women suffering constipation - page eleven
The tale of...Calandra
I first of all want to say that I found this site yesterday while I was at work and I was experiencing yet another constipation bout that now falls into my Top Three Most Painful Constipation Episodes - actually it ranks at number two. I was practically in tears after reading all of the testimonials. Just to know that somebody else knew exactly what I go through day after day was a comfort.
I am a 30 year-old female who has been suffering from IBS as long as I remember. I am one of the lucky ones who can thank genetics for this. My mother has battled with it for almost 45 years although she has not experienced the constipation side like I have.
My first memory of IBS occurred when I was five or six years old. My feet could not even touch the floor as I sat on the toilet. I remember the painful cramps that had doubled me over and I didn't understand why that was happening to me. This was a diarrhea attack which was the first of many to come for the next 16 years. I won't get into the details of that phase - you know the drill.
I experienced so many episodes that it would take all week for me to catch you up. I hadn’t experienced much constipation, but then my lucky day came when I was 22 years old. I was four months pregnant with my first child. I will never forget this day. (This ranks as number three by the way). My stomach had been cramping off and on for two days. It never even occurred to me that I might be constipated.
Then I remembered that it had been five days since my last bowel movement. No matter what I did, I could not get anything to happen. I was at my parents', eating dinner (roast and potatoes), and about half-way through I was doubled over in the most horrible stomach pain I had ever experienced, even with my one million bouts of cramping diarrhea.
I never had any morning sickness throughout either of my pregnancies, but I was vomiting and hurting so bad. After about one hour of grunting and pushing (which I now know was my trial run for childbirth) I finally got some relief. I had no idea what I was about to embark on for the next eight years and counting...
Needless to say, I had a horrible time while I was pregnant, and I couldn’t take anything! The doctor blamed my pre-natal vitamins (all of that damn iron) so I limited them to only two a week instead of daily. I tried all of the usuals...eat more fruits and veggies, take fiber, drink plenty of water and walk, etc.
It helped some, but I still struggled and the only thing that kept me going through every cramp was that I thought this was only temporary. I was ready to get back to having diarrhea attacks every day after the baby came. This was for the birds!! As you can guess, it never went away. I am always on a constant rotation of constipation and diarrhea.
I am a very open person, and I learned in about the 10th grade that I was just going to have to tell people that I had stomach problems and I may have to pull over if we are driving or I may be in the bathroom for an hour, because I hated the embarrassment of it all.
As soon as I get to know somebody, after about the third meeting you will know that I have IBS and I spend a lot of time in the bathroom so just deal with it. Once I did that, I rarely got embarrassed and it was much easier to cope with. I still feel bad for inconveniencing people, but at least they know I can’t help it - well most of them.
I will now share my second worst constipation episode which brought me to this website. It began yesterday morning and I am still battling it today. I had had two very bad diarrhea attacks last week - one at Target and one at Wal-Mart. Of course, I always go when I am shopping. I can tell you where any public restroom is in Northeast Arkansas - thus the beginning of my never-ending cycle.
I had completely cleansed myself over those two days so my intestine starts to build a new dam - if you will - until I get extremely constipated and I finally go several times throughout the day and finish it off with extreme diarrhea. I woke up yesterday morning with that dreaded feeling - bloated as hell, bad cramping, and extreme pressure in my rear that felt like there was a mother-load of poop dying to come out every time I sat on the toilet.
I have two kids to get to school and I have to be at work by 8:00am, so I sat down two times and I quickly knew that this was a force larger than I, and I would have to deal with it later or we would all be late. I got to work, and my boss could tell by the look on my face that I didn’t feel well. I told him my usual story. “No, I do not feel well this morning. My stomach is hurting so I will probably be in the bathroom a lot, so if you can’t find me that is where I will be."
After one hour of pain and six trips to the bathroom that proved disappointing, I told my boss that I needed to run home for a few minutes. I went to my enema supply and there was one left. That didn’t even work - still nothing! I drove back to work and had several more worthless trips to the bathroom. I had grunted so much that I was worn out and the only thing that was happening was the pain was getting worse.
I couldn’t stand up straight and I was covered in sweat. Finally I called my husband practically in tears and asked him to go get more enemas and bring me one to work. Fifteen minutes later I am lying on the bathroom floor at my place of work inserting my second enema of the day and still - NOTHING! What kills me is that the average person would think I was insane for doing such a thing at work, but it was just another day for me.
Somehow I made it through the day and once I got home I stayed in the bathroom for two hours. I had to lock myself in the bathroom while my husband took care of the kids (he has been wonderful through all of this). I was sitting on that toilet in tears begging God to please let me poop or please kill me! I really thought I was going to die if I didn’t go. I gave birth to a 10 pound and an 11 pound child naturally, and I swear to you I did not have as much trouble getting them out as I did that poop!
My number one constipation attack came in the winter of 2003. I woke up to a town covered with a beautiful white blanket of snow. The kids (who were three and five then) were very excited. It was a work day, so me and my husband at the time (we have divorced and I am re-married to the wonderful husband I spoke of earlier) were getting ready for work.
It hit me as soon as I looked out the window to see the snow. I was doubled over with cramps and once again, I was constipated. It was so bad that I couldn’t talk for the pain. I was finally on my bedroom floor in a fetal position crying and screaming for help. My ex-husband just looked at me and told me he didn’t know what to do and that he was going to be late for work, so he left me there.
My mother showed up to watch the kids, and she couldn’t believe the bad shape I was in. I finally said that I am going to have to go to the emergency room because I didn’t know what else to do.
I called into work and told them that I was sick and they were very short-handed due to the snow. I said I would try to come in later if I could. I drove myself in the snow to the emergency room. I was miserable!! The people at the hospital just looked at me like I was crazy! I told them that I couldn’t take the pain anymore and I needed help now! I was getting irate and they kept making me wait.
After being there an hour (I was on the floor in that fetal position again) I was called back and the nurse finally administered an enema. I am not talking about any Fleet either. This was the size of an IV bag and a large tube connected. I went through two bags of that.
The nurse told me that she had not ever seen anyone in that bad of a state with constipation. Most people say they would never allow a stranger to do that to them. My response is that if they were in the pain I was in they would allow anybody to do it in front of as many people as they wanted. I could’ve cared less if the president was standing there, I needed help! Of course, I did make it to work by noon. If I stayed home sick every time my stomach was hurting, I would never get a paycheck.
It really sucks to have to live your life based on how your stomach and colon is that day, but I have had every test, tried tons of medications, and no matter what I do, I will become immune to it and I am right back where I started.
I just go day by day...as long as the people close to me know what is going on and can cope with me when I am like that - I will be OK.