I just can't poo and my DR was of no help

beckydavies92

I've had a lot of problems with constipation for years and years. For a long time I thought it was normal to have abdominal pain due to constipation, and then only pooing once a week if I was lucky. I still have some problems, but mostly its under control.

The one thing that really helps is something called Fybogel. Its apparently Ispaghula Husk, and works like a fibre supplement. I'm in England, so not sure if you can get it wherever you are, but see if you can get hold of it. I have one sachet every night after dinner. I do have some laxatives prescribed as well if it gets really bad, and then something called Buscopan. That works as a muscle relaxant in the gut so it relieves some of the pain. Water helps, of course. And coffee does too. I do always have a good poo after a night of heavy drinking too... I've also stopped having any white carbs - strictly brown bread and brown pasta etc. Mostly, cutting out carbs as much as possible has really helped.

Maybe this is a bit disgusting, but what does your poo look like when you do go? The appearance of it will help in knowing whether you have any sort of food intolerance (I'm a medical student, so we've learnt a lot about what poo can tell you...)

One thing to remember about gluten too - it will take about 6 weeks after cutting out gluten for the reaction in your gut to go down. To diagnose a gluten intolerance, you can have a blood test done, but its a bit unreliable. The gold standard (at least, in my area) is to put a camera down and physically see the gut having its reaction - kind of like having a allergic rash in your gut. If you've cut out gluten, and your gut is no longer reacting to it, there won't be anything to see. So the advice we give is that if you want to find out for sure, you do need to keep eating gluten for the time being. Again though, a gluten intolerance would make your poo look different.

Also just a quick disclaimer, I am only a student, and I don't know you well enough to really offer medical help - this is just a bit of advice. Please don't rely on it too much!