sake and for the sake of this community.

Can you tell us what kind of exercises the doctors at Stanford Clinic advised you to perform ? Also how long has it been since you started going to the clinic?


----------



## SilverFox123 (Mar 13, 2018)

Hey, i have another question.
Did you also experience People saying that it stinks in a room you have just been into? Or did you just notice reactions. BTW how are you at the Moment?


----------



## edi (Nov 15, 2017)

SilverFox123 said:


> Hey, i have another question.
> Did you also experience People saying that it stinks in a room you have just been into? Or did you just notice reactions. BTW how are you at the Moment?


I recently went to places with a lot of people, and hardly I have noticed reactions. I would feel uncomfortable due to past experiences, but other than that I just went back to the normal person I was before LG. For now I am gain more confidence everytime I am around people with no reactions, hope one day you guys can do it like me.


----------



## edi (Nov 15, 2017)

ahapelvicfloor said:


> Hi edi,
> 
> Congrats on your diagnosis. I hope this is the right diagnosis for your sake and for the sake of this community.
> 
> Can you tell us what kind of exercises the doctors at Stanford Clinic advised you to perform ? Also how long has it been since you started going to the clinic?


I got checked on my muscles started around in early August first, just like I did when I was visiting my physical therapist. I didn't really get anything from the first appointment. She gave me tiny kegel exercises, you may do them before: squeeze your anus for 1 second and relax for 3 seconds, squeeze for 3 seconds and relax for 3 seconds, do 5 repetitions, 2-3 times daily. I didn't do too much since I was lazy.

However, the second time she introduced me to biofeedback, I thought it's some kind of advanced technologies that would plug into my butt and electrocute my anus, but rather it's just a meter to measure my anus resting pressure. She said we don't need to squeeze too hard to stop the gas. It makes sense, otherwise, we would be LG sufferer since we were born. But no, we didn't have LG even we hadn't squeezed hard all day. So I checked my resting pressure, normal people should have 2-3 (with some unit but I forgot, but that's not very important, just look at the numbers), but mine was 10-15, which was very high compared to normal people. She asked me to relax as much as I can so that she could ask me to perform the Kegel exercises (the squeezing exercises that I mentioned). I relaxed for a long 7-8 minutes and finally, my resting pressure dropped down to 6-8.

When I started to perform the Kegel exercises, normal people should have around 30, but mine was 40-50, which was crazy. She asked me not to use other muscles to aid me to squeeze and tried to squeeze in the range around 30, otherwise, other muscles may be compensated for my anus tired out. Also, I could not hold for three seconds, I usually gave up on the third seconds, which showed that long squeezing more than several seconds doesn't mean "long squeezing": we might be pushing instead of squeezing, the tightness doesn't mean the strength to hold the gas.

With that experiences, I decided to relax as much as possible to lower my resting pressure. And in the next session, my resting pressure returned to normal, that's when my LG really drastically decreased.


----------



## SilverFox123 (Mar 13, 2018)

Hi edi do you have any updates?


----------

