This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

Let me start off by saying a couple things. First, I have not been diagnosed with MS, but I have shown a lot of the classic symptoms. When I first seeing doctors about my condition several years ago, their first inclination was that it might be MS, but since my brain and spine MRI's came back clear they essentially shrugged their shoulders and sent me off on my way.

I posted a little while back about bed wetting, and I'm concerned it might be a new reocurring symptom. Luckily I haven't had it happen again recently. But what I have had to deal with is a bout of constipation, and two separate serious cases of hemorrhoids. I have never, ever had to deal with constipation in my life before now, in fact I usually have the opposite problem. And I have been eating nothing but low fat, green stuff since both my wife and I are doing weight watchers. We cook every night and prepare our lunches, and if you are not familiar with WW it highly emphasizes eating fruits and veggies and high fiber foods. So I don't think my diet is the problem recently.

Yesterday I had a very painful episode of constipation, and when I wiped I discovered that I was bleeding... badly. I've had this happen before but never to this extent with this much blood. So needless to say I was a little freaked out.

Has anyone else had this sort of problem and is it a common symptom of MS? I'm wondering that since I've had other bladder/incontinence issues if they two are somehow related.

Thanks,
Joel
29 YO Male
Dallas, TX

JML945,

Yes, I have problems with my bladder and bowel, which I never had before I was hospitalized back in 2009.

The main issue in my case is lesions on my spinal cord. I was in the hospital for a disease that may be related to MS (ADEM) which is thought to be an acute form.

In the hospital I was completely paralyzed from the waist down. I can walk again with pain but have permanent urinary retention and constipation.

For the constipation I try to eat a bowl of raisin bran every day which seems to help.

I wish you the best of luck.

CVfactor wrote: For the constipation I try to eat a bowl of raisin bran every day which seems to help.

I wish you the best of luck.

constipation is freakin horrible. Period. I to sometimes bleed after a hard as a rock dump. However, I find the raisin ban daily better than any medicine.

i hear prunes are good too.

I've had constipation and hemmoroids for quite some time now.... they'll sometimes bleed for days. I can't have bran, so I stick to lots of greens, and prunes are great. I also take a fiber supplement (gluten-free).

Another thing I was wondering, since your scans came back clear, but you are having symptoms, have you ever been tested for Celiac? Or you could be gluten intolerant. They can cause similar symptoms, and sometimes they go hand in hand. But don't go gluten-free yet. Get tested first, you have to be on a gluten diet for at least 3 months in order for the tests to work. And don't let the Dr say that you don't have it because you are normal or overweight... that's uninformed information (which I found out the hard way). I am for certain gluten intolerant, but never be able to be tested for Celiac because I refuse to go on a gluten diet. Although my symptoms come and go, the worst of them have gotten better since going gluten-free. It's my understanding that with MS should be gluten-free.

Check out celiac.com. They have a punch of info on Celiac and gluten intolerance.

Wishing you well,
]Amanda

Kale is an excellent source of fiber (as well as a good source of vitamin C). Try it every other day to resolve the problem of constipation.

Oat bran will cure the problem, also – about one and 1/2 tablespoons per day.

I have not been diagnosed either, but I have had many episodes with the bleeding. I too have some major hemorrhoids, and I was losing a startling amount of blood. I never took it seriously until one night in particular it stunned even me... it looked like I had been stabbed, and my husband made me go to the GI doc the next day. Mine was accompanies by an abdominal pain that was never explained. Had many tests done, scopes and colonoscopy and gallbladder tests, still never found the cause of the pain.

And after my father-in-law shared with me the horror stories of having hemorrhoids removed, I decided I'd suck it up and deal with it. Just make sure you're not becoming anemic. I eat plenty of foods rich in iron, and yet for some reason I have low iron and a diagnosis of anemia due to chronic blood loss.

If you do go the prune route, I recommend Sunsweet flavored prunes... I have loved the orange essence prunes since I was a kid! I guess that's what I get for spending the summers with my grandmother...

You can buy them for super cheap from Sunsweet's website since they may be hard to find. Actually, their prices on all of their fruit and stuff is really reasonable.

http://store.sunsweet.com/merchant2/mer ... UIT-PRUNES

Phytother Res. 2010 Mar;24(3):438-44.

Pycnogenol treatment of acute hemorrhoidal episodes.

Belcaro G, Cesarone MR, Errichi B, Di Renzo A, Grossi MG, Ricci A, Dugall M, Cornelli U, Cacchio M, Rohdewald P.

SourceIrvine2 Vascular Labs & Microcirculation, Physiology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, G D'Annunzio University, General Surgery, Guardiagrele (Ch)-Ortona (Pe) Pescara, San Valentino Vascular Screening Project, Italy.

Abstract
We investigated the efficacy of orally and topically applied Pycnogenol for the management of acute hemorrhoidal attacks in a controlled, randomized study with 84 subjects. Within less than 48 h of onset of an acute attack, patients were enrolled and signs and symptoms were scored. This evaluation was repeated after seven days' treatment and again seven days following treatment cessation. The decrease in scores was significantly more pronounced in the Pycnogenol-treated groups than in the control group given placebo (p < 0.05), showing the efficacy of Pycnogenol for relieving signs and symptoms of acute external hemorrhoids. In a group of patients given topical (0.5%) Pycnogenol in addition to oral Pycnogenol the improvement in symptoms set in significantly faster and was more pronounced. The most prominent symptom, hemorrhoidal bleeding, was completely absent in all patients treated with Pycnogenol for seven days and also at the 14 days follow-up. In contrast, bleedings were still observed in the control group during the two weeks follow-up. This study indicates that Pycnogenol, both in oral and in topical form, is effective for controlling this common, disabling health problem. The application of Pycnogenol eases the management of acute hemorrhoidal attacks and help avoid bleedings.(c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PMID: 20041428 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

I have found that taking 100 Mg twice a day (AM & PM) is the proper dosage and will be most effective after 6 days.

jackD

ps This pine bark extract stuff cures or helps a lot of other things. Check it out on PubMed.

Hi,

All good ideas. My own experience suggests the following might be use-
1) always take the best (most diverse) probiotic you can buy every day. Take a refrigerated variety.
2) Take lactoferrin for a week. Have a rest for a week and repeat for one more week
3) No gluten, No dairy, No pulses. That's for a very long time
4) Have breakfast every day. Include a fresh pear or several fresh figs (mine is apple juice, a banana, two boiled eggs and a whole fresh avocado but I don't have constipation any more), No toast, cereal, yogurt etc. If you eat an avocado your desire for lunch diminishes greatly.
5) sometimes a black coffee can work like a detonator!
6) Exercise the stomach muscles to make them move - try pilates, yoga or sit ups even. (as long as you do it right!)

Sometimes you just need to do all of the above but you need a decent clean out first. The products they suggest before bowel screening will do the job.

It's possible to swing from bunged up to running too freely. That doesn't necessarily mean you are clear. Stick with probiotics forever. You need to reset your bowel.

Regards,

I don't want to sound like I'm bragging. I just don't seem to have nearly the problem I had with constipation. I used to not be able to take any kind of opiates because I was afraid of the constipation.

Since I have been taking 300mg of biotin per day (cut with 300mg of rice bran) I have not had a recurrence of the constipation. Recently I had collar bone surgery, and I was exposed to a lot of opiates (hydromorphone and codiene). The biotin appears to be keeping that under control. One must still be careful and stay away from things like fentanyl, as they won't just constipate you, they'll kill you.

Anyway, it'll give you something to look forward to, the fact that biotin will keep you regular. I think it's making me walk faster, and be less heat-sensitive too.