Obstructed defecation syndrome

[janke]

I have suffered from IBS all my life (i`m in my 60s), mainly with occasional bouts of diarhoea and pain, but about 5 years ago the symptoms changed. I needed to go to the loo at least 5 times every day but didn`t have diarhoea and struggled to pass motions even when they were soft, and always felt I wasn`t empty. This led to me seeing numerous medics, dieticians etc, but nothing helped and I was told "It`s IBS, you`ve tried everything so you`ll have to live with it". By this stage I was hardly leaving the house as I never knew when I would need the toilet and drugs like imodium made me severely constipated.

12 months ago I moved to a new area and paid to see a consultant who had a specialist interest in IBS. He immediately flagged up "obstructed defection" (which is a defecatory disorder) and referred me on to a colorectal surgeon who had expertise in that. I have now had an anorectal manometry test, a proctogram and seen a women`s health physiotherapist who specialises in pelvic floor disorders. All of these have shown that my muscles are very tight and failing to relax properly when I attempt to pass a motion - which stops me passing it effectively.

I`ve now been taught some techniques which hopefully will start to retrain the muscles but have been warned that this won`t happen quickly as the problem has been going on for so long. I feel very angry that I was misdiagnosed for years and frequently been told to do things which were actually making me worse.

My reason for posting this is to say that if you have similar symptoms to mine, read up on Obstructed Defecation - it isn`t a rare condition and there is lots of information available. And if you think it applies to you insist on being tested for it as soon as possible.

[3443Ness]

Hi Janke thank you for sharing that with everyone I will definitely read up on it I have never heard of it before now that's why this sight is so important to us all so we can share our experiences and learn new things and different ways to cope with our IBS issues

[Trec]

Thank you for this information. I’ve not heard of it before but having looked it up online it certainly seems to fit my problems. To see my GP is impossible at this time but for now I will try to put into practice the advice given. Thanks again.

[Evonne02]

Hi Janie, So glad you write this piece as it has enlightened me on my IBS issue at present. Thanks for posting the name and giving us the description as mine are so similar to yours. Luckily I have a double GP appointment in about 2 hours so I will speak to him about it. I hope you start to feel better soon 😍