J-pouch Life

Hey, guys.  Long time no blog.  So, here’s the scoop-I’ve been doing a lot better since my visit with pouch guru Dr. Bo Shen back in November.  He diagnosed me with efferent limb syndrome which means that the connection to my j-pouch goes at a diagonal instead of vertical making it really hard to poop!  This explains my pelvic pain, multiple trips to the bathroom, anal cuff spasms, basically everything!  So, he prescribed a drug he said was, “very safe.  No side effects.  Can drive car.”  This miracle drug (and it is) is Belladonna/Opium suppository.  I did a little research on it because I like to know what I’m putting in my body, and also, it’s nearly impossible to get and I wanted to know why.

So, Belladonna is old school.  It has many uses, many names which include “Deadly Nightshade”.  It literally means, “beautiful woman” in Italian because drops made from the plant were used to dilate women’s pupils (considered attractive back in the day).  Although it is highly poisonous, it is very useful in medicine when compounded properly.  It’s used a lot for gastrointestinal problems like motion sickness and can be used as an antispasmodic to treat IBS and Crohn’s disease.  One compound is used to treat Parkinson’s, and others are used for heart resuscitation.  In my case, it acts as a muscle relaxant, helping my dyschezia (difficulty in pooping as a consequence of long-time suppression to defecate), anal spasms, it also helps with pelvic pain, reduces my trips to the bathroom, and helps me empty!   According to Wikipedia, in the past, when combined with opium, it was used as a “flying ointment” to get witches to their brew-ha-ha’s.  Seriously, look it up!  So, aside from hindering my mode of transportation, not being able to get this has resulted in increased rectal pressure, multiple trips to the bathroom, anal bleeding from said bathroom trips, soiling myself at night, not sleeping b/c I have to get up 3-4 times a night to poop, incomplete emptying…the list goes on.  So, basically, back to my crappy “normal”.

I can’t get it because there’s a shortage of the beautiful lady.  However, before (and I’ve only had one rx, by the way) it was no easy feat to acquire it either.  I felt like such a druggie calling all these local pharmacies and getting turned away because, “it’s a class two drug.”  Class one drugs are mostly your standard illegal drugs that they consider to have no or little medical use and are primarily used as a recreational tool to get you high.  Class one drugs include LSD, marijuana, “magic mushrooms”, meth, PCP, etc.  You get the drift.  (My research from the DEA’s website.)  Class two drugs have a use medically, but are narcotics like Dilaudid, Ritalin, OxyCotin, Percocet, etc.  You get the drift. Most of us here have had Dilaudid or some form in an IV drip after surgery or while hospitalized for pain.  It has the effect of getting you “high” but is such a useful tool for pain, it is still used.  Enter my suppositories.  The doseage is 16.2 mg of belladonna and 30mg of opium.   I should mention that in my research I found that belladonna can also be used as a recreational drug that produces hallucinations and delirium.  However, it’s poisonous and generally not worth that attempt.  I will admit, the first suppository made me kinda giggly and “loosy goosy” but had no ill effects the next day, so it’s not something one would use for a “high” effect.  However, it did make me super  happy because it helped me poop and relieved my pain and urgency.  Plus, after getting drug-induced lupus from man-made drugs, I was eager to try something natural.   And, it helped! After five years of trying, post surgically, to figure out what was wrong with me and to then find something so simple that helped and may help me live a more normal, productive life, and avoid surgery no. 8, I was ecstatic!

So, the first rx I had was a feat to have filled.  I eventually had luck with my mail order pharmacy who couldn’t imagine why I’d had such trouble in the first place.  One catch-legally, Dr. Shen can’t write me more than a month’s supply (b/c it’s class two), and it can’t be called or faxed in-has to be mailed in, by me…Who lives in Texas.   Dr. is in Ohio…hmmm. So getting refills should be interesting.  And it has been!  They faxed one in and that was denied, but I called Dr. Shen’s office and they are awesome and mail it to me so that I can then send in to my pharmacy.  I should mention that at this point I’ve been without it for two weeks and am crapping myself regularly and getting desperate.  Life without pain and pooping all the time is SO nice!  So, today I get a call from my mail order pharmacy…they can’t get it. UGH!!!  So, I call the manufacturer=shortage of belladonna.  I was shocked b/c I thought the issue had always been opium.  Anyway, I’m trying again to get it from CC pharm, but this will be the third (the other two were destroyed b/c they couldn’t be filled) rx for this in a month from me trying to get my medicine, so who knows if he can even write me another one legally.

So, is it just me, or is this totally ridiculous?  That I’ve finally found something so simple that helps, and I can’t get it because of regulations and supply problems (probably related to those regulations).   I can easily get something that could cause cancer, lupus, tuberculous, infections, the list goes on, but something with essentially no side effects I can’t get.  That makes perfect sense.

I’m going to try to find an alchemist or someone who can just make it for me and hopefully not poison me.

The lengths we go to for health.

These posts might also help out:

• December 8, 2010 -- Cleveland Clinic, Day 1 (7)
• September 12, 2010 -- I suck at being sick (24)
• August 5, 2010 -- Crohn’s…Again? (7)
• November 10, 2009 -- Just Dance! (10)