Pain in back after bowel movement

[Theodora2016]

I've got stage 4 endo and over last few months I've noticed a pattern of really painful lower back pain before and after bowel movements lasting hours and now days . Anyone else get this? Its got worse over last few months and makes me worry it'd not the endo but something else. The pain is terrible and I'm trying not to take loads of pain killers which can cause constipation. Can't win!

[Sliced]

Yes -I had these symptoms exactly: I had stage I endometriosis on the utero-sacral ligament - between the vagina and the rectum. I was crawling to the toilet.

I thought of it like a child sitting and bouncing on your back because it is more benign than thinking of it as being hit repeatedly by a sledgehammer on the back.

Read this on endofound:

"Rectum, rectum, rectum! Painful endometriosis usually means rectovaginal endometriosis, not vaginal endometriosis. Be sure your surgeon has the ability to treat rectal lesions. If the doctor doesn’t do any rectal surgery, seek out a specialist to work with your surgeon. Remember: endometriosis almost always involves the bowel, but usually does not go very deep. Still, it is imperative to remove the disease from the bowel to decrease or eliminate disease persistence".

endofound.org/ask-harry-top...

I was concerned that I had endometriosis growing into the bowel - and would need bowel resection ect. - this was not the case, the surgeon said that the excision of the endometriosis was 'simple' surgery. Two years on, no pain.

It may be that you have a more complicated surgery - it may not: the pain symptoms often correlate with the nerve growth in the lesions and how they press and encapsulate your other nerves - not the severity of the endometriosis.

When you are in pain, try not to think about what's causing it or how severe the disease might be - this makes you perceive the sensation as more painful.

Think about the fact that the pain has nothing to do with the endometriosis lesions - only the involvement of nerves - the nerves can tell you the truth - they can also exaggerate the truth and tell you lies.

I also had an ovarian cyst the size of a rugby ball (that was cancerous) but my surgeon is sure that the painful bowel movement was due to the endometriosis on the utero-sacral ligament and not the cyst. So I did have 'serious' disease but it was the 'not serious' disease that was causing the severe pain.

[Sliced in reply to Sliced]

Make sure your doctors take your pain seriously - they don't know for certain that it's not symptomatic of harmful disease until they investigate.

But don't get anxious about the fact that it hurts like hell: that the fact that it's very painful, doesn't mean that it is harmful or complicated.

Doctors used the fact that the pain is not indicative of harmful disease as an excuse not to investigate my symptoms - this is very very wrong for many reasons and goes against the clinical guidelines. (NICE)

[MD54999]

Yes I get the same, mainly on the lower left back and I get pain with bowel movements which radiates from my left abdomen around to my back. It's incredibly painful and uncomfortable. I've got bowel endometriosis (found during a lap) and I'm going to a consultation soon to assess the extent and discuss surgery. I find heat packs and taking steps to address bowel symptoms generally (following a low FODMAP diet, herbal teas etc.) alleviate my symptoms.

[Sliced in reply to MD54999]

Yes, I find that the low FODMAP diet helps: or at least, def. no pulses/ onions/ garlic & if bread then only sourdough.

You can experience back pain on bowel movement and sciatica-like symptoms due to endometriosis on the utero-sacral ligaments and pouch of douglas.

I used to get sciatica-like pain all the way down my left leg, I suddenly had a dead leg - it felt completely numb. I used to crawl up and down the stairs during my period.

Endometriosis affecting the bowel not necessarily mean endometriosis is growing deep in the bowel: you don’t need to worry about this.