Postby lauragb » Sat Apr 13, 2013 7:55 pm
When I go "natural", I have that left side pain for about 15 minutes before I go, not the normal urges from the days of yore. I seldom go "natural" though.
Okay, now I'm going to get a little graphic to describe how I know I'm cleaned out in case this may help someone else. I do want to say that I think for many people, getting enough water up there is key. That does take getting used to and it's a gradual process for the body to tolerate the water, I think. Back to detail, I generally expel the stool in three phases. The first phase consists of what I call "clusturds", the little pieces that would take me hours to release in the past, phase two is a large amount of soft stool, the bulk of the cleanout and then a little later, phase three is some watery stool that isn't as digested, some roughage is visible. That's from farther up and signifies being done. I will still feel some urge but I'm done.
Now, I'm thinking of Tammylayne's past posting of never dreaming she would be describing her bowel habits for others and I'm in that same place. But I would have never even heard of the daily enema if I hadn't seen it on here. So in the spirit of helping others, I'm happy to provide TMI.
I know folks who are early in the process are reading this thread too. I would give yourself some time to adjust and try the fiber, diet and other suggestions. My situation was extreme as I haven't read about many people clustering as much as I did. At eight weeks out, I clustered for 15 hours straight one day. Even at four months post reversal, on my best days I would cluster for an hour in in the morning and around five hours in the evening, not fun. But there are many things to try and enemas are one that seem to help people when diet, fiber and supplements don't work.
And to the Enema-ites, keep experimenting, you'll find your method!
RC 3B 7/2011 @ 53
Chemoradiation 5 weeks 8/11
LAR-Hysterect-temp ileo
pCR, 0/23 nodes
Folfox 1/12, Xeloda 2/12 to 5/12
Reversal 5/12
SBO,lysis of adhesions 12/12
NED 11/12, 11/13, 6/16