I’m not pooping!

zenvoyage wrote: »

I have been constipated for years (especially after giving birth to my son ( now 15). I use Senna twice a week which my doc said ok to, but many naturopaths told me otherwise. I started taking magnesium but not daily, so i may have to UP that ( magnesium is supposed to help ) Also Right now I eat 50% protein the rest is fat and carbs so I am assuming that is not helping but I have 20 pounds to lose so I am not sure what to attack first. When I eat more ( good) fat, it helps. At this point I am just taking Senna and Senna teas and drinking water and dealing with it.. If anybody has some suggestions or has trouble with this as well, feel free to comment ...

@zenvoyage, that's an unusually high percentage of protein. (Is that because of a particular diet strategy you're following?) How many grams does that amount to, usually, and how tall are you? What weight loss rate are you targeting, or seeing happen if you've been at this for a while? How is your fiber intake, both soluble and insoluble fiber? Do you exercise?

Reasons for asking those questions:
* High protein can be constipating, but we do need a certain minimum amount, especially during weight loss.
* With 20 pounds to lose, relatively slow weight loss would be the most healthful plan, probably a pound per week or slower. Fast loss can potentially slow down some bodily processes (body thinks we're in a famine!), which can increase chance of constipation. Also, there's the possible issue of greatly reduced food residue to push things through the system.
* Fiber is obviously important, and it's common in the US (and I expect many other developed countries) to get much too little. Very generically, women should be getting 25g+ every day. IMO, food sources are better than supplements, if that can be achieved.
* For me (with a history of constipation, no longer a routine problem!), exercise helps - especially things that move the midsection.

You already mentioned that you're drinking water, and trying magnesium. Have you tried probiotic foods, like live-culture yogurt or kefir, kombucha, raw (unpasteurized) sauerkraut or kim chi, unpasteurized vinegar in salad dressing or otherwise used without heating, etc.? That's somewhat further down the list of potential aids, but probiotics are an option. Here again, I personally think foods are better than supplements. Supplements are an option, but not a lot is known yet about which types are beneficial or persistent in the gut, which brands are of good quality, etc. I figure traditional fermented foods are an option that's been tested by natural selection over many generations of human evolution.

This next is a thing you shouldn't do without checking in with your doctor to make sure it's OK, because it's contraindicated by some medical conditions: There are self-massage techniques to encourage progress of residue through the bowel. (I just learned about this recently, when getting professional/medical pelvic floor physical therapy for another issue.)

There are various descriptions of this on the web, and one name for one variation is "I love you" massage (because of the shape of movement patterns, that are like an I, L, U shape). Just searching "abdominal massage for constipation" will give various techniques, most fairly similar.

I don't have a specific one to recommend, but if your medical conditions don't contraindicate, it might be safe to find one on the web site of a urology practice, a physical therapy practice, or some similar professional context.

I know constipation is no fun. I hope you're able to find something that helps!

benchstep wrote: »

retta87 wrote: »

I don’t know if I’m replying right. But this could be the issue. I’m thinking about drinking a laxative tea and see what happens and ditch the probiotic. So last year not to get to gross I had diarrhea constantly and I started the probiotic to help my gut and it stopped the diarrhea. So I think you’re on to something here!

ythannah wrote: »

Probiotics tend to be super constipating for me. I had pretty horrible prolonged diarrhea when my appendix ruptured last year, was advised to take probiotics and electrolyte replacement (I got badly dehydrated) and taking Align definitely reversed the diarrhea. A few months later I came across the remainder of the Align capsules and because I'd paid a stupid amount of money for the things (and probiotics are supposed to be good for you, right?) I decided to finish them off and my digestive system promptly ground to a halt. Maybe they're creating similar issues for you?

I thought probiotics were supposed to help with constipation not cause it.

Probiotics definitely cause constipation for me. I took them on the advice of a NP for violent diarrhea (resulting from ruptured appendix) and they worked within a day or so. Much later when things had somewhat normalized I decided to finish off the package because they're supposed to be good for you and they were damned expensive. Yeah, not a good idea. Constipating.

For me, dairy and dark chocolate are the culprits. I've read online that too much calcium could cause constipation.

I don't know what it is about dark chocolate but it makes it harder to go to the toilet.