Hi folks,
New to the group so appologies if this has been asked before -
I'm wondering if folks:
a) Have experienced an urgent need for a BM (often just air, liquid and a small amount of material) within 2-10 mins after eating any meal.
b) Know which things make these symptoms worse (currently I am on Metamucil x2 per day, and taking advil as needed)
c) Could share when similar symptoms were alleviated?
Background: I had fissure surgery and a thrombosed hemmorroid removed on June 15th (1 week tomorrow). Prior to surgery I was on Metamucil and Miralax, and was extremely regular. After surgery I was on metamorphone but stopped after it continually made me throw up. Diet wise, I'll typically have Metamucil in the morning, oats, and then water, rye crackers, soup, and vegetables for the rest of the day.
I'd be grateful for any insights you have no matter how small. Thank you!

Hrm to be honest this sounds a lot like IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) to me. Or one of the myriad other "functional disorders", i.e., symptoms which are real but have no identifiable physiological cause. (IBS is the most well known one but there are lots and lots out there such as functional dyspepsia, chronic constipation, GERD, etc.) The medical profession often attributes these to anxiety, and I do think anxiety can aggravate the symptoms. But the truth is that no one really knows the root cause.
In my case, I used to have to take a dump after eating any meal. Maybe 10-15 minutes afterward. And the further away from a bathroom I was, the more urgent the need would be! That eventually subsided on its own, but now I get the same thing before leaving for road trips, before going places with no restrooms, etc. For me there's definitely a psychological component.
I don't know if any of these apply in your case, but if I were a betting man, I'd probably put my money on it being a functional syndrome. The unfortunate part is that functional disorders are diagnosed by exclusion; that is, if the colonoscopy, endoscopy, blood labs, CT scan, etc., don't show anything, then everything else is eliminated and you receive a diagnosis of functional bowel disorder.
The other approach is empirical: try drugs and see if they work. The old TCA drugs (tricyclic antidepressants) such as nortriptyline and amitriptyline are often used for functional disorders, and sometimes Bentyl (dicyclomine) if yours is related to a spastic colon.
Anyway I'm just kind of talking out of my ass (pun intended :)) since I don't know anything about your history or what tests you have and haven't undergone. But we have some IBS sufferers here (myself included), so maybe some of them will share whether they get this particular set of symptoms. Mine shared some similarities, but I can't say that they were exactly the same as what you're describing...
Oh yeah, and one other thing: it could be the Metamucil or simply too much fiber in your diet. When someone has ass issues, it's tempting to go for broke on fiber, but believe me, too much isn't good either. I was eating up to 50 grams of fiber a day early in my fissure days, and that had me on the loo nearly all day hahaha. Your diet sounds like it's in the upper echelon of fiber content, and I'd have to wonder if the pattern will change any if you were to reduce the fiber a bit, maybe just a little at a time so you can monitor any changes closely.

Hey Seattle,
I had some problems with small incomplete bm's right after surgery. Are you still taking the miralax with your fiber supplement? It seems possible that you may not be having complete bm's which may be leaving you with a constant urge that gets worse after eating.
I'm not sure by your post if you have changed your regimen from what it was before surgery. Are you taking the same amount of fiber and miralax that was working for you before? If you have, then I would definitely go back to what you were doing prior to surgery.
Hopefully this will iron out for you soon.

Thanks for the thoughtful replies Neuro and Dawn. I was diagnosed with IBS some years ago, but have managed to control by removing certain foods like wheat, and using Metamucil to make bowel movements more regular. One tip I found this morning is that rather than having the metamucil immediately upon waking to have some warm water and oats. This seems to calm my bowels sufficiently before I drink the Metamucil. The other odd thing I discovered last night was that though my BMs are less painful, I now periodically have some kind of slight spasm in my bowel that wakes me up. Ever experienced anything like that?