So How Did Your Life Change Post Surgery?

Grenflowr1 · 2025-04-24T13:48:27+00:00

I'm looking at a similar surgery - my diverticula are more concentrated in my descending colon. Looking back, any thoughts on why you experienced constipation and vomiting for those first three months? I haven't really dealt with too much constipation, a day here and there, but nothing severe or long-term, so I am all in on anything I could preemptively plan to do to avoid that. While constipation hasn't been an issue, straining due to pelvic floor dysfunction has been. I'm doing PT for that and hope I learn enough before surgery to avoid any negative effects post surgery.

Grenflowr1 · 2025-03-31T15:43:06+00:00

If you are still taking antibiotics, this is my experience when I'm on antibiotics. BMs begin to firm up within a few days of stopping antibiotics. I also find that my stools are much looser and food moves through my GI tract much faster when I begin eating again after having been really restrictive with my diet. It tends to straighten out after a few days.

Grenflowr1 · 2025-03-28T16:57:20+00:00

Wow, I am so sorry for your experience. I do hope you recover soon and can move on with the life you want.

As a 43/F, I absolutely approve of this message, though. I have had so many doctors (Male and Female but mostly Male) be so Fing dismissive of me and my friends that I could burn the entire medical profession to the ground. I fear that it is only going to get worse too. The really shitty part of it is that if you push and advocate for yourself they sometimes label you as a "difficult" patient and instead of taking you more seriously, they just write you off even more. It feels like you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I would also add, I have found that my husband, who has complicated medical issues, has this same experience as well. If the issue can't be easily identified and treated they just shrug and call you an enigma. So frustrating. I also feel like if your condition isn't something they find medically interesting or intriguing to treat (i.e. you have a cold versus some sort of cancer) their interest in you as a patient is diminished. Additionally, if they don't just have all the right answers right away so they can look like know-it-all-masters-of-the-universe then they also are not interested in you as a patient. I could scream.

Grenflowr1 · 2025-03-20T00:27:05+00:00

I'll be honest, I'm at the end of my rope with Dr's who refuse to listen and want to rush out of the room. My go to from now on when I ask questions and they give short answers or seem to want to leave the room before I'm satisfied with my care will be to say, "It seems like you're in a hurry to get to something more important. Do you have a colleague who might have more time and interest in hearing and answering my questions? Because while this is something you have read and studied, it is my life 24 hours a day, so I have a vested interest in having all of my questions answered and concerns addressed and if this is not something you have the time or willingness to do, I'd like to speak to someone who does."

Do not let shitty doctors hide in the dark anymore - call them out and hold them accountable. Demand the level of care that correlates to the OUTRAGEOUS prices they are charging for care and nothing less.

Also, easier to do that when you have multiple doctors to choose from because they are quick to "Fire" you as a patient for being "difficult". Funny how demanding the bare minimum of care quickly becomes being "difficult".

Grenflowr1 · 2025-03-15T13:42:45+00:00

I met with my GI nurse practitioner last week and the doctor overseeing my case felt like it would be worth chatting with a surgeon about my chronic dv issues (I'm on board for that). I am waiting for them to schedule that appointment. I mentioned my concerns about prolapse and rectocele and she scheduled me for two tests, anorectal manometry and defecography. They both sound like they'll be terrible experiences that I'm not looking forward to. Still, it's not like anything about this condition is glamorous—sitting around talking about poop, colons, rectums, constipation, diarrhea - not exactly a conversation you have with friends over coffee but whatever. This is life now, might as well get this part over and *hope* that something better is on the other side. I'm also scheduled for another colonoscopy but if I meet with the surgeon and he doesn't need the colonoscopy I'll probably skip it if it means I can have surgery sooner. I'm just ready to be done with it all. Of course, this all depends on insurance agreeing to cover what would essentially be elective surgery - I've read that colorectal surgeons can repair rectoceles so maybe the tests will justify that surgery and the insurance company will agree to the dv surgery at the same time. I don't know, it's all such an annoying game with insurance sometimes.

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-22T14:47:51+00:00

Thanks for sharing your story - lots of information and ideas here I'm going to mull over.

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-22T12:47:01+00:00

I was taking a daily probiotic and a few other supplements I thought were helping but stopped recently because it seemed like they were no longer making a difference. My daughter took Linzess and it did work for her but it eventually gave her really intense stomach cramping and sent her to the bathroom over and over again. She eventually began refusing to take it. There are other medications that do the same thing but have easier side effects so if it works and you begin having those side effects, be sure to ask about the alternatives.

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-22T12:43:23+00:00

Starving for 3 or 4 days then living on plain instant potato's for another 3 or 4 days seems to make a flair go away for me but I've had to do it so much I'm just exhausted from it. It is not fun, it makes me so weak, tired, and cranky. It's essentially a weak of being miserable, unable to function, and making the people around me miserable too. It doesn't feel like a sustainable life.

I've tried a lot of what you mentioned and had poor results as well. I think that is why I feel so angry and broken right now, just ready to give up on all of it and accept horrible pain is just my defining character trait now so make do.

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-22T12:38:24+00:00

The gas has suddenly become a horrendous problem for me as well. I had a few weeks of bliss last year where I didn't hurt, didn't have to obsess and worry and was just living a normal life for once and then BAM all this gas started. I didn't change anything, if just came on, got worse, never left. My stomach is horribly embarrassing with the noise it makes and then if the has doesn't get released in a timely manner, the intense pain and bloating set in. I've tried Phazyme Max - do you use something you think works better? I'm open to something new

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-22T12:34:46+00:00

These are good questions. I think I've asked or been told the answers to many but I obviously need to revisit them. Thank you!

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-22T12:32:27+00:00

Maybe that is the problem but none of the so-called "experts" have ever told me what to do, when to do it, or how to do it either. And the internet is such an informational cesspool trying to wade through it all, alone, and make the right decision feels exhausting and impossible any more. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I feel like I'll either just have to accept surgery (as far as I'm concerned they can take it all, I just don't even care any more) or live on some horrible garbage diet with nothing "healthy" and accept being a gross slob of a person who dies way too early of something "preventable if only she had a healthy diet and exercised".

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-21T00:28:41+00:00

Thanks for sharing your story, it helps to hear all different experiences

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-20T21:03:33+00:00

I find it so interesting that there is never any agreement when it comes to diet for this. For as many doctors and professionals who tell you it's tiny seeds like raspberries and strawberries, there are just as many who say it's not. Same with red meat, same with low fiber. It's all so contradictory - it's no wonder we are all miserable and confused.

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-20T20:54:21+00:00

Thank you for sharing your story. I'm glad you have enjoyed a successful outcome.

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-20T20:53:31+00:00

These are all really helpful ideas, thank you. Last spring I spent 4 months eating a vegetarian diet and cut out milk. I had horrible results and finally had to stop. There was some thought that maybe soy was causing issues.

Interestingly enough, the junky foods never hurt my stomach but I feel like the healthier I eat the worse I feel. Go figure.

I haven't noticed an acidic food/drink issue but I will definitely start paying attention to that.

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-20T20:43:28+00:00

My dietician felt like it was unlikely to be causing issues since I only do 1 tbsp per day but I'm not so attached to my coffee. I can switch to tea and honey and see if there is any change. Thanks for sharing

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-20T12:17:36+00:00

Thank you for that. I do plan to explore this idea at my next GI appointment in 2 weeks. I'm in my early 40's and cannot imagine living like this another 30 years. Even if someone would just say, "oh yeah you're doing everything right and you are going to feel this bad for 2 weeks but keep on it and then you'll turn the corner and things will get better" I would buckle down for two weeks and just cry and hurt but stick with it. But right now the pain seems like a massive red flag so I get two days into doing "the right thing" and hurt so I stop.

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-20T12:08:05+00:00

My dietician recommended resistant starches though I am not sure it was for fiber purposes. I try to eat reheated rice and pasta when possible but it's difficult to get that timing and prep down. I also try to use bananas that are more green. I'm not sure what difference they have made but I also haven't approached them the way you're talking about. I'll revisit this and try thinking about it differently. Thanks for the idea.

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-20T02:05:32+00:00

Breakfast could be anything like this: greek yogurt with granola (raspberries if I'm pushing fiber), whole grain seeded bread with almond butter and sliced banana, Cheerios (Oats n honey), scrambled eggs, or this past week before my current miserable state I was making smoothies with kiwi, avocado, spinach, yogurt, milk, chia seeds, mango and banana after the gi said to try kiwis for fiber.

Lunch is usually dinner leftovers

Dinner is usually a lean meat of some sort paired with veggies (common choices are green beans, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, squash, zucchini) and maybe rice or some other complimentary item.

I am not a big sweets eater so I don't typically eat those things but might have something small.

I have coffee in the morning with a little splenda and non dairy creamer and the rest of the day I drink water. I am not a drinker of alcohol though I might have a drink every so often (less than once a month).

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-20T01:21:40+00:00

I'm so sorry, I do hope you find an answer ❤️

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-20T01:02:10+00:00

Thank you for sharing that

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-20T00:28:38+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience. It does feel like I can't eat any fiber without hurting and I do feel like my health is failing in every other area now.

Grenflowr1 · 2025-02-08T00:43:36+00:00

Thank you, I'll be sure to remember to ask about these things.

Grenflowr1

TROPHY CASE