My issues began back in 1984 after an on-the-job incident. The job required heavy lifting, pushing and bending and at the end on one workday I bent over to pick something off of the floor I felt something in my lower right quadrant snap and then heard and felt a lot of fluid gushing around in the area. About two weeks later, it felt like my pelvic floor essentially collapsed and I developed severe, frequent diarrhea and pounding pelvic pain 24-7. I was passing huge amounts of foul gas almost constantly and my pelvic floor muscles were shot.
I finally went to a doctor c couple of weeks later. He didn't even come into the room! He just stood in the doorway with a grin on his face and chuckled 'You've got IBS. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables and a bland diet. I'll have the nurse give you a copy of a bland diet." And that was it! He was the chief-of-staff there too!
Anytime I'd describe the incident to doctors they'd act like they never heard of such a thing- like they've never watched football game and heard of a pulled this or a torn that- and say that if I had a hernia they would be able to stand in front of me and see it!
Anyway, my attempts to correct the prolapse were fruitless. Their advice was always 'Do Kegels' which I tried for years but they only made the pelvic pain worse because the injury area had tightened up so much (suspect adhesions) that nothing would move. And of course once you are labeled with IBS, doctors will not let go of that diagnosis and consider that something really is wrong! Interestingly, about 6 years later I was able to have an exploratory laparoscope. They said my uterus was enlarged and distorted (no surprise to me!) and said it should come out, and that my insides were a mess but they didn't know why. I was still hoping to get my life back, possibly have kids and knew in my heart that the unterus was NOT to blame even though I had a fibroid. But what did surprise me was that after the exploratory, my abdomen and pelvis was extremely sore for a few days. Then, I could feel everything loosen up and my body corrected itself. The 'hernia' feeling went away, the horrible pain went away, and my GI issues were gone. However, this lasted only a couple of weeks and then everything tightened up and all the horrors returned. When I told the doctors this, they said I was 'imagining' the temporary improvement and that the surgery had a placebo effect! DUH! How do you explain me going down 3 clothes sizes in less than 2 weeks due to shedding excess water?
Anyway, I did not learn about adhesions until years later. I finally had a myomectomy in 1991) leaving a horrible bikini-line scar which made everything tighter and more stubborn, and a vaginal hysterectomy in 1998. Both times I was told I'd feel much better but no improvement whatsoever and when I'd tell them that they wouldn't believe me.
Sorry about the long post but I can definitely relate to the gas issues! My GI issues vary now, can have watery diarrhea or sticky movements with incomplete evacuation but regardless it creates a very difficult work environment. I have thought of ending it all at times but keep hoping I will at least find a physician who will do what they can for me- whether it is surgery or trigger point therapy or even decent pain relief besides antidepressants which cause more problems than they solve. I search high and low for a primary physician who will work with me and do what they can but adhesions are not in their vocabulary. /