Extreme rectal pain

After bowel movement I have severe pain all day. I have been to numerous of doctors and all they say is my anal is tight. It always burns so bad. The days I don’t have a bowel movement I have small amounts of pain. It has been close to a year dealing with this. I exercise and sit even though I’m in pain. I don’t know if I can ever beat this. I’ve done so much research and can’t find anyone dealing with the same pain as mine.

 

1. Don't make the mistake of searching for your "exact" same pain. You've been checked out and the medical professionals can't find anything wrong, which means you are probably suffering from a mindbody condition, which of course you are considering since you're here - but you haven't mentioned TMS or Dr. Sarno, so the first thing you need to do is read either The Mindbody Prescription, or The Divided Mind, both by Dr. John Sarno. You need that grounding before you can continue. I downloaded the e-version of The Divided Mind from my local library back in 2011.

2. In the meantime, I want to assure you that our brains are capable of creating ANY kind of symptom - preferably one which will keep you worried and fearful precisely because you can't find anyone else who has the exact same thing. This is a trick designed to keep you stuck. Don't fall for it.

3. That being said, you can do a keyword search on pelvic pain on this forum, and you'll find lots of posts which include symptoms that are at least similar to yours, as well as lots of other crazy symptoms. Open your mind and accept just how amazing it is that our bodies can create such numerous and varied symptoms - almost all of which are TMS.

4. Start doing the Structured Educational Program on our wiki. It's free, and at this point, you have nothing to lose. It will introduce you to Dr. Sarno's theories (but you still need to read one of his books).

NOTE: you must do the SEP with commitment and especially with complete self-honesty, otherwise you'll be wasting your time. Once again, your brain will try to trick you into being less than honest with yourself - don't let it.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the response. I’m just scared to use the restroom because I know I’ll be in pain all day long. I feel the pain so bad and I know that the doctors have said nothing looks out of normal. I just wish it would go away so I can enjoy my life like it was.

 

Broncos, 2 years ago I experienced what you’re going through. It was horrific. I saw many doctors, had chiropractic adjustments and did pelvic floor physical therapy.

My pain was TMS.

Read the Sarno books and also The Meaning of Truth by Nicole Sachs. She also has videos on you tube that helped me immensely.

I’m completely pain free now.

That pain you’re in is no joke and I am sorry you’re experiencing it. You can heal.

 

You are the first person in close to a year that I found to have the same symptom. Your right it is absolutely painful. I will read both of those books. In the meantime is there anything you did to help out get through this? How long did it take you to recover? Did you take any meds? Sorry for all the questions but I’m pretty desperate right now. Thanks so much for your response. I’m glad there is hope to recover from this awful condition.

 

Hi again. I totally understand. When my pain was at its worst and I was afraid I’d never feel normal again i was actually feeling suicidal. And that scared the living hell out of me. But the pain was that bad and my desperation for help was overwhelming.

I took anti-anxiety meds for a few months because my pain absolutely coincided with stress and anxiety. It helped til I took the plunge into doing the TMS work and I started to experience bits of time where my pain was gone here and there.

Nicole Sach’s you tube videos helped me immensely. You should check them out. She honestly helped save my life.

I went to pelvic floor therapy starting late November 2017 to March 2018 when I realized continuing that treatment was part of what kept my symptoms alive.

I quit all treatments (including anti-anxiety meds) March 2018.

My pain started August 2017.

I had constant pain, burning, a feeling like my whole underneath was going to fall out and buzzing. I couldn’t sit for anything.

My first day pain free was May 19
2018. I remember because that is my son’s birthday and at the end of that day I thought—oh my god—I’ve been pain free all day!

It was definitely a healing that took time. It was also a 2 steps forward 1 step back kind of thing, but I kept going and got better.

Now—I will say—even now, if I try to repress my feelings or if I’m super stressed the pain will very quietly return slightly and I’ll say

Ooh—what’s bugging me. I am in total
Control now. The pain never lasts because I know how to fix it.

You can do it too. If I can get better,
So can you.

 

Also—i don’t mind the questions at all. I remember the feeling of being desperate and wishing someone—anyone!—who had been through what i was experiencing would talk to me and tell me everything was going
To be all right

 

Thank you so much for your support. Your story is giving me hope. It’s brave of you to come back on here and help people out . Most of the time people that have experience this bad pain doesn’t want to think about it again and they move on with there lives. I’m going to watch those videos and read those books. I’m pretty desperate!

 

What you just said is so correct. I remember thinking when I was in pain—where are the success stories?!

It’s my pleasure to help.

I sometimes think about how bad my pain was and it makes me cry remembering. I was traumatized for awhile even after I was pain free.
Sometimes if I dwell on it now the pain will flicker but like i said, I can control it. I try not to dwell on it too much.


Please do watch those videos and be kind
To yourself. I’m rooting for you!

 

@Sparrow17, I echo this sentiment. The success of this forum depends on continuing support from those like you who have found success and healing and stay to help others.

 

I’ve watch those videos and read dr. Sarno The mind body prescription. It sounds like you just do journaling about your emotions. Is that all you did? I also read pain free for life by dr Brady. He pretty much piggy backs Dr. Sarno.

 

See #4 in my response.

 

I had this too, as a complication of chron's disease possibly, at the time I didn't know about TMS theories and got no help from Dr's and other over the counter preparations. the two things that worked for me were: Drinking Apple cider vinegar and honey 1 T each in a glass of water. after 3 glasses of this I felt better. ( I used cheap generic ACV not the more expensive health food store varieties. for some reason the cheap stuff worked for me and the expensive stuff didn't) I also started the Specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) at this time because I was so desperate for relief after months of suffering. I know this goes against TMS theory, but at the time I just didn't know what else to do. I haven't had a recurrence since then, so I'm grateful for that. I don't know if TMS techniques would've helped or not. just my 2 cents.

 

Hey there, you may end up having a doctor tell you it's Pudendal Neuralgia. I have it too, but it shifts from the rectal to genital/urinary region. I only mention PN so that you dont waste your time on invasive hemorrhoid treatments or anything like that or take unnecessary antibiotics. PN is horrific, but 90+% of the time, it's TMS. It's pretty rare to permanently damage the pudendal nerve, though many PN patients will swear a minor injury damaged it for life. I used to feel the same way, now i know it's TMS. I actually still have daily pain, but the baseline is lower and the flareups have been greatly reduced. In my case, increasing my physical activity and sitting MORE instead of less, is what helped train my brain that behaviors werent dangerous. All my doctors expected me to just stand or lay down and barely move the rest of my life to "protect" the nerve. All that did was confuse my ramped up brain. By all means if you need to do things in the meantime like change your diet or take meds to make the bathroom process easier while you figure this out, it's not a bad thing, but dont look at it like you're fixing a problem. You obviously have to go to the bathroom at some point and constipation or tension will only hurt worse. One of the things that helped me when i was afraid of doing a flare-inducing activity, was to just treat the activity like it was normal. I would approach them the way i used to before i was in pain. I used to use ice packs, hot baths, excess meds, Tens unit, etc. (actually, in an acute flare, a TENS unit can be a life saver for rectal pain, just keep in mind you're masking pain, not treating it....because there's nothing to treat) and any other thing i could think of to try and reduce the incoming flare that i was sure would follow. I stopped that mindset and just kind of pretended that certain activities were not to be feared. It's a mind game that goes against your instincts, but it works.

 

the book "the great pain deception" by Steve Ozanich was the most helpful book for me. I think it goes a little extreme in some cases (like saying cancer can be triggered and fixed with emotions) but he's an example of doing the opposite things that he should have, based on his grim diagnosis's, and that rewired his brain back to something more normalized. that's what worked best for me.

 

Hi
I also suffer from rectal pain. It starts on the morning after bowel movement, and then it usually decreases on the morning and increases in the afternoon, being often unbearable when going to sleep. So I can definitely understand what you feel, and I am so grateful this morning to read the posts here, and I want to thank Sparrow17 and NicoleB34 for having taken the time to give us hope.
During those 3 to 4 last days I was feeling OK using the outcome independency (focusing on how much I don't let the pain scare me rather than how much it actually hurts) but yesterday evening the pain was so intense when going to bed that I could not sleep and fell back into "this is just unbearable, i can't take it anymore....".
With this kind of pain, I find it pretty difficult to think about something else. I also have fibromyalgia pain but it has nothing to do with it. Rectal / pudendal pain can be so overwhelming.

 

Did your pain go away? It’s been close to a year. Days that I don’t have a BM I’m able to get around with level 4 pain. When I have a BM I know my day is pretty much done with.

 

None of the 9 doctors I’ve been to have said I have PN. Im tired of going to the doctor all the time and not finding an answer. I’ve pretty much quit everything and I’m trying to move on with my life. It’s extremely painful. I just want to be normal again.

 

I’ve tried journaling with no success. I’ve been on every kind of meds you can think of with no success. This pain is horrible and has really effected my life.

 

Have you tried the TENS unit? if placed right, the electrode takes nearly all the pain away for me. it works best for rectal pain (but you have to put one of the pads inside the buttcrack, usually right next to the anus, and make sure to remove hair!) because the rectal branch is pretty close to the skin surface. i get less success with the TENS if the pain is in the deeper part of the perineum. When meds wont cut it, the TENS is my go-to.