When my symptoms kicked in 2 weeks after my injury at age 25, I went from having struggled with constipation since around age 11-12 to strictly diarrhea. Violent diarrhea! It felt like my body was literally trying to abort my insides and the spasms never quit so I never knew when to get off of the biff! I had constant achy, sore and throbbing pelvic floor spasms and also extreme soreness from the pelvic floor up along each side of the abdomen- maybe ligament pain- which alternated between excruciating soreness and a sharp, 'stinging' pain. As I've mentioned, my injury was never diagnosed but I suspect some type of prolapse or hernia.I also developed a rectocele at the same time although it was not diagnosed for 20 plus years.
I also had almost constant loud gurgling coming from lower right quadrant where the injury happened. It felt like fluid was trying to make its way through a tight area. The gurgling would be so loud that even when I was in the basement my folks could hear it upstairs! It's not as frequent now as it used to be, but it does still happen.
I noticed extreme tightness pretty much all the way from the pelvis up through the lung area. I feel my breathing has been somewhat labored. I also find myself not breathing as much as I should- I like to think of it as the daytime equivalent of sleep apnea!
I also developed urinary urgency and some leaking, but at the same time not putting out very much when I do go, certainly not in proper proportion to the amount of fluid I take in. Maybe this explains the weight gain despite the diarrhea all those years and less food intake due to GI symptoms but no doctor thinks I have edema, but I disagree. Have tried water pills and other herbal supplements with no impact.
I also get full very quickly when eating. I have some reflux at times, usually the worst time is when I'm brushing my teeth- that is usually the only time I actually 'vomit' a little bit for some reason.
The main point I try to bring up with physicians is that ever since this started I no longer feel the signal to evacuate or any other type of pain in my belly- where it did for the first 25 years of my life. The pain is strictly pelvic and maybe vaginal. My upper and lower abdomen for the most part are tight and numb, although after taking the systemic enzymes and lycopene the past few months I occasionally have been getting some brief sore sensations in abdomen- not sure if it is actually due to the enzymes- but maybe having any kind of sensation in those areas is a good thing?
Currently, my GI symptoms are somewhat mixed, don't have the constant diarrhea anymore, but still have narrow stools often but not all of the time. Also have incomplete evacuation. Was diagnosed with pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) and tried physical therapy (PT) which did nothing. Normally, PFD is thought to be caused by improper, sometimes unconscious tensioning or holding of pelvic floor muscles, and PT, using biofeedback and other things can correct and retrain things, but just like my diagnosis of IBS, I feel that my so-called PFD is due to adhesions and that PT just won't cut it in my case. As one of the PTS told me, my pelvic floor isn't going through the proper motions- like it's frozen- maybe what they call 'frozen pelvis' but of course no doctor will ever consider that. (I was scheduled to do a two-week course of biofeedback for PFD at Mayo, which I was willing to try even though I didn't think it would help. However, my insurance won't cover anything coded as biofeedback and it would have cost me between $7,000.00- $8,000.00 out-of-pocket for the therapy alone so I couldn't do it)
I can relate to the sensations you get after sitting- as well as standing- the pushing and pulling. I know that I have a 'bearing-down' sensation that does not go away when in bed- which is supposed to happen with a prolapse but I figure if stuff is tethered down then that would explain why going to bed doesn't lessen the feeling.
That's all I can think of at the moment anyway.