any magic bullets or home remedies

tomcat · January 2003

I was operated 8 yrs ago for colon cancer. It was diagnosed in early stage. Had a resection. One foot of colon was removed 14mm from anus. No chemo was involved. I still have frequent stool syndrome (this is what I call it) going anywhere from two or three times a day up to twelve. A lot of times I'm OK other times I'm not. This does not run in a concurrent patern. Tried to link it to the food I eat. Then do a proscess of elimination as to the offensive food. This does not work. Has anyone with this condition come up with anything to help control the episodes. I've tried Imodium a few times but by the time I use it I'm near to the end of the cycle. Has anyone had sucess with laxatives? Would this become harmful do to overuse. Thank you for any concern toward my questions.

ron50 · January 2003

Hi Tomcat,I was operated on 6 years ago and was late stage 3 with 6 nodes pos. I lost most of my descending colon and suffer similar problems to you. One of the causes is that the descending colon is that part which removes most of the fluid from the stool ,as a result we're a tad too well oiled . My frequency can vary from once to five or six times upon arising of a morning. I think that irritable bowel has a part to play in the problem and I use buscapan or donnatabs to relieve the symtoms of IB. I sympathise with you it is an annoying problem and I picked up some other long term problems from 48 weekly doses of chemo,on the positive side I'm still here,functioning moderately well and with my sense of humour more or less intact,Good luck for the future Ron.

ingridryan · January 2003

Hi. I had a similar surgery last May with Chemo and lost all but the very end of my colon. I kept thinking that the bowel problems were due to chemo, but they continued when the chemo stopped. I too have not been able to discern any pattern, rhythm or causal link to frequent rushed trips to the bathroom. I too would be interested in hearing any advise. One thing that I think upsets my system is eating a large amount of food at once. When I do this it seems to stop digesting and just dumps it all out at once. But I'm not complaining- I'm alive!

wildcat · January 2003

Same-o-same-o. I also finished last May with stage 3 and 8 positive. If there is a cure I would also like to know and I have looked numerous place. Every time I think I have the Imodium figured out it back fires (no pun intended). Hey if I get 8 more years I will be happy as well. The message board has been informative and thanks to all.

vcavanagh · February 2003

Me too. I had surgery 19 months ago- have about 3 inches of colon left. The chemo was murder on my gut. The very frequent motions began to ease about 4 months after finishing the Chemo. I'm now down to about 4-5 times on an average day but some days it is very frequent. The only constant is frequency following a large meal. The type of food doesnt seem to matter unless you count beans. The frequency seems to happen every three or four days, no matter what and i think it is just the bowel clearing itself out. I can live with this. It's not bad compared with the chemo. days. I dont use any medication, but codeine helped a lot when I needed it. I dont particularly advise this as it can be addictive, but it worked well for me at the time. Good luck.

tomcat · February 2003

Thanks for the replies from you guys. It seems to me we need help. My #'s maybe off but there are approx 50'000 of us surviving this every year. I chalenge the pharmacutical companys to put some research into this. The problem I see is we are not a marketable number. Meaning there is not enough of us. As I see it 50m times the next 10yrs is a half a mil potential customers. JUST IN THIS COUNTRY. I would like to start a grass roots movement to get them onto this. I don't want to hear excuses about money. They make enough off other cancer patients with their drugs.

any magic bullets or home remedies

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