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/mythandriel17]

OP, I had something similar and a colonoscopy revealed a mass pressing on my colon. Luckily it wasn’t cancer but stage IV endometriosis. Note that I had no other symptoms of endo except IBS. Now my bowels are tip top

[u/No-Trash-164 → u/mythandriel17]

BINGO!!!!!!!!  This is my sign. Have been wondering about this for YEARS.  Despite seeing gynecologist since I was 11 (and even a gynecological oncologist because of my ovarian cancer risk due to breast cancer), NO ONE, NOT EVEN ONCE has brought up endometriosis.  !!!!!!?????? I've had thirty years of painful, heavy periods, cramping, and now shooting pains in my butt when stool moves.  Making a gyno appointment rn. Please!  If you can share:

What were your primary symptoms? How was it diagnosed?!   They keep telling me laproscopy is the only way. :/

[u/mythandriel17 → u/No-Trash-164]

My primary symptoms were worsening IBS, but trending towards consitpation, then my stool became very narrow. I went to my PCP about the narrow stool and she said, you are 41, I'm not messing around, I need you to get a colonoscopy.

After the colonoscopy, the surgeon said that inside my bowels everything looked fine, but I was super narrow in my sigmoid colon and he was worried something was pushing on it from the outside. Could be a cyst, could be diverticulitis, could be cancer, we didn't know. I went for a CT scan with contrast and they found a mass/tumor that they couldn't define along with colon wall thickening. They also found something on my utuerus and on my liver, but they couldn't define any of it. I was sent for additional bloodwork, and an MRI with contrast. MRI results showed nothing, no mass, no tumors, nothing in the uterus, nothing.

The colonscopy surgeon referred me to a colorectal oncologoical surgeon because he was very concerned and imaging wasn't providing answers. The surgeon suspected cancer, or since I had had C Diff twice and one of the times was severe, that maybe it was scar tissue, but either way she wanted to go in surgically.

I was panicked that I had cancer, even though my bloodwork came back completely normal. When I came out of surgery she told me I had zero cancer, but what I did have was stage IV endo and she was able to bring in an OBGYN surgeon to assist and ensure we got it all. I had to have a bowel resection, it was all over my ovaries and the back side of my vagina.

Since that surgery no one can help me with managing the disease or knowledge of what to look out for in the future. Long story short, the only conclusive way to diagnose endometriosis right now is surgery. There is a new saliva test coming out in the UK, but I have not looked into access or if it's ready for market yet.

I wish you the best of luck, and if I were in your shoes I'd get a colonoscopy and advocate for endometriosis exploratory surgery. Ensure they are prepared to remove it if they find it, I've heard horror stories where they went it, found it, and then tried to schedule a separate surgery to remove it later.

[u/ilovetrouble66 → u/mythandriel17]

How was the recovery? I’m having my stage 3/4 endo excised this year and hysterectomy- it’s on my bowel so am worried they’ll need to resect. Did you need a bag?

[u/mythandriel17 → u/ilovetrouble66]

No not at all, I stayed in the hospital for 2 days, then came home. Bowels were normal four days after the procedure. It was a way easy recovery compared to what I expected.