Constipation/Diarrhea: Is it loose or jam-packed? Let's talk about the GI Tract!

Do you suffer from GI Issues; constipation, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, bloating, incontinence, early fullness, gastroparesis, SIBO, reflux, indigestion, IBS, dysmotility, and/or chronic abdominal pain?

If you have been suffering from GI issues with little to no help from medications, hEDS, MCAS, and/or Dysautonomia could be the cause of these issues. In this post we will be talking about GI symptoms. To some people this may be TMI but it is the truth of my/our lives. So, if you need to skip this post, it's understandable. If you think it may be TMI but still beneficial for you to read, grab a trash can just in case, lol.

My very first symptom, constipation, started at infancy. My Aunt use to tell stories of having to give me suppositories as young as a few months old. Looking back, I can never recall having the "urge" to poo and I cannot think of a time that it ever came out smoothly. When my stomach would hurt, I would sit on the toilet and push. Most of the time I would only produce a few small hard round balls. I remember back then and still now, if I eat anything, even something as small as a cracker, my stomach will instantly bloat. In my late teens the pain started getting really bad. Sometimes I would go over 2 weeks without a bowel movement which caused me to be hunched over in pain. I tried OTC meds, home remedies, chronic constipation meds like Linzess, Colonics....Everything. If anything helped it was with very little relief. Doctor after doctor, test after test. Even a colectomy surgery due to slow transit to remove my large intestines. So Exhausting and Embarrassing! Not to mention, the trauma accumulated from medical gaslighting. Yall, this one Gastro told me that I was having phantom pain from my colectomy. I had not had a bowel movement in 16 days! That's not phantom, that's fact! I was furious. This was one of the many reasons I began doing my own research. Researching and Self-Advocating led me to the diagnosis of Colonic Dysmotility caused by hEDS. After my Colectomy, I still couldn't poo and every time I ate, I would be in pain. Doctors then told me it was my Gallbladder, so they removed that. That didn't help. Next, they tried Linzess 290 daily again. My body and Linzess are both tricky, so I had to figure out what worked best for me. Still, if I eat anything, my stomach bloats and I am in pain until I have a bowel movement. Linzess helps me to go but it also cramps my stomach and when I take it I am basically done for the day because it still takes so long for everything to work through my body. The Linzess takes the water in my body and uses it to help produce a bile movement. When this finally happens, I am relieved of my pain but then spend the rest of the night cleaning the toilet every time I go. Now I am 6 years post-colectomy and on Linzess daily. I believe this is my new norm.

Thanks for reading this blog! I would love to hear your Gastro Story!