To cry myself to sleep about this

[Embarrassingiknow]

I get frequent diarrhoea and discomfort in my abdomen. I’ve had blood tests, stool tests and a sigmoidoscopy. All clear thankfully. I was diagnosed with IBS or a food intolerance.

I mentioned to the consultant who did my colonoscopy that my poo sometimes stings but he sort of dismissed me and didn’t help at all. He just said it’s IBS or a food causing my symptoms (eg possibly lactose) and was quite sharp about it and didn’t really offer any help about why the symptoms are happening

The diarrhoea and discomfort is unpleasant but I’m used to it now. But I can’t stand this burning anal pain anymore. im going through a tube of anusol a week and it’s not really helping anymore. When it’s at its worst, it’s excruciating to sit down and walk about. It sometimes bleeds. Right now im sitting on a cushion and I’m in so much pain with it.

I don’t have piles or fissures and have been checked for it already. I’ve tried different toilet papers, wipes, different underwear fabrics.

it usually starts after I’ve been to the toilet- it honestly feels like my stool is made of acid, it stings SO Much and it leaves me in pain for hours afterwards. I don’t know if it’s possible to have acidic faeces but if it is then I’m convinced it’s acidic.

I have NO idea what’s causing this but I could cry. Nothing is helping and I don’t know what to do. When I ask for help they just say anusol or antidiarrhoeas. But it’s not helping. I can’t get a GP appointment right now because of work and Uni. I don’t remember the last time I didn’t cry myself to sleep about it. I’ve got university lectures tomorrow and I’ll have to walk about and sit down and it’s absolutely excruciating so i could cry some more thinking about how awful it will be

I don’t even know why I’m ranting on here about it, I’m just sick of being in so much pain. I hate my life right now

Oh and I know that there’s trolls who post about topics like this- I’m not a troll. The bosses at Mumsnet can check that and verify im genuine.

It’s bad enough to cry yourself to sleep over every night, but not bad enough for you to miss a lecture or take a half day holiday so that you can see a GP? I don’t mean that unsympathetically, it sounds awful. But that makes no sense.

Can you afford a GP consultation privately so that you can do it online at a time that suits you?

Did you have a colonoscopy or a sigmoidoscopy?

Are you getting any help with a fodmap / elimination diet eg a dietitian / nutritionist?

If it's a food trigger then you could ask for help trying to work out what.

I’d get a second opinion OP. You can’t live like that and it’s cruel of them to leave you in that pain!

I can’t offer any advice, OP. But I feel for you and hope you can soon get a proper diagnosis and effective treatment. Chronic pain of any kind is very depressing. Xx

I don't really have much advise but I'm sorry you're going through this. Have you tried taking ibuprofen? It's anti inflammatory so I've found that helps with the pain. Ive also found the anusul suppositories better than the gel before, if you've not tried those. Hopefully you can find better support, the consultant sounds rubbish.

No I understand what you mean. From my OP it was very unclear so that’s my fault there.

but I’ve been for help already and they gave me anusol and anti diarrhoea tablets and said it needs to be sorted by the gatsro doctors at the hospital but then at the hospital they said it’s just ibs or a food intolerance and the doctor was actually quite rude about it all. Nobody has really helped

besides, it’s so difficult to get an appointment at my GP now. There’s no online or econsult, you just have to phone when it opens and hope you get through but it’s always jammed and the appointments are gone in the first minute. I can’t really take time off Uni or work just on the off chance I’ll get through and then have to do it all again. And even if I do get through it means waiting all day for a call back which isn’t practical with work etc either.

I appreciate I sound like a moany cow and I am definitely having a bit of a stroppy rant here! But I’m just so fed up of it all

Have a warm bath for a few minutes every time you go to the toilet to help ease the pain, maybe add salt too to help with infection and inflammation

are you sure there’s no internal tears? Fissures can be deep inside and not easily picked up

Ask for a colonoscopy go private if needs be ( and if you can afford it)

can you try and eat a diet to help soften your stools until you know the cause although hard stools alone can cause microscopic tears which you won’t see but will cause you agony

Have you tried cutting out dairy? It makes a huge difference to my IBS when I do. (Sadly I love so many dairy products that I don't avoid it as much as I should)

Who says you don’t have a fissure or piles? Have you actually had an examination?

I was told i was having a colonoscopy but in the follow up letter I found out I actually had a sigmoidoscopy (I didn’t know at the time because with the sedation I didn’t really remember any of it!)

Put vaseline on your bum before pooing, if you can. It'll help to protect the skin. You can use it inside too, as long as it's not loads.

Do you suffer with reflux? Wondering if something like omprezalone would help.

Demand a colonoscopy - you could hand Crohn’s disease. Keep push push pushing for an answer

Have you tried to take an anti acid like lanzoprozole?

Yeah I’ve already seen a dietitian and they did fodmap with me and it didn’t really show much x

I have had something similar (albeit very mild, unlike your situation) since I was born and in my case it's an anal fissure.

Yeah at the GPs and I also had the sigmoidoscopy, both were clear and they said I don’t have a fissure or piles x

Have you considered you could be allergic to the anusol? I had a similar problem that seemed to go on forever but stopped anusol and used vagisil instead for a while as well as swapping from cushelle to Costco Kirkland loo roll and it cleared up. Using a menstrual cup instead of tampons also seemed to help as I noticed it was definitely worse during my period.

It probably IS acid that is irritating your skin. Perhaps you could help neutralize the damage done by keeping some bicarbonate soda dissolved in a jug of water next to the loo. (A couple of tablespoons at least)… It’s a gentle alkaline solution that might help neutralize the stomach acid. I would rinse the area with that and make your own “wipes” with some paper towels and pat it on afterwards. Make sure you pat dry with a towel rather than rub. I would even consider getting some cotton Nanna knickers that you don’t care much about and using some kind of nappy cream that contains zinc and an anti fungal medication. I live in Aus and this is the one I would suggest… (I have experienced what you are talking about prior to being diagnosed with coeliac disease.)

Lichen sclerosus around the anus can make pooing very painful. It's treatable with a steroid cream. Doctors don't always pick it up. Maybe worth looking into that and pushing the Dr for a referral to a dermatologist.

Bit random, think aloud and happy to be shot down by others if it’s a ridiculous idea…

But on your comment about acidic poo (so I guess food / intestine related rather than only tears) would it be worth using litmus strips to test the acidity of your poo?

I’ve had all sorts of these problems. I do very much think the pain could be multiple very, very small fissures which can’t be seen by the naked eye. Caused by all the going and wiping.

it’s a faff but what has helped me tremendously is applying a calendula balm right before going and at few points during the day, calendula is very healing. you’ll need to use surgical gloves or similar. I use the green people mum and baby rescue balm.

I also think germaloids ointment works the best out of all the hemorrhoids cream for pain on a night.

Low fodmap and following an anti inflammatory diet worked well for me.

You poor thing, Please speak again to your GP it sounds like that this is an issue with your stomach acid that is causing discomfort in your anal area, I think a medication like omeraprazole may help, This helps to neutralise the acid in your stomach, Which may in turn ease your discomfort .
Ask for your continued diarrhoea, I would recommend your GP refer you to a dietician in the hospital ( outpatients) in order to manage the symptoms and to find if there Is a particular food that you are eating that is contributing to it
Please avoid spicy food tomatoes and coffee as they all contribute towards stomach acid. Keep a food diary and note which foods make your symptoms worse in terms of the diarrhoea and the burning. Anusol Is for haemorrhoids it Won’t really help with the burning as you go toilet
Anti-diarrhoea tablets just help the symptom rather than the cause
I would also ask the GP for a referral for a colonoscopy and endoscopy.

Actually, given that litmus tests work on a colour change… maybe the liquid absorbed from the poo would discolour the paper too much. Sorry, like I said - thinking aloud!