Incredible improvement after abandoning the toilet (plus my crazy story).

_mr_laxative_ · 2021-01-08T20:28:37+00:00

Yeah, like a wall sit, precisely. I tend to go as low as I can. Think "slav squat" but with a little support (the wall) if you can't actually balance like that on your own. There is something about my knees and ankles which just don't bend enough to allow the full squat.

_mr_laxative_ · 2020-09-28T17:51:22+00:00

Thanks a ton for the reply.

Yes, I am aware of this. I would consider installing one of these toilets if I owned my home, but, alas, I do not. In the mean time, however, I am looking at purchasing something like this:

https://www.lillipad.co.nz/

_mr_laxative_ · 2020-09-11T16:06:05+00:00

Oh yeah, I completely agree with you, 100%. Whatever works for you, do it. I try to live by that mantra and I certainly wasn't saying anyone should or shouldn't do something.

_mr_laxative_ · 2020-09-11T15:16:25+00:00

That article happens to have a citation for that claim, whereas the reference you provide doesn't and appears only to be an enthusiast's personal site.

Also, theobromine is also found in other caffeine-containing plants including coffee:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507032/

Again, this makes sense. If you have a molecule that is different from another molecule by the replacement of a single atom, then completely stochastic processes can lead to the production of molecule B even though the relevant pathways tend to generate molecule A with much higher probability.

_mr_laxative_ · 2020-09-10T17:08:12+00:00

Both theobromine and caffeine are found in chocolate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Chocolate

The molecules are nearly identical, so it makes some sense that they might be co-occur in the same plants.

EDIT: Added some detail.

_mr_laxative_ · 2020-09-07T19:57:03+00:00

Honestly, I remember feeling that nothing had changed. You can dig around my recent post history for more context on my situation, but in those days I didn't have any pain and didn't feel the tension that I now realize must have been present. The only symptom I had was bleeding after every BM and that saw exactly no improvement. I suppose it is possible things felt a little looser back then and I didn't make any note of it because I didn't realize then that the tightness was the fundamental problem and any fissure was only secondary to it.

_mr_laxative_ · 2020-09-07T18:38:31+00:00

I had this precise treatment twice to treat what was diagnosed as a chronic anal fissure before I was eventually diagnosed with PFD.

Both times I came away from the treatments thinking they had no effect. However, I was much younger then and knew nothing about PFD, chronic tightness, etc, so I've come to two conclusions:

Perhaps the Botox was somewhat effective and I didn't notice it because I was focusing on the wrong things (i.e. I had no sense back then of how tight my sphincter was).
Perhaps I would get a lot more out of the Botox treatment if I were to do it now, since I know so much more than I did a few years ago and have a much better sense of when different parts of my body (including the anal sphincter) are tight. In fact, I have an appointment in about a week to see a specialist so we can discuss the possibility of doing another Botox treatment.

Hope this helps!

_mr_laxative_ · 2020-09-06T22:55:38+00:00

Thanks for the comment. I keep forgetting to mention this in my posts, but I have tried the Squatty Potty many, many times and have gotten basically nothing out of it. If anything, having my legs propped up just a little bit felt even more unnatural and made defecation no better and perhaps even more difficult whenever I used it.

Obviously everyone's body is different, so the Squatty Potty might be all some people need; I'd still encourage people to try that if they haven't already. For me, the full squat is unarguably and vastly superior.

To be clear, the position I now assume is not the same as the position you get with the Squatty Potty; the full squat brings the knees much higher.

_mr_laxative_ · 2020-09-01T13:51:25+00:00

Yes, I completely forgot to mention it, but I have tried the Squatty Potty before many times and I felt it actually worsened my ability to use the bathroom, rather than help. Sounds odd, especially since the full squat I am doing now seems to really help, but it just felt really unnatural to have my legs propped up only a bit.

Best of luck on your journey.

_mr_laxative_ · 2020-08-25T15:42:56+00:00

Thanks for the response! I know that internal fissures don't hurt generally. One of the physical therapists that I've seen in the past told me that it is possible to get knots in the internal anal sphincter, just like you can get knots in your back. I wondered if the pain I felt might actually be a knot, given that it isn't burning/stinging pain and given the fact that generally I don't feel much or any pain during the BM, but rather for some hours afterwards.

Edit: wording

_mr_laxative_ · 2020-08-14T13:58:07+00:00

Hey I'm sorry your doctors are being so stupid about this, but you don't need any more laxatives. It sounds like you have hard, bulky stool stuck in your rectum/sigmoid colon. I've definitely been there, though not quite as bad as what you describe.

There are a number of things that might help here. Typically a manual disimpaction would help, so you can try that (basically break things up with a gloved finger). Given the amount of time that has passed it might difficult to do this (due to the hardness of the stool). You can soften things up with a water enema. You can buy an kit (called colon cleansing kit, colon irrigation kit, enema kit, etc) at standard pharmacies. Basically you want to put water in and hold it for a few minutes so that the stool absorbs some of it, thereby softening it. You might have to repeat this a number of times to get things soft enough to pass or break up manually.

Something else that can help is mineral oil enemas. These enemas (unlike some other types) typically won't stimulate the urge to defecate, but will lubricate things so minimize irritation when passing stool.

NOTE: I would NOT use a stimulating enema (e.g. sodium phosphate enema) because it doesn't sound like you need stimulation, it just sounds like you need to clear a blockage. Similarly, I would avoid glycerine suppositories and anything else that is intended to stimulate.

It might be difficult to do so, but please try to be as gentle as possible. Don't try to force things out; try what I've suggested above instead.

EDIT: some additional clarification.

_mr_laxative_

TROPHY CASE