[Becky]

Although I am fine, I have a 22 yr old daughter (who lives at home with us) who has had issues for the last couple of years. When we found out she has gluten intolerance, we were overjoyed but that did not solve all the problems. GI doctors were also terrible to us too. She had an endoscopy, colonoscopy, CT scan, barium CT, CT with and without contrast and tons of bloodwork with no results. She is constipated but when she "goes" its diarrhea. One doctor said that young women who are in the peak of hormones can get impacted (this impaction was true for her). Another said that the nerves in her colon might not fire correctly so the colon doesn't move the stool down and out right (meaning there is little movement and then the nerves shoot into overdrive).

Here's what has helped her:
1. Phillips Colon Health - a probiotic which she takes everyday. It took a couple of weeks to see results but sometimes the good bacteria are so out of wack. This could help but certainly won't hurt.
2. Some of the best foods for us can cause other problems. She is careful with the gassy foods like broccoli and beans. She will eat them but not tons therefore, she doesn't juice or do smoothies with these items but eats them sparingly.
3. We got food allergy testing but do not know the results.

When thinking what I know about her and I think about you, Taxanes do affect the nerves. Most of us have some neuropathy in our hands and feet from this chemo and it can last a couple of years. Maybe Cleveland Clinic was onto something saying your colon nerves were affected (as our doctors mentioned this about my daughter - this can also be a sign of IBS but everything is IBS if they don't find another cause). Also, the hormone thing. You might not be 22 but you are premenopausal and having an ovarian cyst and other issues. These issues are also hormonal in nature. I am just thinking out loud here but I think some of these symptoms will be relieved with time. It could even be the Tamoxifen as it is kind of hormonal but I wouldn't go off of it without other options. Just throwing out ideas since I am doing the doctor rounds with my daughter and your case sounds so familar unfortunately. For her, Metamucil was pointless but Miralax helped a bit but she didn't want to stay on it indefinitely. The probiotic and watching dairy and gassy foods did help. One day a week ago or so she had what she though was a normal poo and made me look (what we do - ugh) and it was! She just hadn't seen one in years and wanted to make sure. We are hoping the food allergy testing will uncover something but are not hopeful but the gluten was real and started to make a better life for her because that was also causing vomiting which is gone now. If I think of anything or if something comes up with her allergy testing I will let you know. We see the GI doctor again for a follow up Jan 6 and if anything new is said that might help you, I will let you know.