TMI...please help

jaliv78

I not being able to poop for a few days...and it makes me feel really uncomfortable. Do you guys have any suggestions?? I really appreciate it 😊

tomcustombuilder

Get up and slam a bunch of water really fast. It’ll push that *kitten* right out

AnnPT77

IF you haven't gone for several days, literally, then it might be time to try an over the counter medication, a laxative or at least a stool softener. If you're getting enough fiber - and especially if you've recently increased the fiber intake in your eating - don't take a fiber tablet or supplement that's advertised for constipation. On the other hand, if your diet doesn't include much fiber, but you've greatly decreased food volume, a gradual increase in fiber (and water!) might be part of the solution.

If a bowel movement doesn't happen soon, consider talking with your doctor. Long periods of constipation with discomfort/pain can be an serious problem.

Have you reduced your fat consumption? That's a common thing among people who are trying to cut calories. If so, eating more fat may help. We need fats for digestive throughput, so it's possible to cut them too far.

Too little fat plus increased fiber (like lots more veggies, fruits whole grains) is a quite likely route to constipation. If that describes you, don't pack in much more fiber, and do increase fats, until things get moving again. After the situation improves, keep fat at a more reasonable level (maybe around 0.35g per pound of body weight daily) and increase fiber slowly rather than all at once, if that was part of the problem.

Tom is right that water is important, but it's more common for people here to be drinking more water, rather than too little water. But if you're not getting much in the way of fluids, do try that. Mild exercise might help move things along, if it's not too uncomfortable - just something like walking.

Some people find probiotic foods, like live culture yogurt, can help, but that's lower probability, and not a treatment for an acute problem - more like a preventative measure, at most.

Good luck. Also, repeating: Don't let this continue indefinitely and painfully without consulting your doctor.

tomcustombuilder

jaliv78 wrote: »

I not being able to poop for a few days...and it makes me feel really uncomfortable. Do you guys have any suggestions?? I really appreciate it 😊

One more thing, are you on any pain medication? I know that after a couple of knee surgeries and using Vicodin I had to get on stool softeners a week in advance. The first surgery I didn't listen and it was a 7 day stop up.

spiriteagle99

When I did very low carb eating, I had that problem. I ended up taking fiber tabs to get things moving. Once I was eating more carbs (vegetables especially) the problem stopped.

As Ann said above, there are a lot of possible causes from too little fiber to too much fiber to too little fat. Any time there is a drastic change in diet your stomach may respond badly until it gets used to the new way of eating, or you may need to alter the diet to keep yourself regular.