Rikimaroo wrote:Mike,
Have you thought about going back to the bag. It crosses my mind every now and then, because honestly the bag was no issue at all. Yes sometimes I had issues like where it came out from the sides, but that I figured out how to control. Other then that the bag is just weird to have, but to be honest makes life so much easier. Mike also your just 1 year out. They say things start to get better after 1 year or more. My biggest issue is the clustering, even when I am taking the metamucil. It just doesn't make sense and hard to figure out. I Know Susie has mentioned the enema, have you tried that. I am yet to try it. I am just not comfortable with enemas lol...
Rikimaroo
Rikimaroo wrote:Mike,
I don't think stress or pressure at work is causing your issue. I don't have stress or pressure as I work from home and I still have similar problems as you. Let's take today for example. I pooped once around 11:30ish and then another time at 1:30ish. That is twice, both times I usually strain or push to get stool out and sometimes it comes out on its own with sphincter muscles. This has been occurring more often where I got to put in more work then get the poop out by pushing vs the sphincter reacting and pushing or letting me know. Most often the poop is right there at the butt hole area so I find out I need to go, cause of the pressure. But yesterday I went from 4-7:30 AM hardly got any sleep. So its weird.
Either way it's up for debate on the bag in my household. I will give it some more time, maybe another year. But there are days I feel like its suffering, cause I got 10-12 times and the burn sucks. Then there are days I go once or twice and I am done. Which are great days. I still fear those times that I have to go when I am with a client, but at the end of the day, i can deal with all of this for another year to see if things get better. If not I think the bag is the best alternative. We shall see my friend.
Rikimaroo wrote:Well you are surely more active than I am in regards to exercing. That is great. I need to start doing that. The problem with Nopalina, Metamucil and other fiber supplements is I don't know if sometimes they cause clustering, or not. I been taking the Metamucil and tried Nopalina and I can honestly say they work and then don't work. So what the hell do we do about it. It's kind of frustrating because you expect it to work all the time the same way no clustering, just 2-3 solid bowel movements a day and your done, but that is not always the case. Wish they could make a rectum ....Well let's keep on trucking. Maybe in 2 years we will be closer to a norm. I know a few fellows that are actually doing well after LAR. I mean there are those days they have poop themselves, or clustered, but there practically two years out, but most days are better then worse. I could say that is similar to me, most days are better then worse.
It's just when the worse day happens it makes you feel like the good days doesn't matter.
Jolene wrote:NKMike and Rikimaroo - Just to share, I attended a colorectal patient support group not too long ago and met a few people with/without the bag. One guy said it took him 2 years to return to normality after LAR and on some of the worst days, he would go to the toilet for up to 40 times a day. He is back to normality now and just got to be careful of certain food that he eats which can cause bloating and indigestion.
Some other survivors in the support group also mentioned about 2 years for normality to return. Sounds like 2 years is the benchmark of returning to normality for LARS.
Hang in there !
Return to “Colon Talk - Colon cancer (colorectal cancer) support forum”
Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 125 guests