Posted 05 August 2011 - 06:09 AM

Hi, I'm a new member. I don't think I have IBS, at least nothing as bad as some of the people on this board have described, but my bowel and anus have been giving me some gas, no pun intended. Excuse me while I rant.I'm a 20-year-old female, I like to keep clean and fresh and to feel attractive for my own sake, and since last fall I've been having this one main problem: after passing a bowel movement, I can't seem to get clean! I wipe very thoroughly and gently with quality toilet paper, until there appears to be no fecal residue left, and then a little while later I will just have a feeling like I'm not clean. I will check in the bathroom and sure enough, there's brown streaks on the paper! I've been trying everything. I use wet wipes, but they don't help much. Sometimes I wash with a squirt bottle, directly onto the anus, and wipe more and more until I seem clean. This sometimes works, but not right after the bm. If I wash right after, even in the shower, later on I'll feel something and then check and there's even a smell still lingering. I've been on a fiber diet for a while now; started out with Benefiber, but sometimes I'd get constipated. So I switched to fiber capsules (psyllium) and have been going regularly after breakfast. Stools are usually looser, which is okay. However, those rare times when they are well-formed hardly anything is left behind and it's heaven! But what I HATE is when I poo after breakfast and then go for my hour-long power walk in the heat and I sweat heavily and my anus feels really soiled. Sometimes it burns and itches, which is the worst. Other times I have already showered before breakfast and am getting ready to go out when I have to move my bowels, and this ruins the clean fresh feeling my bum had. Am I being OC?? Is this normal or not?? I've been to a doctor and a gastroencologist and both examined my anus, said the sphincter muscle is fine, and simply recommended fiber and thorough cleaning. That was it. I don't think it's hemmeroids because I have no pain and there's no bleeding. I hate the moisture and the smell I get when I've had a bm in the morning and didn't scrub afterwards. I don't always have the time or inclination to wash after each one! I hate getting brown stains on my panties after walking -- just walking for more than fifteen minutes! -- as if I didn't clean well, which I always do. I've researched this topic and it seems only guys have it. Are other women so perfectly clean all the time?? Wet wipes, baby powder, fiber, constant washing and blotting -- I'm sick of it. I've even shaved my bum and anal region because one doctor recommended it, since feces may be retained in the hair. Yes, that's right, I'm a hairy female. I also sweat a lot. Armpits, palms, feet, genitalia, and anus. Sometimes I feel so alone in my inabaility to stay clean and smelling nice, like no other 20-year-old girl has these little problems. I just need to know if anybody has had this before and if it went away on it's own. It's kind of depressing me. When I travel, it always happens. When I go out with a friend, it always happens, and I have to keep excusing myself to the bathroom to wipe up, which they would never understand.Help me!

Hi 1990In my experience residue and an inability to wipe clean is due to incomplete evacuation and/or poor stool composition.After a bm there is still material left in the rectum.Any exertion, stress, movement probably is causing fecal matter to nudge against the sphincter.The heavenly times you describe are probably when your bm results in a complete and satisfying evacuation with perfectly formed feces.The variables are probably:Diet.Stress levels.Deviation from routine.Anxiety levels.Perhaps keeping a diary of what you eat, how you feel. and any things which you feel might be relevant to try to pin point triggers related to unsatisfactory bm's.Diet, exercise, and release of tension are very important to satisfactory bm's.I'd recommend eliminating any junk and processed foods form your diet, drink plenty of water, eat a well balanced diet including fresh fruit and vegetables, exercise, learn relaxation techniques, refrain from smoking, drugs, and excessive alcohol, and balance work life with leisure.Also, l found that your body eventually gets used to using one type of supplementary fibre.Try switching to Normafibe.A work colleague of mine who normally has trouble moving always sports a big smile the morning after his dose of Normafibe.It does a good job of encapsulating the waste whilst providing the bulk to allow healthy movement.I also recommend eating your supper early.My guess is that your first bm immediately after breakfast is your previous days breakfast and lunch coming through.I'm betting that the messy feeling you experience an hour into your morning walk is probably your dinner coming through.If you ate your dinner between 7pm-9pm then it may not have enough digesting time to allow it to join in with your morning bm.It's probably arriving soon after and missing elimination.My recommendation is to eat your supper early enough to give it every chance to catch up with the rest of the waste in your lower colon/rectum.I know it's probably not very social or even practical, but try it out.Eat your supper no later than 5pm-5.30pm for one to two weeks and see whether this makes a difference.Failing that most European and Asian toilets are fitted with a bidet water gun.Washing your bottom with soap and water makes sense and is far cleaner than paper can ever be.These kits are easily fitted to most toilets.http://www.lusanbidets.com.au/products/hoy-wash-gun-bl-2/