Flare After Bowel Movements?

[EarthMother]

Ok, strange question .... but does anyone else seem to flair AFTER having a bowel movement?

I use to have IBS years ago, but don't really consider that a problem any more. My bowels are normal, smooth easy, no strain and VERY regular. But I also notice that there seems to be correlation between passing my bowels in the morning and the worst body flares of the day. I had been thinking it was some kind of cleanser in the bathroom, or something I ate right before hand, or just that it was MORNING which is always a handful for me. But now that I think back on it ... the only thing they all have in common is that they come on within minutes after emptying my bowels.

Sometimes I'll get tachy, or sometimes I'll have an adrenaline surge without the rapid heart beat ... or like this morning it was WAVES and WAVES of intense nausea. I thought for sure I was coming down with the flu. But they all seem to pass within 30 minutes and I can't say it even happens each and every day.

Anyone else notice an autonomic unbalance after using the bathroom?

[pat57]

Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Fainting may occur if the vagus nerve, which supplies the neck, chest, and intestine, is stimulated. When stimulated, the vagus nerve slows the heart. Such stimulation also causes nausea and cool, clammy skin. This type of fainting is called vasovagal (vasomotor) syncope. The vagus nerve is stimulated by pain, fear, other distress (such as that due to the sight of blood), vomiting, a large bowel movement, and urination. Fainting during or immediately after urination is called micturition syncope. Rarely, vigorous swallowing causes fainting due to stimulation of the vagus nerve.

http://www.merck.com/mmhe/print/sec03/ch023/ch023b.html

[Maxine]

I have heard of this before----stimulating the vagus nerve causing some problems like this.

Usually when I go, I'll feel like passing out just after going----------If I strain, even a little, this often happens.

Maxine :0)

[Csmith3]

Alas, yes. Feel much worse, nausea and have even fainted. Classic scenario for me is eating breakfast or a meal with too much starch, trigger POTS, upsets stomach, go to bathroom, faint seconds later. This happens within, say, 15 minutes of eating. However, it also happens at other times when I haven't just eaten, in which case I feel bad/sick for 15 - 30 minutes, but don't faint.

The only thing that has helped me (other than general improvement in symptoms from medication and limiting food intake) was sugar rich mints - I know, hard with the nausea but is worth it to settle cramp/nausea. Too bashful to supply more details here, but can PM me if you wish!

[Ernie]

Hi,

I used to faint everytime I would have a bowel movement or urinate. That's why I am always put on bedpan when I am in the hospital. I hate it!

[Heiferly]

I've fainted after peeing before. Fell right off the toilet, and of course it just HAD to be one of the times I didn't come to right away. So Alex came looking for me. Pants around my ankles, TP wrapped around my hand, flopped on the floor and I was aspirating my saliva so he had to call an ambulance. I'm glad I was out so I couldn't be embarrassed for myself! Oy vey ismir! Yeah, apparently it's part of the whole vasovagal thing.

[gertie]

I have vasovagal syncope but it's usually brought on if I have pain during the BM.

[shannon]

I have noticed this correlation as well, but have never asked my doctor about it, probably because i was embarrassed. Luckily, my POTS symptoms have improved greatly with treatment over the past couple of years, but I still often feel pooling to my legs, warm, and nauseas after a bowel movement.

interesting!

[morgan617]

Yep, it's not the going, but the having to go that gets me. I can get fairly light headed after, but the sensation that I have to go tends to cause me more problems. I am not regular, they are not smooth and easy however. I do think it's usually a vagal vasal thing though. You are not alone and it's not a strange question. It has been discussed quite a bit on here. morgan

[Sandra]

I thought it was just me!!

I have just read this out to my husband, I almost always feel faint.... and have fainted after a bowel movement.

Last week I was ambulanced into hospital as I blacked out in the middle of the shopping centre whist xmas shopping. I was kept in all week, only being let out on Tuesday (25th Nov) They wouldn't let me out sooner as my blood pressure was far too low. But while I was in I had to use a bedpan too because I fainted after going on the commode - I had to use a commode as I was wired up to the monitors above the bed.

Sorry if this is a bit gross - my bowel movements are usually soft and quite easy to pass so I don't have to strain, but I still feel very light headed when I go.

Very interesting thread.

Sandra

[smiles]

So, is there anything we can do to prevent this problem???

I have flare ups if I miss a day of having a bowel movement. The next day when I do have a BM I am weak, can't sit up, speech affected, can't get out of bed... It's happened 2 times in the last 2 weeks. It blows my whole day. I am able to do more now and so I get pulled to a halt when this happens. Then yesterday I had problems when I peed or drank something in the evening too.

I know it's from my vagal nerve being over stimulated. I have a very sensitive one unfortunately. My BMs are not hard and I do not have to strain. It is just the fact of going after missing a day. Yuck!

Any answers or help??

Smiles--still in bed

[Broken_Shell]

Oh boy... I could not say enough on this topic. Lucky for all of you, I am not feeling up to saying much right now My autonomic symptoms are very driven by GI activites - everything from eating, to bowel movements, to stomach "growling" or passing gas. I think it is safe to say that I pretty much dread having a bowel movement because of what it does to my body, and when I wake up and have a BM even before eating breakfast I know it is going to be an awful day. I get the symptoms (light-headed, woozy, shaky, just feeling VERY unstable, nauseous, etc.) before the BM as my body is "getting ready" and after the BM. I have walked into the bathroom many times only to have a BM and then need to crawl out afterwards. I think it's just because there are SO many autonomic functions involved in running the GI tract and diverting blood and other resources to it, and our bodies just can't adjust to that. Then, there are all of the neurotransmitters and hormones involved which are probably out of whack or inappropriately responded to by our bodies. Also, the BM involves moving and loosing a large volume from our bodies, so there is a lot of necessary shunting and balancing of resources and blood that our bodies just can't handle. I also frequently drop my blood sugar after passing a BM. It's like a big vortex that just takes everything out of me. No doctors seem to understand when I explain this to them, so if anyone has any ideas to help PLEASE share them.

~ Broken_Shell

[EarthMother]

Gosh I wish I could say I have found the miracle cure to the dreaded trip to the loo, and what is so strange to me is that sometimes the event is entirely symptom-free. I can't make heads or tails (only small pun intended) as to why sometimes voiding amps up my ANS and on other occasions it does very little disturbance. I eat a ton of fiber and drink sufficient water (though admittedly not a lot of water, as it tends to run right through me), I don't strain, I don't have anticipatory anxiety about any kind of "bathroom trauma" (because as I said, it doesn't always happen) but 9 times out of 10, when my body DOES go into full on flair ... it will be correlated with my bowels or urine kicking up into high gear.

I use to keep a high foot stool by the toilet, because having my legs hanging down didn't seem to be a great thing for general blood pooling. I still tend to keep my knees up any time I use the loo, which does help, but is certainly not the magic bullet I was looking for.

My own sense is .... it is simply one of the symptoms of a broken ANS and as our bodies slowly heal and try to find their way back, bit by bit, our "toilet trauma" will settle down a bit as well.

Gotta go pee!

[carinara]

Since my POTS is worse again since 2 weeks, i have the exact l problems with going to the toilet again. The last time i experienced this weired thing was in during my big flare up in 2007. It seemed totally gone until the past almost 2 weeks now. Like Earthmother its very unconfortable for me to leave my legs tangling down, i also got a little stool so i can put my feet up. If i have to hold my urine for a few minutes because i cant go to the toilet something shifts in my body and i get an episode, the same with BM. Very weired because like i said the past 2 years these symptoms totally dissapeared.

[erik]

I have read that a BM is akin to the "valsalva maneuver" and "our people" are known for abnormal response to that... it can also precipitate funny heart stuff:

http://www.cvphysiology.com/Hemodynamics/H014.htm

Similar changes occur whenever a person conducts a force expiration against either a closed glottis or high pulmonary outflow resistance, or when the thoracic and abdominal muscles are strongly contracted. This can occur when a person strains while having a bowel movement. Similar changes can also occur when a person lifts a heavy weight while holding their breath.

I know they say "when a person strains" an you're not straining... but I personally figure lesser efforts can still do things.

On rare occasion, I'll get a little "mild spinning sensation" during BM... and usually I'm autonomically calmer after and autonomically volatile before.

[smiles]

ok, so I'm not alone. That part makes me feel better. I do so wish that there was a way to prevent this though. I do have to take something to make my bowels move because I have a sluggish colon that will not work on it's own. After having my 3rd problem with this in 2 weeks yesterday, I have decided that it would be wise of me to increase my med to 1 1/2 instead of 1/day to see if that keeps me more regular. I guess it bothers me more because I've been more stable in that area lately(until the last 2 wks.).

Thanks for your replies. It does encourage me that I am not alone. It just stinks that such basic functioning can cause our bodies to shut down.

I was at church yesterday and realized that I could not wait till after church was over to have a BM. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go. So thru the sanctuary I rolled in my electric wheel chair. Was ok at the beginning of going--or so I thought. The lady in the stall next to me ask if I was ok. That always worries me. I managed to get out an, "I think so." That's when I realized maybe I wasn't so ok. my speech was already softer and slower. Those are the first signs of me going down hill. The other lady said she's wait and see if I'd be ok. I managed to get out in the hall way and recline fully while she went to get my son from the sanctuary. By the time he got there I could barely keep my eyes open and my speech was very slurred. He got me in the van and took me home. I ended up sleeping most of the day. When I awoke my speech was still slow and I couldn't sit up long without getting real light headed. Bummer. I am talking ok and can walk some again today but know I'll need to take it easy to prevent another flare up.

I so wish I could be normal.

Smiles

[Sylphy]

I know this is an old thread, but thank you so much for this! I was feeling so alone and confused as to why most of my BMs make me feel sick. I'm barely able to make it back to my bed. I get jittery, have heart palpitations, get clammy, feel weak, and feel like I'm going to pass out.  

I haven't been diagnosed with POTS or dysautonomia yet (I'm trying to see specialists that will give me an accurate diagnosis). At the moment I've only been diagnosed with CFS/ME and I survived Guillain Barre syndrome without treatment - so my nerves have been damaged. 

I'm really tired of not being able to walk more than 2 minutes or have a BM without feeling all of the symptoms I've already listed. It's been like this for 3 years now. I'm grateful to be alive, I'm just tired of always being on the brink of passing out and feeling sick/needing to be in bed all day. 

Sorry for complaining so much.  Before my health issues, I was just another active woman in her late 20s. Having to greet my 30s in this condition is difficult. I just hope I can find a good specialist who can actually help me understand what's wrong and help me regain some quality of life.