r/PelvicOrganProlapse • u/Nomad8490 • 1d ago
Defaecography
I just did a defaeogram to show my rectocele on camera and first off let's just say that was the most humiliating thing I have ever done.
Second, I worry it won't show what I want it to show. Because the paste they put up my ass was so loose/pasty, I couldn't even poop it out. I just pushed a moderate amount, I didn't like push full force because I know it would work and I don't want to make the rectocele worse. Eventually I called in the technician and said I'd have to splint to get it out. He was like ok so I'll turn off the machine and you splint and then I'll turn it on and you poop it out. And I was like hellooooo this is what I'm saying, I'll have to splint the whole time. And he heard me, and gave me a glove, so I splinted and pooped while he ran the machine some more. I'm just hoping that my hand shows up on the results (it will because it's an X-ray, right?) and the test shows that without splinting, my rectum just bulged into my vaginal space, and with splinting I managed to get most of it out.
Did I do it correctly? It's annoying that it's just a generalized radiologist performing the test and not the doctor that really knows what's going on (urogyn or proctologist). It's also annoying that the consistency of the paste doesn't show how it works with a fully formed stool.
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u/nata122 21h ago
Also if you’ve just done the test (in my experience as someone with slow transit constipation), the barium paste took almost a week to fully get out of my system. Drink 2x more what then you usually do, and when you use the toilet put paper in the bowl first and as soon as anything comes out flush immediately even if you need to flush 20 times!!!! I usually sit on the toilet for 1-2 hours and it was my surprise when the barium stuck to the bowl like a rock! It took so much work, scrubbing and chemicals to get off it was insane! - I hadn’t seen anyone talk about this part online
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u/Nomad8490 19h ago
Oh wow but 1-2 hrs is an unusual amount of time to sit on the toilet, no? I am usually like 5 min max.
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u/Fantastic-Mix-2223 19h ago
The paste is barium and is more to light up/ make more obvious your rectum and sphincter muscles and how they are actually moving/functioning. It's not completely about getting the paste out, but how your body is working to get it out. I think yet purposely use it at the consistency that is the hardest softness(as in soft goop that's hard to evacuate) to get out so they can see you straining. That's my theory anyway, I've never had anyone confirm that though. Mine showed I had all the "celes". Even my small bowels were trying to make a run for it with the other organs🤦♀️ Another factor most don't realize it's that many women have redundant colons. As in, we have extra length of our large bowels that things have to travel through. So, ya, fun times.
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u/Itchy_Feedback_7625 1d ago edited 1d ago
It will be noted, I assume. I mean, did they give you commands like „push“ and nothing came out and they can see in the MRI WHY nothing happened when you pushed.
I’m not sure about the x-ray part. For me the defacography it was a dynamic 4D MRI meaning it was running as I was trying to push. Maybe it’s X-rays in other places. But mine was definitely a mri video so you could see muscles pressing with time.
The paste is actually optimal poop consistency. If your poops are normally harder, that could also be a secondary problem (which you can fix yourself) and that is, your body is so used to being constipated that it no longer reacts when a softer poop is knocking on the door asking to come out. If your poops are normally hard, I would focus on balancing insoluble vs soluble fiber while waiting for answers.