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Fecal loading

Has anyone ever been told there symptoms could be due to fecal loading before the inflamed section of the large bowel? I've been given laxatives to see if it helps, very strange considering I have had D for the last 4 weeks. Haven't been able to find similar stories anywhere on the net
 
Finding it all very strange, not much on the Internet regarding issues like this with crohns sufferers, I don't have any symptoms of impaction, don't know if this is because it is in the ascending colon and my flare hasn't given me any pain except during BMs. The doctor didn't want me to have another xray to see if it was still there a week later which I thought strange and another consultant said only take it if you feel like you need iT. My inflammation is classed as mild and only seemed to be in the descending colon as seen on a sigmoidoscopy but it has been causing alot of bleeding and D. Just doesn't feel normal to take laxatives while still having a flare up especially when the information leaflet actually says not to take it if you have inflammatory bowel disease
 
Hello,
I have been told in the past my symptoms have been due to fecal impaction and I've been hospitalised twice because of it (didn't have a BM for 9 days!!).

I was also confused as at the time I wasn't constipated, but my X-ray showed fecal loading. I was getting overflow diarrhoea - as there is so much stuck in the bowel it secretes lots f water which causes you to have diarrhoea.

It took so long to finally clear my bowel, I had fecal loading for months after my admissions! I was also so shocked when my dr said it was still loaded haha.

Make sure you stay hydrated with the laxatives as there is a big risk of dehydration if you already have diarrhoea. I never had severe diarrhoea when I was taking laxatives so I would be cautious as you don't want to go overboard.

Hope that helps.
 
Lottie93, how did you know it had cleared in the end? I stopped taking the laxatives last week because I don't think there is any loading (sorry TMI) but i see bits of the meals I eat the day after.
My local hospital is too busy so I currently have nobody to ask about anything, waiting on a follow up appointment from my hospital admission but my consultant is over booked for months, sometimes the NHS is great but at times like these it would be nice to see someone to get some answers and some medication that works
 
My local hospital is too busy so I currently have nobody to ask about anything, waiting on a follow up appointment from my hospital admission but my consultant is over booked for months, sometimes the NHS is great but at times like these it would be nice to see someone to get some answers and some medication that works
I dunno how you guys do it in the UK. My experience with the NHS was nothing short of traumatic, and while the US system is expensive, it's reasonably efficient (at least in my many years of experience!).

I hope you manage to find someone to give you answers soon!
 
Do you not have an IBD nurse you can contact? When I was having these problems I could call her up and she would slot me in that same day or give me advise in the interim to getting investigations done!

If I'm honest I wasn't sure if It had cleared myself. I had really irregular bowel patterns for months after and subsequent scans showed I was still loaded even when I was going regularly. Took months of laxative use but I found that soon I didn't need the laxatives to go, when I was loaded if I didn't use laxatives then I wouldn't go that much. I would take the laxatives and be going so I would think oh ok it must have cleared now but evidently it all hadn't so as soon as I stopped just started to build up again and I would get symptoms.

I also found that symptoms, such as the nausea and early satiety, started to ease as it finally cleared.

Sorry I can't be more helpful, it was a confusing experience for me too!
 
Have they scanned you to actually see if there is fecal loading or just going off a hunch? the only way to confirm is usually by abdo X ray. May be useful if you are not sure if you actually have loading or not!! As like I said earlier I didn't think I did but I clearly did when I saw my scans.

You seeing your food the day after wouldn't suggest loading unless it is managing to bypass over the stuck bits 😣

I now use Benefibre(which is a natural fibre supplement), but I only use it when I feel my bowels are slowing down as other times I have diarrhoea and don't need any more of that :p


Xx
 
My local hospital does have an ibd nurse but they are away until June (they went off just as I decided to flare, good timing on my behalf) they did x ray me and said they suspected it but I had no other symptoms whatsoever. I think they were just clutching at straws as to why my d was not improving rather than just admitting the steroids aren't working. Thanks for your experience of it though I found maybe one or two threads about it on the whole Web before posting
 
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