Tuesday, December 2, 2008

It's Potty Time...

We all know some of the less glorious aspects of this crappy disease... the bladder and bowel symptoms we get. Some of us go way to often, some of us can't get enough out when we do go, others go way too much, others don't know how in the hell that much liquid can come from one person....

Me, about 2 years before diagnosis, I spent more than 2 weeks in the hospital with what they eventually (after a colonoscopy and another hospital stay) deemed IBS - irritable bowel syndrome. They thought I maybe had colitis or Crohn's but the colonoscopy ruled those out. I lost almost 15 pounds in about 3 weeks and couldn't keep anything in me. All the doctor's and hospital visits came in handy these past couple of years for dealing with MS... I could barely go to work and I was very thankful, when I did, that the bathroom was only a few steps away. The docs put me on steroids (again, good dress rehearsals...) and I did a severe diet change for about 2 months and I seemed to "heal".

Course, this wonderfully mysterious auto-immune disorder that we share called Multiple Sclerosis could have been the culprit all along. There are TONS of nerves in our bowels... the process that gets the crap, literally, out of us is called peristalis. It's one of those autonomic nervous system processes that works without us having to think about it. Course, there are days when we have to work on it.... Correctol has become a very close friend of mine! Don't you love how MS breaks down the barriers in discussing CRAP????

My neuro seemed to agree with me during one of our longer, initial diagnosis discussions. I never really got mad at all the GI and OB-GYN docs that I saw as a result of that CRAP I went through during that time. (They thought endometriosis was the culprit as well - and still is part of the problem) Besides, I could have been diagnosed with Crohn's and MS - we all know that the auto-immune disorders are very co-dependant on each other and like to share habitations a lot. How many of us probably also have RA with our MS put the general joint pain we all dismiss as a result of the steroids or other meds? I've had my feet and hips xray'd a bunch over the last couple of years because of my "pain", and the docs wanting to rule out RA.

Wow - didn't know I was going to delve into my past so much for this post... And, it started just to be a really funny one about a website I found reading someone else's blog about Crohn's (I'm a caregiver to a Crohn's patient - my partner). It's a website where you can find a toilet no matter where you are in the world - and you can add toilet sites!!! Here's the link - it's called SitOrSquat.com .

Hilarious!! I'm going to go back to watching the boob-tube and listen to the roofers working above. They got here at 645 this morning - wonder if the sunrise was good from on top??

3 comments:

~Erin~ said...

It's very interesting how these disease's allow us to open up about any subject. My bowel issue is "going" frequently, and not knowing I need to go until it's almost too late! UGH!

the queen said...

During my colonoscopy (yes, I remember it) the doctor commented that I was still "going" though nothing was there. I am glad to say the issue resolved itself to a large degree due to the anti-depressants Im on. They tend to regulate the seratonin everywhere, including the seratonin that runs your bowels as well as brain.

Synchronicity said...

I have MS and I also have had IBS for years...way before my diagnosis. I now wonder if it is all related.

I write for a health site called Health Central and I wrote a "poop" article some weeks ago. Here is the link: http://www.healthcentral.com/multiple-sclerosis/c/73302/39842/poops

My issue lately with all this is constipation. That was one of the first MS symptoms I had.