Bowels still not right...

I'm 4.5 weeks post and my bowels are still not functioning right without assistance. At the 2 week check the Dr. said to continue with ss as needed, which I'm still doing. I tried slowly reducing the ss (over several days) down to none, but by the 3rd day without any I ended up having to start them again. I drink a minimum of 10 large glasses of water a day and eat mostly lots of veggies & salad, chicken, small sandwich for lunch, and toast in the AM to take pills. Any suggestions on what might help me be less bound up?
Thanks so much for any ideas.

Are you still taking pain killers. If so you will probably have to stay on the SS till you quit taking the pain killers as they will cause constipation. If your not on the pain killers you may want to talk to a gastrointestionologist to see if he can give you some help.
Good luck
Tango

I truly feel for you! My bowels too have not been the same. Each time I tried to use lax or ss less, things would get backed up. With a rectocelle repair, I am so worried this will cause problems!

NEVER substitute my advice for your Dr.

With that said, at the last Dr. visit, we agreed together that I can take ss every other night and a lax every 3 nights. This is keeping things moving, however it's only on the next day after the lax.

I really believe my body is displaying so many 'different things' since my surgery, b/c it is tense from the trauma. I am hopeful in time my body will relax and take matters on itself!

My DH gently reminds me when I get discouraged with seemingly slow progress.. it took time for my body to get to the place of needing surgery.. it will take time for my body to heal..

Tangodancer ~ Oops, I forgot to mention that I'm not taking any pain meds except occasional tylenol for headaches.

I took the heavy pain meds regularly for the first 3 days, then mostly cut them to one at night only for the next several days...and then even cut out the nightly one (way too soon) in order to try to help the bowels. If it keeps up much longer I'll go to another doc. Thanks.

rachaelmb, I'm so sorry, and I feel for you, too -- I can imagine your concerns with that type of repair! I hope things get set regular again for you soon. I know how distressing it can be when the body seems unable to function normally in the most basic of ways. Did your doc say how long was OK to take the ss and lax? (Your DH has a good point.)

I'm OK if I at least take 2 ss at night. It just seemed like things should have been straightened out by now, lol. I read where most others have been OK by end of week 2. I did have a lot of work done inside and it took several days after surgery for me to even have bowel sounds...maybe it's all normal in my individual case. Was just thinking that perhaps there was a "miracle" cure out there, lol.

Thanks so much.

HI
I had the exact same thing. ugh it was awful!
My naturopath had me taking lots and lots of vitamin C and lots of Magneseum. I think I was taking about 400mg of magnesuem 2 and 3 x a day. It will reallllly help. Vit C about 3000 mg daily, spread out.
also, massaging your belly in the direction the intesties flow is helpful. don't be afraid to apply lots of pressure.
It took mine about 5 or 6 weeks to get normal again, but once I started with the vitamins it totally helped.

crummins, I just saw your reply -- thank you for the suggestions.

I take chewable multi vitamins with C daily (no iron) and then an extra 1000mg of C daily, but maybe the magneseum needs upped to help absorbtion.

This just dawned on me today -- my fanny and other areas are still numb, so maybe that's a factor in the problem. Maybe the numbness is affecting the bowels functioning properly. (I also remember that once, when I was recovering from a bad car accident, I was numb all over and didn't even have the urge to go to the bathroom for days. It took several months for things to get back to normal.) I'll have to mention the numbness I have now to the Dr. and see if there's a tie to this problem.

Thanks so much for your reply.

I too am having a hard time still getting things moving. I am just 4 weeks as of fri. I have been off the pain pills for almost 2 weeks now. I drink lots of water and take 2 SS in the AM and 2 in the PM. I also take MOM every couple of days. The cherry flavor really is not that bad. That seems to be the only thing that does the trick. Please let me know what your Dr says.

Nicole

Oh Nicole, I feel for you!
I have the cherry flavor, too. As long as I do not stop the ss I'm OK and don't have to take the MoM. Had to use a sup the other day to get things unblocked from the lower end and thought I'd went from the frying pan to the fire...it lit me on fire inside...won't use that one again. I'll update when I see the Dr.
If you get a chance to respond...do you have numbness, too, and do you think it may be contributing to your problem?

hi there, I soo know how your feeling I had my op on april 1st and i thought id feel better the licorice stopped working everythign else is hopless too. i should be regualr I have stopped all pain killers havent had any for 3 or more weeks now and been living on licorice and a laxative syrup with no prevail now Im still struggling to go and have pain all the time cos of constipation and now to top it all off I have hemoriods *ouch! is all I can say!!!
Im goign back to docs am goign to make an appointment tomorrow
good luck hope you feel better soon
hugs

I too am a numb butt sister! After my rectocele repair my Dr warned my that I would need to use SS for life--he said take them every am with your vitamins. He felt that if I got back into the habit of straining to have a bm I would undo all of the repair work he did. And he stressed that those repairs are not 100% guaranteed. And remembering what it felt like to have my rectum hanging so low into my vagina, I really don't want to go back to that. So it is SS for me each day-- he told me to take four in the morning, I tried to do 3 but that backfired on me so to speak. LOL
So I stay away from my dear friend cheese and eat my fruit and veggies like a good girl, take the SS and use Senna (lax) if things back up. As for the numbness If anyone knows I love to hear what it is. I thought as I had a TVH and they put you in some gymnastic positions during surgery that this was the aftermath of having my toes on the ceiling and my head on the floor???