Constipated diarrhea

[Karley]

Can anyone please help me figure out what I have? I don’t have hard stools and it’s not constipation, it’s that the poop is stuck inside me, even if it’s diarrhea. I can drink laxative and will need to have diarrhea really badly but it will NOT COME OUT. When it does it’s a little diarrhea at a time. It is like my body isn’t working. During flare ups (that often correlate with depression/anxiety), my intestines and bowel get so inflamed and my stomach looks like it’s pregnant. During that time the poop comes out super skinny like it’s coming out of too small a pathway. It is worse when I eat certain foods like coffee, chocolate, tomatoes, and I can’t have dairy. If I eat a hotdog the inflammation is at its worst. I can’t completely narrow down certain foods though, because I’m thinking it might even be a reaction to certain oils, chemicals or preservatives. I went for a food sensitivity test and it said I had none. During a non flare up, though, i can eat the same thing and not have as many symptoms. Weirdly enough if I drink alcohol all night long, I can eat anything (even a hot dog) and I will either just have regular diarrhea the next day or a perfect poop! (Thought I’d mention that because it’s so weird!) I went for a colonoscopy and they noticed the inflammation and thought I had chrohn’s or colitis but both came back negative. I’ve been to doctors, naturopaths, acupuncture, I drink water, juice veggies, take probiotics, glutamine, eat healthy, go to the gym and do everything to manage stress but I haven’t been able to fix this. Can you please let me know what you find out? I haven’t really seen other posts that are similar to what I am experiencing and it’s terrible.

[Hidden]

Hi Karley,

This is called (unsurprisingly) incomplete bowel evacuation/emptying and quite a few people on here experience it.

It can be caused by a number of factors, but the culprit is often found to be bowel prolapse(s) - stool can get stuck in these if they're big enough. The only way to determine if you have any is to have a proctogram. This is an X-ray or MRI taken whilst your bowel is doing what it's supposed to do i.e. getting rid of waste. Don't freak out about that, you actually turn up at the hospital with an empty bowel and then have a clear gel squeezed into your rectum which you expel when told to.

You mention that stools can be very thin at certain times and this can be caused by a prolapse called intussusception which is when part of your bowel telescopes back into itself.

Try using glycerine suppositories or mini-enemas to clear out the lower bit of your colon as well as a laxative.

Hope this helps at least you know you're not alone!

Cat

[Karley in reply to Hidden]

Omg thank you!!!! I’ll look further into bowel prolapse. I just read a little about it after your message and it definitely sounds very accurate. And you’re right, I was definitely terrified of pooping in front of doctors but that test doesn’t sound so bad. I’m thinking maybe my swollen intestines might still be attributed to food allergies, so maybe that is a separate issue. Thanks a million, I will try all of this 🙏🏼