For the last year I've noticed a gradual reduction in my overall health. It was attributed to pouchitis and I've been on and off antibiotics. This current issue I'm reasonably certain is not a pouchitis issue. My symptoms are the following:
- Food is taking much longer to transit my system. For over a decade I could count on food first appearing around 6 hours after I ate it, and be completely or almost completely gone by hour 10-12. This has gradually lengthened, especially fibrous foods. Most recently I spotted a piece of celery I ate 48 hours prior with lunch.
- I suffering what I call 'attacks' often at night. They include sharp pains along my scar lines. There is a particular spot near the top just below my sternum that really hurts and then over the next several hours, often as many at 8-10, this pain slowly transits down until there is another particularly painful spot down just below my belly button. This is often accompanied by nausea, often severe, but no vomiting. Also sometimes bloating with the 'upper' particularly painful area. This bloating is enough to be visible through a shirt is you're looking and sometimes gets a little hard to the touch. This transit time is often accompanied by very strong and vocal bowel sounds you can hear from 10 feet away.
- I have intermittent blood in my stool. Always bright red, sometimes severe in volume but this will go away within 4 hours and won't present again for days at a time.
- I have a particular area just inside my external sphincter when pushing towards my spine that is very sore to the touch and can become more inflamed causing increased frequency.
- Stool consistency runs the gambit from completely fluid to very well formed depending on meds, food and days.
- The pain is always present but is worse with very fibrous foods which I'm avoiding. Bran cereal, salads, vegetables, anything with skins or seeds.
- I take pepto pills for bowel slowing, a prescription acid blocker for GERD, OTC zyrtec for allergies and am currently taking no other medications or probiotics.
- I'm not sleeping well at all, if i eat I'm almost constantly in either pain, nauseous, or both. I'm eating basically two small meals a day. I've dropped 18 lbs in 2 months, partly because I was trying but now it's just a byproduct of not eating much.
- The surgery dates are in my sig. I'm reasonably sure I have a hand sewn pouch which came with a mucosectomy based on how it was originally described to me and by some confirmation later from GI docs.
I recognize this is long, but thanks for reading. I'm torn on what to do. I lean towards waiting, but last time something 'weird' happened to me it ended up being a blood clot and a mass I had to have surgically removed so now I don't know... it's frustrating. I'm thinking maybe adhesion from the surgeries causing small partial obstructions, but I'm not a doctor.
Thanks again, I really am grateful that a place exists that we can come together. It helps me feel less alone during rough times like this.
