Post Bowel Movement Pain

I have been suffering with different symptoms of pelvic pain for almost three years now. When I first started experiencing pelvic pain my main symptoms were urinary frequency and urgency. I went to see my doctor to get tested for a UTI which came back negative. My doctor still prescribed me a round of antibiotics and about three weeks later I noticed that I no longer had any bladder issues. I stayed symptom free for a few more months until one day out of the blue they came back much worse. I was now waking up multiple times a night to use the bathroom and I felt like my bladder was ruining my life. I dropped out of all my college classes except one and spent a large portion of my time googling my symptoms and ruminating over my health issues. I saw a few different Urologists all of which were no help at all. After countless appointments my PCP finally gave the diagnosis of Interstitial Cystitis. I wasn't ready to accept this diagnosis so I didn't take any medications or have any IC treatments.

I started learning about pelvic floor dysfunction and decided that was more likely the root cause of my symptoms. I started doing regular PT which helped at first but after a few sessions I quickly became much worse again. I remember one night I didn't get any sleep because I kept having to pee every 15 minutes. I switched health care networks and started seeing a new PT who told me my pelvic floor muscles were very tight, just as I suspected.

Overtime I developed a myriad of other symptoms. I had pain that would move around in different areas of my pelvis and also developed anal fissures. I had intermittent bouts of rectal pain but my main symptoms were always urinary frequency and urgency until last September. Last September I started experiencing severe rectal pain that is always triggered by bowel movements. This rectal pain is much more distressing and has decreased my quality of life more than my urinary issues. Sitting has become very painful which is a problem because my line of work requires sitting for long hours. I started doing PT again and after one session my pain was gone. This lasted for exactly one week until the pain came back again and has stayed with me ever sense. For a while I thought the pain was coming from an anal fissure so I started seeing a colorectal surgeon. I spent hours lurking anal fissure support forums looking for answers. The CRN gave me topical ointments and botox injections which provided no relief. After months he finally scheduled an examination under anesthesia with possible LIS surgery but he found no fissure. I stopped seeing the CRN after this examination but I assume he would have given me a diagnosis of Levator Ani syndrome or Pudendal Neuralgia.

I am now considering the possibility that I have TMS. I have a history of anxiety and depression and I also feel that I have a lot of pent up resentment and animosity. My only concern is that my pain is always triggered by bowel movements and I wonder if this indicates a structural problem. I would be interested to hear if anyone has recovered from post bowel movement pain by treating it as TMS. My pain is unbearable at times and I'm in a lot of pain right now even as I'm typing this. (Sorry for such a long post).

 

I have all these problems. They call it pelvic floor dysfunction, interstitial cystitis, and pudendal neuralgia. However, i have all the evidence that it's TMS. You can go back and read my first couple posts and see what i mean.

Rectal pain is horrible, but while you're figuring this all out, i found something that helps almost better than meds. I got a TENS unit, and put an electrode on either side of the inner butt cheek. Think inner sitbone area (either side of anus). This puts the electricity right on top of the rectal branch of the pudendal nerve. Seriously, this hack has saved my life a few times. Most of the time, it works very well. Only time it doesnt work well is when the pain is more in the perenium area, because the nerve runs deeper there, and it's hard to get electrode placement. Seriously, get yourself a TENS, you only need to run two of the pads. Total life saver and pain blocker. hope it helps.

 

btw, injections only irritated things, sometimes permanently. i dont get post-BM pain, but the sitting pain, burning, stabbing, it's all there. That sharp pain is likely a spasm against the pudendal nerve. This can still be deep down TMS. The brain has sensitized your PN because it believes there is a threat there. This also leads to abnormal spasms. I got to pelvic PT too, but i started going less because i realize that while PT can help some of the tension short term, it WILL come back because the brain is sending these signals.