Husband with Rectal Prolapse
My husband had chronic constipation most of his life, which led to rectal prolapse around when he was 30. He has had a rectal prolapse since around 2020. He has never been to see a doctor. The first couple of years, it would come out whenever he had a bowel movement and then he would sit a certain way and it would go back in on its own and stay in until the next bowel movement, the next day. But, for years now, he has had to manually push it back in every time. He goes through times where he has hemorrhoids, as well, and then the pain is really bad. And for a couple of years, he hasn't been able do as much physical activity as he used to because physical activity makes the prolapse come out. It has gotten worse and worse over time. For years, he's taken Magnesium every night, which softens his bowel movements immensely. But he has to sit and wait for multiple rounds of bowel movements to come out whenever he goes, so that takes about an hour and a half every morning. When he had a rough patch with his prolapse along with potential anal fissures this spring, he decided to start taking the magnesium every other day, instead, so that he only has a bowel movement every other morning now. And for a few months, that worked. But as of almost a week ago, he has a hemeroid or anal fissure or something like that again he and can't get his rectum to stay in anymore. It will go in momentarily and then come right back out. He's uncomfortable all the time. He sits on a heating pad as much as he can, and he has put sugar on it to try to help shrink it and bring the swelling down. He also takes Ibuprofen. It has improved over the last week, swelling-wise and pain-wise. So, he is holding out hope that his prolapse will stay in again once the hemorrhoid or fissure is better again. He still really doesn't want to go to a doctor and he is also afraid of having to have surgery. He's really embarrassed. No one knows about this except me. And money is very tight for us right now so we literally can't afford medical bills and don't have insurance for him that will cover any of this. And he is afraid of the recovery after surgery, too, because our 13-month old and I depend on him so much. But I'm worried about him. 🥺
And I wonder if anyone has any advice based on their own rectal prolapse experience.
If we did go to a med center or doctor locally, what would the first step be? And for those of you that have had the surgery, how was your recovery? And how has your condition been since?
Thank you so much! I'm hoping I can get him to the doctor soon, or that it gets better again on its own. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
EDIT to add: He knows how not to strain while going and all the things. He even does the low mooing sound to help it be easier on his pelvic floor. But, he didn't start doing those things until after the prolapse started.