Cluster Movement

Recently I received another email from a reader of my ABC's of Home Recovery. She is less than two weeks out of surgery and was having a bad weekend so I was emailing her back and forth trying to ease her anxiety. During out emails she mentioned one of her Dr.s used the term "Cluster Movements." I Googled it and sure enough the description was almost exactly what I have been experiencing for some time. Because my colon is now so short and the rectum virtually gone stools don't have as much time to have the water removed by the colon. The result is a thick, viscous stool that can be formed but difficult to clean. In addition because the accumulation chamber of the rectum is much smaller stool want to pass right through so you have a frequency problem.

The cure, well there is none. However, you can retrain your system to a more normal regularity. It takes a combination of deciding what meal you wish to have a BM after then setting the meal up to stimulate the peristaltic and hopefully have a BM soon after eating. By repeating the routine you should eventually retrain your system.

I have been doing some of that but now have embarked on an actual program. I am taking two anti-diarrheals  before going to bed. This slows the system down and while I may have two or three BM's before going to sleep seem to be sleeping more soundly and not waking up as often.

I take one anti-diarrheal with breakfast to slow down the morning, however I have been having several BM's before noon. In the afternoon nothing and I eat dinner and take nothing to slow the action. I am now going to the bathroom several times during the evening, but I consider that the best time of day for me as I am most often home and can handle the situation with comfort.

What I have noticed is the consistency of the stool is getting firmer and less messy. In addition I have not had an episode in a week or two. However, I am also cutting down on snacks and large meals. My weight has dropped about three pounds and seems to be staying there. I am hoping for more weight loss.

I have also upped my fiber supplements to five a day, two in the morning and three at night. However I try not to drink too much liquid with the fiber because the idea is to slow the movement of the material through my system, not speed it up. The other thing I have done is begun to take a probiotic daily to improve the bacterial action in my gut. That also seems to be making a difference.

I am going quite slowly because there are so many variables that one can't point to anyone thing and say that's the fix. However I have shown good improvement in control and consistency in the past few weeks and hope to improve even more over time.