tw: talk about bathroom stuff, hEDS related

learned yesterday in one of my groups that hEDS patients can have a regular bathroom schedule and STILL be constipated. apparently because our everything is so stretchy, our intestines stretch AROUND the blockage.

and so we seem “regular” (or as regular as a hEDS patient can be, especially if on prolonged opioid use) but still have constipation issues (or imagery that comes back talking about retaining fecal matter)

(also, sorry, i really really really cannot describe how much i hate talking about going to the bathroom but nobody ever talks about this stuff and it’s all so fucking affected by hEDS that i figure i should share so others can learn with me.)

anyways, once the intestines stretch around the blockage to allow other matter past, that becomes the default “memory” for the tissue and thus we continue on, often without knowing we’re potentially dealing with major constipation up to and including impaction

also if you didn’t know, fiber now comes in pill form and in powder form that really can’t be tasted inside a drink. invest.

(i say imagery and mean MRIs, CT scans, xrays, and the accompanying reports. that was unclear)