Stricture & movicol
Hi,
I have suffered with an anal stricture for a few years now and have to take movicol every night for the past 3-4 years. If I don't take it, I can't pass stool at all and it becomes unbearable. Lately I've been trying to change my diet, take supplements but no matter what, I always feel extremely exhausted, no energy, have bad diarrohea and pain from having to take the movicol so frequently. I have tried dilators which don't seem to work for how tight the stricture is and have had a few dilatation surgeries to temporarily widen the canal, however it only last a few weeks each time. Has anyone had a similar experience? My doctors don't seem to want to do surgery but I read online that stricture surgery is possible. Does anyone have any alternatives to dealing with strictures, cutting down on movicol etc?
Any advice/help would be much appreciated as I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall with my doctors and things are just getting worse every day!!
Thank you 😀 x
I am so sorry you are going through this. I haven't had a stricture, so I can't give any advice but I wanted to pop in and say that you've been heard. I'm sure soon others from the community will chime in. Are you able to see another doctor? I know that is easier said than done, but if you feel like your case is not being taken seriously the best option is to find somewhere where it will be taken seriously. You need a team that is for you not against you. Sending strength your way, Elizabeth (team member)
personally, my strictures required surgery and I live with a stoma. It's such a pain that dilations procedures often don't fix things long-term. I rung a group on Facebook called IBDSuperHeroes, and my fellow admin there has just had a dilation. His first one failed as he wasn't cleaned out enough and he was in a lot of pain. It was rearranged and then canceled again because he got COVID-19. He finally went for it a few weeks ago, and they said it had been successful. He had one week of feeling OK and now feels back to his old normal; pain and limited food options! All of that time and effort and hopes pinned on it, just to feel no better after a week! We also have a group member who regularly has to have his throat stretched. Fortunately, he has a very good team, so he just lets them know that swallowing is becoming difficult again and they get him in.
I'm sorry you're going through this. I wish I could tell you something that I knew would help, but I honestly don't know because we're all so different!
- Sahara (team member)
