Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Embarassing Question

I finally got my nerve up to ask this question on here so here goes.
For about the last 20 yrs i have been having loose bowel movements and when i feel the urge to go i have to go ..no holding it at all..just run for the mens room.I have tryed over the counter drugs ,eating cheese,burnt toast,nothing hardens me up.I have had a colonoscopy done and upper GI scope and barium enema done also.No blood in my stool jst always loose and cant hold it back when the urge arises.

I know men dont like to talk about this stuff but i thought i better tell someone.

Could this be a symptom of my Ankylosing Spondylitis?
I think it might be.

Any suggestiond greatly appreciated.

John

Yes John you have hit the nail on the head I have been like this for 35 years. Had all the oscopys possible nothing there.
Some things make me worse than others red meat fatal RUN
large meals feel bloated RUN.
Vegtables too many RUN.
Worst af all beer Lager is worst goes through me within 10 mins
So your not on your own . Keeps you fit though
Kevin

when i have the exact same problem you describe, the only thing that helps with the symptom is psyllium. i buy the brand konsyl because it is pure psyllium, nothing else.

for me, the root cause is gastritis, so getting that under control negates the need for the psyllium but until then, the psyllium helps tons.

until the gastroenterologist determined that it was in fact gastritis, other doctors just assumed it was IBS, but for me, that is not the case.

oh yes, and what i eat or do not eat makes a difference. i kept a food / symptom diary for several months; it was the only way to figure that part out.

and i do believe it is linked to my arthritis.

Has your GI doc ever mentioned any sort of sphincter problems? Have you ever tried kegel exercises? 20 years is a long time to deal with such an inconvenience. When I had my UC, things could go south in a split second. It was hold on tight and make a run for it. Therefore I can somehow relate to such experiences.

I hate to admit it but I have this problem. For me eating out and especially fast food gets me everytime. I have a very few places that I can eat and be safe enough to atleast make it home. If I am in a flare it seems to cause more of this problem.

I know this remedy is not NSD and may not work for every one but it works for me when it gets really bad- basmati rice cooked with very little else just a bit of salt and water. It is an aged rice is is suppose to be very healing.

Hi, John:

This used to be called things like 'spastic colon' but now IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) which is not only a common symptom of AS, but it is also strongly related to the primary cause of this disease.

And I would never have guessed this before I began taking NSAIDs, but they certainly made things much worse--enough to uncover the source of my AS: "Cryptitis."

IBS is a large intestine dumping problem and related to bowel inflammation. Every person with AS has some underlying colitis (or other specific "-itis") that is usually sub-clinical, but causes the bowel to malfunction and stop removing water from the fecal material, so, a post-prandial response (elimination after eating a meal) might trigger the urge to go and the waste is still in the chyme state due to previous dumping (from duodenum) and possible bile insufficiency.

This improperly dessicated waste is very bad for those of us with AS. Consider that the bowel has active lesions (breaches in the thin wall, or epithelium) and a large bacterial mass will be produced (at geometric rates) in a liquid colloid better than a solid object--and also that this liquid will be in intimate contact with the lesions, allowing optimum transfer of our offending bacterium into our blood/lymph and thereby triggering the immune/autoimmune reaction of AS.

Most of us eat foods and combinations of foods that create the optimal conditions for the bad bacterial growth, and this results in AS.

Eliminating or reducing dietary starch (especially Ebringer's "Four major poisons"--Bread, cake, pasta, and potatoes) is one of the primary things we can do to return our systems to normal, but supplements like glutamine and betaine HCl can also be of some minor help.

Yes, it is a topic that most people don't like to discuss, but we have to compare notes--and this is the absolute most important topic in AS (no Shinola!).

Regards, John...You are a brave soul,
John

But, but - I've been posting of this very problem a few times now! Don't tell me about it. And, one's doctor just stares at one in total incomprehension...sigh.

Yes. Horrible to contend with. I sometimes barely make it. And yes, have noticed that various foods will trigger the problem. Fruit being a definite no-no. There went my cherries, strawberries, the peach family, plums - think it is those skins and tiny pips (straws) that do the damage. As for breads? Hmmmmmm. No. Not good with bread. As for rice - and I only ever eat Basmati - Basmati rice is also a no-no: it bloats me summat chronic. Painful bloating is not my idea of fun (been contending with that all day today and can't think what might have triggered it this time, but, horribly painful. Couldn't even take the poor houndette out for her walk today. Sigh.)

I very rarely eat out (don't know 'what' is in the dishes and don't know what they have cooked the food in!!) and as for fast food, a definite no. No for many reasons, including the fact that it is disgusting. Fast food is a plain waste of eating, time and money!

When going through a bad bout of this 'running' problem I take Immodium, which seems to help. At least Immodium is available over the counter.

But I also get stomach spasms. For this I take Spaston-Lyoc. Excellent. It quickly resolves the painful spasms - which can be debilitating in the extreme, such as even walking is extremely painful.

Blasted AS. It sure is weird. Seems to have every area of one's life in a stranglehold.

Thanks for posting this Fonzy John and thank you John DragonSlayer for your helpful comments. (Excellent as always.) (My Solgar dietary enzymes contain Betaine.)

Molly C (France)
Keeping on Keeping on

This was the bane of my life. I never had a minute to spare when the urge hit I had to run, even in the middle of a felony arrest once. Since I quit starch things are on my schedule, when I feel the need, I have time to go when I want to. I even experienced a little tussel with constipation, felt claustraphobic about it. My wife laughed until she had tears rolling down her cheeks. I am glad you brought this up I feel unburdened.
Darrel

This was part of my life for around 20 years, well before I new about my AS. It onset at the same time as other AS symptoms appeared for the first time (about 15 years of age - mainly inexplicable sciatica). Suffered several indignities in the hands of doctors trying to find the cause before I gave up and accepted that I had to know where the closest toilet was at any given moment. When I hit my early thirties it disappeared and has never come back - although other AS symptoms accelerated.

I understand that irritable bowel syndrome is, for many people, part of living with AS and in such circumstances not responsive to normal strategies for managing the condition - you might find some food combos are particularly good or bad - as I said, my main strategy was to know where every toilet was and, when traveling distance by car, always have a supply of toilet paper.

Thanks everyone for your input.I thought it was associated with AS.I wonder if i had got it checked out in the earlier years could i have avoided this ankylosing spondylitis.I guess there is no cure for this bowel problem and i will just have to deal with it.Thanks to everyone for speaking out on my behalf.

John