Adult chronic bowel issues due to childhood withholding

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Hi guys, I just wanted to post about this because it's something I feel very isolated about due to a lack of support groups on fb or elsewhere dealing with such issues. I also wanted to know if anyone else deals with them, as I know I'm not the only one even if it bl**dy feels that way sometimes lol

So did anyone else withhold their stools as a child, due to being afraid of pooping? I suddenly stopped being afraid at around age 8 and my withholding ended then, but the years of stool holding have left me with chronic bowel issues. These issues are mainly chronic constipation and 'slowness', for which I have to take laxatives for (x2 Movicol every 2 weeks or so) and have done for years now. I have tried eating prunes and smoothies, which worked for a while but then stopped and I had to go back on the Movicol. I am also hoping to get to a dr at some point, to have an x ray done in order to see if I have a redundant colon or megacolon which is causing the slowness etc (which can be common with my history).

Can anyone else relate to my story?

~Z

I withheld on number 1s and 2s when at primary in my younger years due to my aversion to the school bathrooms. I stopped when I overcame that and have had no problems since.

My apologies. Normally I stay out of threads that are not linked to me but this was an exception. I will not make any more posts on this thread, as requested.

I have chronic digestive issues and I think some of them are from withholding. I've had constipation issues my entire life, but even when I wasn't constipated I didn't go to the bathroom, even at home, because I was scared it would hurt. I also just stopped recognizing when I needed to go which is common with kids who have these problems.

Your bowels have a sort of mind of their own muscle wise and if you don't go properly your body can actually forget how to evacuate stools properly and how to signal the need to evacuate. You also have muscles that work involuntarily in your rectum to push out stool, and those can stop working right if you withhold and make constipation worse or even be the cause of "constipation".

My issues have improved regarding the "slowness" of my digestion and frequency of needing to "go" since I looked up how to "retrain" my bowels to recognize when to go. I still have issues retaining because it hurts due to my other unsolved issues, but a big thing is just forcing myself to tough it out.

Do you try to make yourself go even when you don't think you need to, especially when you've gone awhile without going to the bathroom? Do you possibly have issues with physically evacuating stool, which can seem like or cause constipation?

How is your lower spine/back? If you have lower back problems, L-5 and S-1 vertebra, you might be experiencing very dramatic GI (gastrointestinal) issues. The problem is that the nerves that control your GI radiate from this area and if they are constantly inflamed your bowels will always be giving you the middle finger...

Just a thought,

DIVAIR

When I was 11 I went through a short-lived phase of holding poop in and I don't know why. My mum reckons it was anxiety about starting high school. I was a bit anxious about high school because we were given loads of homework and were under threat of detentions if we didn't complete it (which is a lot of pressure on new pupils). So for some reason I dealt with the anxiety by...holding in poop(?)

I was toilet trained well at the right age and I was always clean and had no trouble going to the bathroom, so I don't know why I suddenly didn't want to let myself poop. Things got pretty disgusting. Bits of poop would leak out and make a mess in my underwear. My mum would throw away my favourite underwear instead of just washing them out. Then one day I saw diapers written on her shopping list and it scared me so much that I just sat on the toilet and let it all out. I was so relieved and happy after that and I finally felt like a normal person again. No way was I going to wear diapers!