Anonymous Personal Story: “I grew up believing there was something wrong with me”
Okay truly I don’t know what I have aside from chronic constipation but there is a question mark in my medical notes for Hirschsprung’s which is what I believe I may have.
I am writing because I am a bit down about my condition at the moment.
My childhood was affected by it… I grew up believing there was something wrong with me, not like i had a medical condition, but that i was just stupid in some regard… I would sometimes do these big bowel motions that would block the toilet, that was my main symptom as a child. I would also get slight staining in my underwear which was why i thought what the hell was wrong with me, why couldn’t I control it?
At high school, it got pretty bad… I would make a lot of trips to do wees and every time had to wipe ahem… Sorry for my descriptive story… I had my first boyfriend at this stage and was paranoid about it now and also how i would go to wee and my friends would make comments about the smell of the toilet afterwards.
One day it really hurt and finally it was the fact that the stool was hard and making me tear/bleed that got me to tell mum this wasn’t normal and went to the doctors. I never knew I was constipated until the doctor told me. Never knew after a lifetime of it so far. Had a barium xray and basically just was told to use laxatives and that was that.
There is one particular family member who knows I have this condition and yet doesn’t get it. If I have gas when I am at her place she constantly says she thinks one of my kids has pooed and I go along with it and pretend they must have just farted but she never gets it no matter how many times I go over.
Then there are people asking me if i am pregnant because I am always bloated… twice last month, once the month before, am always asked and it is depressing.
I asked for a biopsy to check for hirschsprungs as its to the point if i have it i want surgery however have been put on some laxative pills now as I’ve said the medicine is disgusting and dont want it. I really wont live my life drinking that disgusting stuff every day.
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It sounds like you have very bad constipation – but Hirschsprung’s is usually diagnosed in infancy or early childhood. Sounds like you need a helpful doctor!
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There are people that make it into adulthood with hirschsprungs it is rare but some as old as 60 I met a young man who’s mother was diagnosised at 40 when she was diagnosed with colon cancer so it is possible but finding a Dr. who will look into it is hard. My son was born with short segment hirschsprungs I have wondered if I had it but the Drs. won’t check me. good luck to you.
