What Causes Uncontrolled Diarrhea And Chronic Back Pain?

Posted on Thu, 20 Apr 2017

Question: I have been having almost unbearable right buttock pain and uncontrollable diarrhea for about a month. I had a MRI last Friday and have been on prescription Diphenoxylate-atrop 2.5 for a little over two weeks. Not much change in the diarrhea, still totally liquid and often uncontrollable. I have been on morphine ER 60 mg 2 times a day plus 10/325 Percocet which I get 120/month but am having to take six per day or be in so much pain I am in tears..please tell me what to do, thanks

Sorry I wasn't very informative but my current narcotics are due to chronic back pain. I had a L4-5, L5-S1 failed fusion in 2009. This new pain is so acute as well as continuing that I consider going to the ER at least once a day. Ice packs help numb the area for a while.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Matt Wachsman (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
sorry it didn't go through

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

The first thing is a diagnosis. there should not be diarrhea this chronic and this implies a condition is occurring that is serious. Infection, autoimmune disease, the bowel not getting enough blood are a few of many things that could be occurring. The key thing is not only that the diarrhea shouldn't be there and that the pain shouldn't be there, but also the narcotics should lower bowel motility so much that the diarrhea should be stopped in any case. It can even be an immediate life threatening emergency.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar