constipation

[justej]

so the last couple of weeks ive had bad constipation. ill go 2-3 days without going (im on day 3 this time)
i plan on taking a stool softener when i get home today, but what else can i do?
also thinking about picking up some kale to put in my dinner.

[tangerine]

Have you been taking any painkillers recently? Some of those can be a big cause if constipation. I take movicol and also eat figs and flaxseed in my breakfast smoothie along with raw kale and spinach. Personally I don't eat grains so I eat a lot of vegetables (maybe 6 cups or more a day). I find that the fibre in vegetables suits me better than the fibre in grains. Also drink a lot of water. For some reason ducosette sodium really messed with my bowels and seemed to contribute to urgency leading to bowel incontinence episodes. My problem is that my stool is ordinarily very solid which means it either doesn't come down, or stays very hard. This means I sometimes need to use manual evacuation techniques to remove the stool. For this I use a blue nitrile glove and coconut oil.

Good luck!

[B Brian]

Yeah, I can attest to that too. When I'm on a lot of opiate pain pills, they absolutely will block me up too.

[Patrick]

Because I'm on a doctor-ordered low-fiber diet, (although I don't always obey it) constipation is a continuing threat. For this I take a ducosate sodium capsule with every low-fiber meal. This does not always work as intended; sometimes it is too much, which causes diarrhea. Other times, it doesn't work at all, so after four days I must resort to a powerful laxative or an enema. To minimize the stress of having to use a laxative, with its threat of a fecal accident, I employ colon massage, usually twice each day, for about 10-15 minutes each session.

[tangerine]

Do you know of any resources for colonic massage Patrick? I couldn't manage that much that often but it might be useful sometimes. I'd love to come off the movicol. I don't know if my digestive system is slow or if it just sucks all the water from the stool. I know I have a lot of nausea and used to have a lot of chest/upper abdomen pain before changing to low carb diet (and still do sometimes. Also intermittent acid reflux and swallowing problems with liquids. I manage to eat ok as long as I'm taking metocloperamide, otherwise my nausea is awful and I'd probably struggle to get enough calories in. Thankfully I don't have vomiting episode too often though when I do they are awful. I've wondered if I have delayed gastric emptyinf/mild gastroparesis as a result.

[Patrick]

I sincerely, deeply, hope that you do not have gastroparesis. It is exasperating, embarrassing, and it greatly complicates incontinence management. I posted a layman's description of colon massage on the FI section here. It is a layman's description; for an authoritative description, ask a certified pelvic floor physical therapist or a urologist or gastroenterologist. The test for GP is simple. It is a nuclear medicine exam, in which you eat some morsels of food which are coated with barium (ugh!). The machine watches you chew and swallow each bite, until you're finished. You then return at intervals of one hour, two hours, and four hours, the machine recording how well your stomach and small intestine work. Mine don't. It is not painful, or embarrassing; the worst part is eating that barium powder. Good luck (meaning that your test, if the doctor orders it, will be negative).

[tangerine]

Thanks. Things are not severe enough that I would go for a test and one of the meds I am on is used in gastroparesis anyway. Also I can't see a specialist or have tests as I am bedbound and cant travel so I would only ever be able to go to an appointment if it was an emergency, which thankfully this is not.

I'll have a look for your thread with the massage. Thanks.

[kdlstar]

OK so regarding colonic massage there are many good resources. See https://youtu.be/DBdWbYakqGo

Basically the massage you gently press along your colon and massage in small circles along the colon to get things going and slightly down and inwards.

Also it is helpful if you squat a bit when you poo as that straightens and unkinks your colon and rectum.

If all else fails, a warm water enema cleanse always works.