Thread: slow colon transit

Since I was bed ridden for several weeks and partially for several months about 2 1/2 years ago now my colon has ceased moving. I was put on saline laxatives (miralax) for a whole year. It barely helped and eventually started causing severe gallbladder pain. I've taken all sorts of fiber supplements and probiotics. I've ended up in the ER several times for the pain and they always give me magnesium citrate which quickly makes it nearly impossible to breathe from the pressure. Filling my colon does not make it move. The pressure just builds and my abdomen distends until I can't draw a breath.

It also puts pressure on the nerves in my abdomen making my heart rate spike to nearly 200bpm when just sitting up or walking up stairs. I've kept the symptoms down by using magnesium oxide which doesn't give me the gallbladder problems but all that does is keep things soft enough that it can squish around so it doesn't cause pain. I still only have maybe 2 bowel movements a week with something to help like caffiene (which I'm not supposed to have due to insomnia). I was given reglan for a short time but I'm not sure it helped and I cannot take it with my other meds.

Which is another problem. My slow colon eventually slows up my small intestine and then along with not feeling hungry at all I also stop absorbing my meds. Things that have a huge impact on me when my digestive tract is moving will basically become sugar pills. This is causing all sorts of problems and these incidences practically make me house bound when normally I would be doing martial arts 3 times a week, agility with my dog, working my horses.....

Finally on top of it all keeping everything in my intestines nearly liquid has resulted in incidences of fecal incontinence. Luckily only at home but still embarassing and I had to throw away 3 pairs of underwear plus this morning I have to wash the sheets.

Anyone have any ideas besides fiber, diet, and osmotic laxatives? That's what my treatment plan has centered around for 2 years and it's doing nothing. I have to keep dosing myself with stimulants like caffiene and ducolax but sometimes those don't even do anything. I'm ready to go talk to my doctor about a subtotal colectomy if there are no other answers. For awhile I had things under control but now nothing is working again and I can't keep living like this. I may be resorting to an enema today and I'd really rather not reach the point I have to rely on enemas to empty my colon 3-4 times a week but I'm rapidly approaching that situation.

They are sending me to another specialist but he sees people from all over the world so he has like a 6 month waiting list.