Alright, here's an awkward topic but I need advice/insight

jencornelius

My son has had some constipation problems (he's in grade school). Our family doctor had me take him off apple juice completely and give him white grape or pear juice instead, limit his milk/dairy intake and give him MiraLax -stool softener- as needed to keep him regular. Her explanation was that when you get constipated you literally stretch your colon. Even once you do poop, your body will have to fill that stretched out section of colon each time after that. It takes a while for it to shrink back to its normal size. She suggested I give him the MiraLax every other day until we had him going every 2-3 days and then to continue with it once or twice a week for another month to make sure the colon has time to recover. We did that over 6 months ago and it has worked great for us. Now, it it's been 2 days and he hasn't gone he tells me and we give him half a dose just to keep things moving along.

Good luck!

tatya317

wooow..please go see a doctor soon I really do not think that is normal at all.

I go like clock wise... within the first hour that I wake up in the morning. Then sometimes after my first meal..which is breakfast.
So usually twice a day. I also take metamucil 3 x a day .. and eat a lot of veggies and a mix fruit cup daily .

selfm0tivated

One word: BROCCOLI

mollymyrick

I have IBS, and you sound like a textbook case. You may need to have medication to help you pass stool regularly. Other than that, please start eating the necessary amount of fiber for your diet every day without exception... I can't tell you how important it is. Use Fiber One 90 calorie brownies to help you, they are delicious!

Water consumption is as important, if not more so. Water will help with metabolism, elasticity of your skin during weight loss, curbing hunger, prevention of UTI, maintaining muscle tone, and eliminating fluid retention. Your water schedule should look something like this for optimal weight loss and gastrointestinal benefit (per a document provided to me by my doctor's office):

32 oz in the morning over a 30 minute time span;
32 oz at lunch over a 30 minute time span;
32 oz between 5-6 pm.
You also need to drink an extra glass of water throughout the day for every 25 lbs overweight you are.

The document says, "Water can help relieve constipation. When the body gets too little water, it siphons what it needs from internal sources. The colon is one primary source. Result? Constipation. But, when a person drinks enough water, normal bowel function usually returns."

With proper fiber and water intake, I have been able to completely eliminate taking medication for my IBS. BTW, have you tried Milk of Magnesia?

I hope this helps!

lifeskittles

I had this EXACT problem and I started taking probiotics and now I have NO more constipation at all..I go every day or at least every other day and I USED to go once MAYBE every 2 weeks or so..I'm not sure if it has been mentioned yet but THEY WORK. I use trunature.

AABru

Lots of people are giving good advice, but only your MD can rule out medical problems. I will say that after my c-sections I had a little over a week of no BMs from the pain meds I was taking, and since then, I have had some issues with not being able to go. I also ordered Natural Calm (which a number of other people have recommended), a product called Fibertox (mix of Psyllium fiber, senna and licorice), and a probiotic (Megaflora). I take the probiotic in the am, and the others at night and have had no problems since.

I also want to add, that if you have a history of constipation such as yours, eventually you can stretch our your intestines and cause "pockets" to form that food particles can get stuck in. When this happens, it can cause infection--better known as diverticulitis. Please follow through on your MD visit. It is extremely painful, even more so than your impaction/ constipation now.:sick:

trinoc

Probiotics is a good suggestion, imo. Also, if you are getting fiber but not drinking water then it just becomes like a big clump of hay blocking everything....so fiber alone is not the cure-all. You need the water to keep the poo malleable and moveable.

Nailrep

I have dealt with this forever! For me, dense proteins like steak and cheese cause some of the problem. But women are also notorious for not drinking enough water, so that could be a problem.

Senokot makes a fiber laxative that works well. I take 2 or 3 and then drink a ton of water to relieve a serious case of constipation. It usually works within a day.

Appleness

I'm so sorry but I haven't read all the other posts, there was just too many! But I wanted to put in my experience as I too, have had issues like yours.

After getting referals etc, seeing drs and specialists. I now drink a yakult every morning and if I know I haven't been in a while I'll drink a teaspoon of epsom salts dissolved in warm water - that really works!
But also, sorry if its too much detail, but if you're 'trying' and not alot is happening, kind of massage your stomach area starting from just above your hip bone on your right side, up and around just under your ribs and down the left side.
My specialist said that I was getting 'blockages' and massaging helps move everything. So I would definitely recommend giving that a go.

Seeing this post....there are a lot of people out there with these problems...its kind of concerning.

Oh and also, I have a slight intolerance to dairy and lactose - so I would recommend going to the dr and getting tested for allergies if you haven't already as dairy in particular can cause a lot of those uncomfortable problems!

Hope you get better soon!

gordonx4

I had this EXACT problem and I started taking probiotics and now I have NO more constipation at all..I go every day or at least every other day and I USED to go once MAYBE every 2 weeks or so..I'm not sure if it has been mentioned yet but THEY WORK. I use trunature.

I mentioned it above,I use the digestive enzymes also. Aren't they great! You know your belly is working right, you getting all the nutrients out of the food you eat and your not getting addicted to stimulus. People are just now being exposed to how important it is to have a balanced digestive system. YES, it is important to drink lots of water, eat lots of fiber. but with out the bacteria in the digestive track your fighting a losing battle.