Frustrated with doctors and everyone else

[travis1994]

I posted a thread on here recently that my doc found an anal fistula and they said they were going to fix it. Guess what, I woke up from surgery with them saying it was a pilonidal cyst. Absolutely nothing to do with my problem either. Make the story short. I've never been diagnosed with any form of IBD, IBS, or whatever. No family history of anything either. When I was 14 I went to the hospital for a fecal impaction that lasted two weeks..it was pretty bad. Have no idea what caused it, and I literally had a rock hard piece of poo stuck in my rectum for that period of time and never noticed it. Had a colonoscopy, upper gi..lower gi..every single test you can possibly have to rule out everything and ever since then I have been leaking. To be more precise, I go to the bathroom in the morning to have my bowel movement and wipe clean and then 20 minutes later it's like I never wiped. I stain my underwear and all. Doctors have always blown it off as not having enough fiber and refuse to refer me to a specialist. Anyways they finally did surgery on the supposed "fistula" that they said would fix the leaking and instead they excised a chunk of my skin under my tailbone between my buttcheeks and sitched it closed. It is nowhere near my rectum...and now I'm sitting here recovering for the next few weeks, still leaking..I take sitz baths twice a day and that seems to help keep it clean but still. I'm so infuriated with my doctor..and I'm emotionally bent out of shape. I feel hopeless and my mom just yelled at me at the top of her lungs and said I was imagining things and I need to trust the doctor even though she only met him once. She said "we've bent over backwards for you" I really liked that pun... anyways, so I'm only 6 days out from this stupid surgery and I had a follow up with the surgeon and he said I can stop taking the sitz baths and do whatever I want. 6 days... and just because he said that now my parents aren't paying any attention to me. They think they helped me. Has anybody ever had an experience like this where the doctors "fixed" something that wasn't the problem?

 

[Sailorluna]

I am sorry about your frustration. I agree some (not all) doctors can suck, they don't always listen and when you are counting on them to help it is hard to deal with.

I am curious, did you have a colorectal surgeon or a regular surgeon?

 

[Angrybird]

I am really sorry to hear that you are still having issues with the docs. Did the surgeon give any explanation for the continued leaking?

 

[moogie]

I understand you. When I had my operation in 2007 and ended up with two stomia's the doctor that operated me said I had a hernia and no signs of crohn's whatsoever. My GI thought she was crazy.

When I started eating again boom a flare!

No crohn's indeed.

It'.s like in everything, it's not because you are a doctor that you are good at what you do.

 

[mickey]

I have had that cyst twice and it was no picnic. I hope it heals well for you. So you know, in case they have not told you, they can grow back. Key is stress is a trigger; so when you begin feeling stressed (excessively), give yourself some "you" time and relax. You can tough it out and not have the surgery, since it does not cure it. The first time it was operated on (4yrs old) and next time (18yrs) I sat on a foam ring for a week or so as it came to a head and drained/subsided.

With respect to the other trouble, perhap the trouble is that your rectum muscles are not properly closing and that is leading to leakage? I would make sure you calmly and assertively talk to doctor about this recurring problem. Explain to your parents that if they had diarrhea as a women sheds blood each month, perhaps they might understand that it is not a once in a while thing and more persistent problem? Research the trouble and go in educated on the subject and perhaps they will listen. Worth a try!

Good luck!

 

[taylor27]

hi travis, im sure your mom is just stressed out and worried about you... i have a horrible GI, trust me they do exist, not a few but quite a bit of them.. there are a lot out there that are stuck to there ways and only want to believe that they are right.. obviously you have had many issues with this doctor so just talk nicely to your family and tell them how important it is to you to see another doctor that you feel like will listen to your concerns..this is there job but it is your life and you deserve to at least feel comfortable during this..good luck

 

[shamrock15]

If you had impaction for that duration of time, it is possible that some damage was done to the sphincter or other tissue in the rectum. I know that this is one concern that they have for dilatations of rectal strictures, so it is possible that this has happened in your case.

 

[travis1994]

Is there any known fix for that type of damage? and how do doctors usually diagnose that problem? Right now I'm really let down that I've had to go through surgery and don't want to go through it again..