anxiety and diarrhea

What you are describing sounds like dumping syndrome. This is generally associated with small intestine resection and gastric bypass surgeries. You had lower bowel surgery so this is not a true dumping syndrome but some of the preventive measures may be of benefit to you.

Try eating several small meals throughout the day. Limit the portions of carbohydrates with the meal. Eating an apple or applesauce will help with the diarrhea. Apples have apple pectin in them which will absorb some of the excess fluid in the stool. This should alleviate the diarrhea. Immodium is available for diarrhea over the counter. Have you tried this?

Is you doctor/surgeon aware of this? Be sure you notify them of this. They may have other suggestions for you.

I hope some of my suggestions offer you some relief. Let us know if you need more assistance.

Excellent suggestions.. I wasn't aware that apples could help with the diarrhea. I'll be sure to have that on hand as its another healthy and easy on the body food source. I went and searched on dumping syndrome and its definitely what I have been experiencing.. I think mine is mild so I'm going to adjust my diet and I believe that should get me right back on track. I'm 2 weeks out from my surgery and I think every day I'm gaining a little more strength.. Immodium seems to work well most of the time and I'm definitely using it to help get back to a normal diet and routine. I've told my doctor about it but they didn't really seem to think much of it. I think I need to communicate more if it continues, since they might be able to give me a medicine that can target the problem.


Another tough challenge for me is the back pain I get in the early hours of the morning. I'm young and was in pretty good shape before my surgery but afterwards due to not being awake in the early hours of the morning, I get very strong soreness in my upper back muscles and some lower and it takes 20-30 minutes once i wake up to get it under control. What does everbody think on this? I was thinking that I probably should do light stretching and begin light back muscle building exercises to get my muscles in shape. Any suggestions?

Stretching and some light exercise is definitely the way to go with your back pain. Inactivity can cause muscle pain and stiffness. Start slow and build your strength and increase your workout as you get stronger. Do you take anything for the pain? Motrin/ibuprofen is a good choice. It is an anti-inflammatory and analgesic so it will help reduce any swelling in the muscle tissue and offer some pain relief.

Go on line and do a search for back exercises. You may not be able to do some of them yet. When you heal you can work on the core muscles - abs and back. This will really help with back pain. You may have another 4 to 6 weeks before you are able to start some of the core exercises. Be patient. Abdominal surgery is tough. When you start to exercise if it hurts, stop. Don't go too aggressive. You will get stronger but take your time.

antigone,

Thanks you've helped me a ton and even with my overall confidence with the healing process..

I should probably start another thread on this but have you heard of anti-MAP for Crohn's?

I was researching anti-MAP treatment and it sounded like something a person with Crohn's should try and do. You basically take 3 anti-MAP medicines over a period of so many weeks.. I read almost like a 60 % - 80 % success rate for remission in Crohn's problems in more than one test study, and we are talking more than 10 people being on the treatment! I wonder if there is anybody on here that can vouch for it? I really want to have my Gastroenterologist doctor consider it and I want to see if it works for me.. I wonder how I can convince my doctor that its worth it?