Will the accidents ever stop?

[DarknessEmbraced]

It's been almost 9 months since my surgery. I've had more accidents since surgery than ever before. I keep a food/symptom diary to try to pinpoint trouble foods but so far there doesn't seem to be a clear pattern. I know to avoid harder to digest foods like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, etc.. I'll go from multiple small bowel movements a day, to constipation, then to diarrhea/loose stools with accidents. My surgeon said that the part that he removed(half of my rectum and half of my sigmoid) are only for storage so they shouldn't affect my digestion. He mentioned IBS. He said about taking extra fiber such as metamucil but I've been trying to get fiber from food. Dicetel has cut down the number of accidents and bowel spasms. I'm still on prednisone but have tapered down to 10mg and in another couple of weeks will be off of it. I know I sound like a broken record but I've been really struggling with this. Is this just something that I can expect to never go away because my digestive system has been forever altered?

[stevieb]

It should get better with time. I used a thick dose of Metamucil with 3-5oz of water immediately after each meal to help thicken the stool and keep things moving together. It did the truck for me, no longer take it!

[DarknessEmbraced]

My stool is usually ok in consistency until I have the accidents/diarrhea. Sometimes it's hard to pass. I can't use metamucil because it causes too much bloating and gas. Are there foods that would do the same thing? I wish they had Citrucel here because it's supposed to be easier on the system. I'm not sure if benefiber is better or not. I eat whole wheat bread and whole wheat pasta.

[jalusa]

Order it on Amazon?

[MSJC]

Do you still have your gal bladder?

[DarknessEmbraced]

I'm in Canada so it would be more expensive for shipping even from amazon.ca then there's duties and taxes at the border. I still have my gallbladder.

[Mendezbo61]

I, include a lot of potatoes and white rice in my diet.I had almost had the same surgery did you had with 0/41 lymphatic nodes, no chemo/no radiation. It took about 8 months for my peels to start acting normal again. Hope this help you.

[Lee]

Sorry for the accidents you are having. Some people on this board do daily enemas with a lot of success. There are a couple of threads on this subject if you do a search.

Good luck, hope it gets better for you.

Lee

[kellywin]

Darkness - 9 months seems pretty early, if I remember correctly, I was still in a hit & miss stage. I'm sorry that the metamucil doesn't work for you, it has really changed my life. Foods made absolutely no difference for me. I would definitely try something else (maybe another brand?), I don't know that you're going to get the bulking and/or regularity just from food alone. I'm 2 years out, I have some crappy days, but they're rare, even so, accidents rarely happen, butt it takes a lot of time for your body to get used to things.

[teachpdx]

Hi Darkness, the docs don't seem to know what they're talking about when they say your digestion shouldn't change. They took out part of your rectum and sigmoid, it effects your body however it does. I would suggest Immodium. I had problems with clustering, etc until I started taking Immodium - 2/day. I make sure I eat whole grain bread and that is my best bet for regularity. Good luck and 9 months IS still early. I'm 2 1/2 years post reversal and still run into problems on occasion.

[sadysue]

Tomorrow is my 4 year cancerversary and I still have an occasional accident. Just two weeks ago was my last accident and thankfully, I was at home when it happened. I have not had many over the last few years but they are all memorable!!! My entire rectum was removed and a couple inches of colon and I usually have pretty good holding power...except for every once in a while Good luck!