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pain pills and stomach pain

Posted 12.27.2006 by Motherload (1027)
Big Ed asks:

I've been on long term chronic pain pills (slow release morphine) for over three years. Anyone else out there like me? I still manage to go one or two times per week. It's very hard (and hard to pass) and it looks like compacted moose turds. The thing is that I've got a lot of stomach pain on the left side, which I haven't read anyone else having much. Is it possible that it's mostly gas trapped? I hardly ever fart until later at night... has the train stopped? I do know that my stomach is OK. What to do?


Dear Big Ed (sounds like a good name for a moose),

Gas does not get "trapped" unless something is blocking it. You probably have some impacted feces in your descending colon, which is on the left side of your body. Even though you are going some, there is probably a bunch stuck in there somewhere.

I am going to assume that you are obtaining your morphine legally, which would mean that you have a doctor that you are seeing on a regular basis. Tell him about the chronic constipation and the pain in your gut. He will most likely give you an enema to remove any impacted feces, then prescribe a stool softener to attempt to prevent any more.

Thanks for asking Motherload!

Motherload is a Certified Nurse Assistant as well as an IBS sufferer, which means she knows a lot about poop. Got a question for her? Ask it here.

werewolf poopin... (101) -- 12.27.2006

It's on the left side? I would think it's appendicitis, but that's the right side. Make sure you don't have that condition where all your organs are reversed, which would put your appendix on the left side.
Do you know what that's called, Motherload? I read about it but I forget what it's called...

_______
...and they all lived crappily ever after!

healthy 1 (1421) -- 12.27.2006

What to do?

SEE A DOCTOR. Why do people ask Poopreport what they should do about potentially serious medical conditions, before they ask their doctor or go to the ER?

Though PR has some medical advice, PR is a poop humor site, not a site to ask about possible medical emergencies.
_______
"-55F, a new record low? Nope, thermometer went bad. Looks like -50F still stands"

Mary Queen of Scats (387) -- 12.27.2006

Situs inversus, werewolf-I saw it on CSI :-)

_______
Holy skid marks Batman!

Motherload (1027) -- 12.27.2006

WP, the rare condition in which the positions of the major organs are reversed is called Situs inversus, or Situs transversus.

You are correct about the appendix being on the right side of the body. But in actual cases of appendicitis, there is often severe pain felt more in the naval area or even further left than in the location of the appendix itself. This is known as referred pain.

Big Ed seems to be having more of a chronic pain conditon as opposed to a sudden onset of pain. Appendicitis is a very serious, potentially life-threatening condition and would render the person afflicted with it so ill that submitting a query to a humor-based non-doctor would not be on the list of things to do. With appendicitis there would most likely be loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and fever as well.

Even stubborn folks that don't like to go to doctors will haul their ass in to the ER when an irritated appendix rears its ugly head.

_______
Always looking out for number two!

werewolf poopin... (101) -- 12.27.2006

Wow, you're really smart. I would never be able to keep all that stuff straight.
I guess this means I don't have to worry about appendicitis every time I feel even the slightest twinge to the right (I had been getting paranoid).

_______
...and they all lived crappily ever after!

DungDaddy (1364) -- 12.27.2006

Motherload! A stool softener? I thought that makes things worse...

Motherload (1027) -- 12.27.2006

DungDaddy, in a healthy digestive system, the colon extracts water from stool and then pushes it out of the body when we go to the toilet. But when one is constipated, stools can become hard and dry from hanging around in the colon too long, which makes them difficult to pass.

For patients taking medication with narcotics, constipation is always a problem. Opiate narcotics can decrease contractions that help move the stool downward. Lack of contractions means that the stool remains in the colon longer than it needs to, resulting in the absorption of too much water. Various medications, given both orally and rectally, as well as enemas, can help reduce constipation in different ways.

A stool softener is a substance that draws water back into the stool, making it softer and easier to pass, thus allowing things to clear out instead of backing up. I don't really see how that would make things worse in Big Ed's case. He apparently needs some kind of assistance in moving things along on a more regular basis, and I believe that a stool softener would cause less trouble than having him become dependent on laxatives would.
_______
Always looking out for number two!

Recto Magnifico (70) -- 12.27.2006

I agree with Healthy 1 on this. I have to wonder how the posters of some of these questions end up here in the first place, but I sure wouldn't find it on google and think, "Gee, I'll bet I can get a good diagnosis THERE!"
And, after getting a bunch of speculative input from people who have no idea of the poster's medical history or a complete report of symptoms, the OP is still left with the basic advice that should have ended the conversation: Go see a doctor, damn it.
And after you see a doctor, if you want to come back and share the results, maybe then we'll all learn something valuable.
There are countless reasons for abdominal pain. See an internist or a g.p., get a referral to a specialist, get whatever tests and exams are needed, etc., etc., etc.
And whatever you do, Big Ed, don't start taking laxatives, emetics, stool softeners, coffee enemas, sphincter dilators, shoe horns, fire crackers, eye of newt, or what have you just because someone on this site says, "Oh, yeah, I had a pain like that, and I found that the following fixed it right up...."
While you're waiting for the results of using someone's well-intended but ill-informed suggestion, you're only delaying a necessary visit to a doctor. If you're already on medication, someone's prescribing it. Ask that doctor what he or she suggests, and take it from there.
Best of luck. Please report back when you've gotten a little more in the way of a professional opinion.

br>_______
Livin' La Vida Caca!

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