So I know that some of you all here have Irritable Bowel Syndrome and have gotten LIS. Did the IBS interfere with your healing after LIS at all?
Reason I ask is I got LIS yesterday and took a bunch of Vicodin. I thought it would constipate me but boy was I wrong. Apparently Miralax > Vicodin. Today I've had 5 small BMs so far (not unusual for me), which is causing a good deal of pain from the LIS incision site. I'm not sure what to do except cover up the pain with more Vicodin and wait it out.
Did repeated BMs from IBS cause any problems for you LIS'ers during recovery? My anus seems a lot more swollen and tender today than yesterday, probably from all the freakin' BMs.

Yes, NG. My IBS is pretty bad too and I just made sure I had those wipes around and was extremely gentle on myself afterwards and tried to bathe as much as possible. What else can you do? Just expect it to be swollen, etc. (maybe that's what got my infection going, who the hell knows?!)
For kicks I kept track of my times in the bathroom for the 13 days in China compared to my friend. Didn't even count days in the airplane. Any guesses? Try 47 to 3..and it would have been slightly more but I was gone 12 hours per day and missed my chance a few times....I'm one extreme, she's the other. I must say it's a good thing she's like that or the hotel rooms/cruise ship room would pose a problem!

Those cruise ship bathrooms are something else, aren't they Sidra! :roll: I used the one outside of the dining room whenever possible since it was BIG (with several stalls)!!

Bah had 6 trips to the potty today. I thought the IBS was going to calm down some but I beat my previous day's total of 5 trips! :( I'm taking a shower or bath after each BM because wiping that swollen anus just ain't gonna happen, just hope this stops before I have to go back to work...
47 trips to 3 is quite an ummmm "impressive" tally there. Hopefully the 47 is combined total, not just for ehhh #2 haha. Hope the food over there agreed with you okay. I eat Chinese food all the time (pre fissure that is) which I guess is obvious since I'm Chinese, but after a few weeks over there even my GI started having a bit of difficulty with the grease and oil. And what did you think of the beer there? I always thought it was garbage myself, the hard booze is alright though, nice and strong and gets the job done!

What about cutting down on the amount of Miralax to help stop the number of BM's?????

Hey Cheryl, I'd given that some thought, but the fear of a hard BM is overriding the fear of going too many times :) My sleeping and eating schedule has been pretty messed up since surgery too. I've been eating a lot less, staying up until 5 AM and sleeping until past noon, etc., so everything is just kind of out of rhythm, and I'm sure that's not helping.
I'm actually not that worried about the frequent BMs, I've still been taking a couple of Vicodin a day and that takes care of any associated pain. The pain is definitely less severe than acute fissure pain, that much is certain.
Once I stop getting light soiling while passing gas (what I think is basically very mild fecal incontinence), I will breath a huge sigh of relief. Everything else is a secondary concern for me :)

I will say, though, that this has been a learning experience. I understood that this was a very minor surgery (relatively speaking) heading in, and because I thought of it as being so minor, didn't fully internalize that there would still be a not-so-fun recovery period afterward. I guess I kind of thought it would be like a colonoscopy in that life would suck a little for a day or two and then it would just be completely over and done with. I think that's why the whole light soiling thing has spooked me a bit. Live and learn I guess, now I know that even minor surgeries come with some unpleasantness.

NG,
Because you have offered advice and help to so many, here is my unsolicited advice for you! :roll:
I would try to cut down on the Vicodin if you can tolerate your pain. Never had LIS so don't know how bad it hurts. I try to avoid all pain meds and usually only take Tylenol even after surgeries.
I would start decreasing your Miralax by small amounts. I try to decrease or increase by 1/8 teaspoonfuls which is a very small amount. I would continue decreasing daily until my BM's were less frequent.
I would try to get back onto a more normal schedule. Our bodies are ruled by our individual circadian rhythms. That is one reason persons who fly to different parts of the world have so many problems sleeping, etc.
Cannot advise about the diet since I haven't had the procedure, but I think your body needs food and nutrients to heal. Maybe try drinking Ensure if you are afraid of eating various foods???
Each time you have a discharge, I would tell yourself, "this too shall pass." Worrying and fretting cannot help any part of your recovery. Try to be more positive about the final outcome of your LIS.
Hopefully, some of those suggestions might help you feel better and heal more quickly!

Thank you Cheryl, any advice is always welcome :) I didn't take any Vicodin today, the pain is still there and uncomfortable but it's tolerable. The mild soilage is still there too...
I've spent a lot of time reading other boardies' LIS experiences, and it seems that most people have noticed substantial improvement by this point (going into day #5 now if I count the day of surgery), so I get a little more worried every day that passes where I don't have that "ah ha it's working!" moment. I know that's bad but I can't help it :( I did see some boardies talk about mild incontinence in the first few days, but most people were posting cheery stuff by day #5...
I'm very slowly reducing my Miralax dosage as well just to see what happens. I've also been eating some potato chips like Cheetos and Doritos, in small amounts they didn't cause me any problems even before LIS so I think they should still be okay now. Hopefully the combination will firm up the stool a tiny bit without making it too hard.
I also started working from home today, responding to emails, doing some conference calls, etc., so hopefully that'll get me back into some kind of regular rhythm, or at least take my mind off my worries.
Anyhow, not much else to do except wait and see at this point. I'm not really a religious person or anything, so let's just say fingers crossed, and let the chips fall where they may!

Glad you weren't offended by my advice. Maybe try meditating and/or deep breathing while visualizing healing? Sounds like you are making some positive moves in many areas. I know that Vicodin made my mom constipated!