hi - I'm new here. I'm a 47 year old woman, live in Upstate New York.
I've been recentley diagnosed with "megacolon", and IBS. My colon (large intestines are 12cm large - the normal size is 4cm. This problem started back when I was a teenager, I had a peptic ulcer, and used to take over the counter meds to soothe the pain in my stomach, ex: pepto bismol, which was all fine and good, but I didn't stop there, if that particular medicine didn't take the pain away, I would try something else, and I really didn't wait for it to work - I wanted it to work IMMEDIATLEY, needless to say I had no tolerance for the pain - and no patience.

Now, I have this large intestine that does not work anymore, I'm stuck with taking MYRALAX, 34grams daily, and on a low fiber, low residue diet, I'm down to 118lbs, and going to the bathroom at least 10 times a day.

Next week, the 23rd - I have to have surgery, I had been hospitalized 3 times in the past month because of this, the colon is so large that it's twisting, and there's a good chance that it can perforate. The last time I was in the hospital, the surgeon said that I could have died, it was twisted and I needed an emergency colonoscopy.

Has anyone in here ever gone through what I'm going through ?
I'm scared to death.