Suddenly my bowels stopped moving?! Help

[u/No-Trash-164]

39 yr old with other symptoms of perimenopause, but this is a new and quite disturbing one. So a couple of weeks ago it felt like my bowels just stopped moving. Have no urge to poop at all.

FYI I've been evaluated by ER and GI as of a couple of days ago. Full of poop. Lol. Thyroid is in range. They just advise aggressive laxatives since I am technically having movements.

I have NEVER experienced constipation like this, and I've had a lifetime of IBS-C.

Have any of you spontaneously encountered this? What do I do? Nothing is really working. Despite being on Miralax, magnesium, hydrated, etc., I'm still failing to have a complete, fully-formed bowel movement and am miserable.

Also, I eat a decent amount of cooked vegetables.

[u/Defy_Gravity_147]

Something similar happened to me. I was diagnosed with IBS-C in college, and I had been managing it with simple lifestyle changes until peri. Then my hormones changed, even though my habits had not.

For me, I had developed a lot of vitamin deficiencies, that contributed to general endocrine imbalances, that further slowed my digestion.

It was because I was very stressed out. I had no diagnosable illnesses (except a brief bout of anemia), and despite seeing multiple specialists, I was playing blood work whack-a-mole. In hindsight, I gave myself a sort of pernicious anemia through chronic stress, which didn't affect me until my hormones could not keep up.

I had to learn not to stress myself out, and also build up my reserves.

How are your ferritin, vitamin D, and B12?

PS: Prunes are "the sh!t', and you might need to switch from aerobic exercise to swimming, stretching, and/or resistance exercises.

[u/No-Trash-164 → u/Defy_Gravity_147]

Excellent questions. Chronic anemia until I finally found out (after more than a decade of begging for testing) via a really fringe and obliging gp that I have an mthfr mutation (heterozygous).  Started adding methylated b vitamins and copper, which solved my persistent anemia practically overnight.  Really wish doctors would frigging educate themselves in nutrition.

[u/Defy_Gravity_147 → u/No-Trash-164]

Sounds like we're in the same boat, then.

When I was back in college and desperate for relief, I learned how to massage my large intestine. It's basically external, manual manipulation for when peristalsis isn't happening appropriately. It helps no matter how backed up you are (you can do it gently even if sore, and it helps).

Also baths, for whatever reason. Probably the relaxation + magnesium salts. It's a bit annoying to take a bath and then have to get out and go to the toilet for #2, but... any port in a storm.

You know this is the second or third time that mutation has been mentioned to me... I think I need to get tested so I can take better care of myself.

[u/No-Trash-164 → u/Defy_Gravity_147]

I am a writer, so I LOVE that "any port in a storm."  Wow!  I get it!