Bowel Movement Question

My bowels are still not 100 %, most of the time I have trouble, I have IBS also. Anyhow, been taking stool softners, and they do help. But as much as I have been constipated in my lifetime, I have never had it feel like this, sorry if TMI. It is extremely hard to have a BM, really really straining, and it feels like colon is just unbelievably dry, very hard to push out. I was wandering if anyone has had this feeling before? Any suggestions? If things don't get better soon, I think I am going to have to see yet another doc..I am very tired of docs and test. I am very unconfortable. I have bee eating alot more fruits and salads, nothing really seems to be helping. Thanks

I drink Metamucil once maybe twice a day and on the bad days I will also take a Correctol at bedtime. I have tried other things with absolutely no success but this works for me. It's a horrible feeling so I hope you find relief soon.

It happened to me too. The thing that worked the best was heated prune juice. I'm not a hot drink drinker, so it was hard for me to drink but it worked amazingly well. Now I just eat a few prunes every day - they are much tastier.

I also just drank a lot of water and walked. It's not fun. Hope you find relief.

You are not alone. I was diagnosed with IBS back in 2004. Believe it or not when I retired in 2009 (I am fairly young, 46yrs old) and left my VERY stressful job, my bowels improved! I guess stress does affect our digestion. I still have to watch what I eat and take great care to make sure things keep moving. When I had my hysterectomy women warned me to keep on top of the BM issue. When I feel things slowing down I use an over the counter product called Carter's Stimulant Laxative. The "laxative only" products don't work fast enough (or at all) for me, I have to have the stimulant too. The active ingredient on the box is Bisacodyl USP, 5mg. I hope this helps. Good luck.

Horselover -

I'm right there with ya. I'm not back to normal at all. I'm trying prunes daily. Colace daily. Not good enough. The doctor said to go ahead and take Miralax for awhile -- not to sweat it. Miralax makes it work like normal for me, so I've had to go back to it. I'll try to wean off again later I guess.

I have started tracking my daily food consumption to see if there is a pattern with what I'm eating and how it goes the next day. I found that my fiber intake varies wildly. Sometimes as low as 20 g, sometimes way up above 50 g. So, like caseyb I've just started Metamucil to see if that helps on my low fiber days. I don't know. We'll see if I can find some rhyme or reason.

I hope you can find a solution soon. Good luck. <<Hugs>>

Thanks everyone, very good suggestions. I have never had constipation like this before. Before when I would get constipated, I could take something and it essientally would casue diahrea and thing would get back to normal. Now, it's all I can do just to get a BM out, sorry if TMI. It still hurts to push too hard, I am sure most of my insides are healed, but still kinda scary just knowing that it is still a possibility to tear something, right? Thanks again. I hope everyone finds something that works for them and we all get feeling better soon.

I too had this problem I had my surgery on Wed. Dec. 23rd. and had one small hard BM I was sick my husband called the dr. office and they suggested Milk of Mag. and on the other days stool softners. It helped but it still hurt extremely bad at first because I was so impacted. I have to be on iron pills so it adds to the constipations. I have only had to take it a couple more times since. Hopefully this helps you as well. You are not alone. I pray things get better for you.

I am going crazy myself these days. I don't have IBS, and was always regular (ok, coffee helped) but now?!...if I don't take metamucil, stool softener, prune juice, smooth move and eat fiberOne cereal, I don't go...then I feel sick all over for a couple of days...then I take a small sip of castor oil and clear out, but never can predict when...this is taking over my life!
Went to Dr, who said to drink water - constantly, and eat olive oil as much as possible...
He also had me go for an xray yesterday to check for blockage or adhesions, and this is the scariest part. My intestines just don't feel like they're in the same position as before. I can't explain better than that but sometimes when I do finally feel like I have to go, when I sit down something cuts off the urge, like something near the end is twisted closed by the position of sitting - very frustrating, and scary. (probably TMI too, but that's what this site is for, thankfully

He is sending me to a GI specialist, and for a rectal exam, but if they DO find anything went wrong because of the surgery this is horrifying since the thought of anyone opening me up again is too scary.
at least I can go by ingesting that truckload of "helper" products but still...very scary.

Good luck to you!

cmm323,
I am so sorry that you are having to go through this. Hopefully everything will work out fine. It may be that your body is still trying to adjust to the surgery. I have Crohn's,IBS,GERD,and Interstitial Cystitis so have had multiple problems since surgery. I use Benefiber and Miralax daily to help me. When I was in hospital second time, I was so constipated that I was in agony. They tried Milk of mag, no results so then went to Miralax in juice every four hours. Still no results. the doctors then went to Miralax every two hours which finally worked. It can be so painful when you get constipated.
One word of caution is to make sure that you tell your doctor what is going on and clear it with them before taking anything. Just in case they don't want you to use something because of the way it works. Best of luck!!!

Cmm, wow, that is scary. Sorry you are having to go through all that. I pray they will find the reason and surgery won't be the fix. I can't imagine having to have surgery again this early afterwards. Thanks for all the suggestions and I hope everyone gets feeling better soon.