Every time you have a bowel movement, you have to strain. No matter how much you try, you never fully empty. You keep going in and out of the bathroom constantly. If you are a woman aged 30-50 experiencing these symptoms and have been checked for causes without finding any abnormalities or tumors, try checking your symptoms carefully again because you might be suffering from “Rectocele” or “Rectal Pouch Disease.”
These symptoms clearly indicate you have “Rectal Pouch Disease”
Patients at risk of rectal pouch disease, or Rectocele, are women aged 30-50, especially those who have had multiple childbirths. Symptoms occur during bowel movements; although they feel pain like normal people, they have slow bowel movements, need to strain, and often do not fully empty. They feel like there is stool stuck in the anus, so they have to go back to try to pass stool again.
Some may press on the abdomen or around the anus, or in severe cases, some patients have to use their fingers to remove stool, which often does not remove all stool and causes abrasions that can lead to bleeding from the anus.
Rectal pouch disease is caused by…
When the muscle or wall between the vagina and anus tears or weakens due to childbirth or prolonged straining during bowel movements, a pouch or sac protrudes into the vagina. When the patient has a bowel movement, the stool is divided into two parts: one passes through the anus, and the other remains trapped in the pouch.
Patients can ease bowel movements by inserting a finger into the vagina and gently pushing the pouch or sac back into the anus. This method helps push the stool trapped in the pouch back into the anus completely, relieving the symptoms.
Don’t worry! This disease can be treated
Adjust your lifestyle… to stimulate bowel movements
Initially, doctors will recommend patients eat high-fiber foods or prescribe fiber supplements along with drinking 2-3 liters of clean water daily and exercising to pass gas at least three times a week. This helps stimulate the colon to contract better and makes stool formed but soft.
Surgical repair of the pouch… to reduce stool retention
For patients who do not respond to the first treatment, doctors will perform surgery through the anus using dissolvable stitches to gradually sew the pouch or sac protruding into the vagina back up layer by layer until it is level with the anal mucosa. This helps prevent stool from being trapped in the pouch again. While the surgical wound is healing, patients can have normal bowel movements but must clean by rinsing with water or soaking the anus in water.
