# Please Help Me Understand My Condition! (and dietary advice!)



## GroverCat (Mar 16, 2013)

Hi all,

I'll get right to it,

My colon is, 9 times out of 10, filled with poop, alternating between completely unformed and formed (but never hard) stool when it comes out. My doctor says I'm chronically constipated, but I'm going at least twice a morning (often filling the toilet with a normal go) and sometimes at night if I'm alone and not stressed about making audible bathroom sounds, and so I'm puzzled by my constipation diagnosis. When they did a CT scan two years ago, they said my colon had "increased solid matter throughout" and indicated chronic constipation. What's going on here?! How come I feel chronically constipated and I show up as such, but I am going to the bathroom so often? Is there a problem farther up in my small intestines? I'm always painfully bloated and noisy in the guts, ESPECIALLY at night! I think everything moves through me and is ready to exit in about 12-16 hours.

I've tried taking Miralax twice a day, once at night and once in the morning, but it didn't change my patterns or feelings of incomplete evacuation at all. I just continued to go in the morning as always, and occasionally at night. Still felt like crappola.

Some info:

Positive for SIBO once three years ago, negative a year later. Symptoms didn't change a lot after treatment the first time... not long enough on the antibiotics? At the time I took them, my doc told me I didn't need to take probiotics, so I didn't. Also on again-off again on PPIs, sometimes months at a time, which I know puts you at risk for more SIBO. Haven't been tested in two years now.

Negative on celiac

Colonoscopy last week showed normal looking colon, but the doc got the scope looped (doh!! after all that prep!) and didn't look at the terminal ileum.

Endoscopy almost three years ago showed nothing abnormal.

Newly diagnosed with Hashimotos Thyroiditis as of December, but my levels are normal now after two months of meds, and it made NO change in my bowels (so disappointed!)

New symptom as of December: chronic pain that's getting worse by the week in my lower left side and occasionally on the right. Often can't fall asleep for a while because of the discomfort. Still, though, I'm going to the bathroom regularly... Could this be a damaged nerve or something?? Even when I was cleaned out from the colonoscopy and beyond-a-doubt had no poop or gas inside, it continued to hurt.

Other possibilities docs have suggested are endometriosis attached to external bowel since I also have chronic yeast infections (but this is invasive to test for), or possssibly, something like Crohn's that has intensified since my first endoscopy that was missed by the colonoscopy. Possible, but, all of these things are invasive/expensive to check for, and in the meantime I think I'm going to try dieting again to see if things resolve...

So, if anyone has any words of wisdom about what I should pursue-- another course of SIBO treatment (they don't have equipment to test where I live now) or anything else, advice would be very much appreciated! Also, if anyone can help me categorize my chronic constipation-that-is-never-hard-and-empties-every-day, I would also appreciate it.

Finally, to the diet:

I'm debating whether to stick to the FODMAPs only diet, or whether I should modify it and cut out all grains and caesin too... Has anybody done one or the other?

Thanks so much to anyone who has made it down to the end of this cry for help!

I'm 28 and sick of feeling sick!


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## QuiQui (Aug 15, 2010)

Oh...I'm so disappointed that your thyroid treatment isn't helping your problem. I just made a post asking whether there was anyone around who had had their IBS resolve after getting their thyroid hormones back into balance.

I don't really have anything of value to add to your problem because it sounds a lot like what I'm still struggling with (except that I don't go at night, only twice in the morning, if I'm lucky). One thing that doctors did notice in a barium swallow that I did last year was that my stomach emptied very quickly. So you might be onto something with your theory about everything moving through you too quickly and being ready for exit right away, so much so that it all backs up to a degree. That thought's occurred to me, too.

I've been on the Atkins diet for the last four months, which has meant completely cutting out grains. I've been much less gassy and bloated, especially in the evenings. So cutting grains from your diet might help. But if you've already cut out FODMAPs, that leaves you with not a lot else to eat!

About your thyroid, did your doctor expect that your constipation would resolve right away once your thyroid levels normalized? Or was there supposed to be a period of time while your body readjusted? Also, if you don't mind saying, what are your levels now? (I'm just curious to compare them with my own.)


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