How to keep the bowels going....?

Hello everyone. Just had SAH Feb. 8th and home. Only pain killers I am on is Motrin 800 as others make me terribly ill. Trying to eat a healthy, fiber rich diet, but the gas....ugh! Yogurts, cereals, cottage cheese, fruits...etc. I still have not had a bowel movement and would really like to relieve the bloating. Not a big fan of tea, drink coffe but know the caffeine is not good for me. Any suggestions would be great. The pain is tollerable as long as I am right on schedule with the meds! Thanks for the support everyone!

Lots of water will help as will pune juice or punes.

Hope that helps.

Hi lisapebs

I know what you are talking about as far as the gas. I think that was the worst part right after surgery. I would recommend drinking lots of water (I know you'll feel bloated, but it helps) and try taking Colace. This is a stool softener. You might want to try and take a laxative the first couple of days and then just used the Colace to keep things soft. This has worked really well for me. Getting up and moving around every so often is also very good. The longer you lay around the harder it is for your bowels to do their thing. I hope you feel better soon. Just remember to get lots of rest and sleep when you need it.

Drink lots of water and a stool softner daily per my doctor. Also walk around the house some if you can. That will help the gas pains, and get things moving. Good luck.
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1/25/07 LAVH w/BSO

I took Phillips stool softeners along with Phillips Milk of Magnesia. To get things going I used a suppository and had relief in about 10 minutes after using it.

I had Metamusil Apple Waffers, fruit, and water for my breakfast for the first few weeks after surgery. It helped keep things "moving along" after day 7. I didn't go until the first week after surgery but I also didn't eat very much and was pretty empty from the pre-surgery bowel prep. I wouldn't suggest anything like a laxative like Exlax or Correctal 'cause it can cause excessive gas and pain.

In addition to your stool softeners, veggies, and lots of water, walk just a little bit, several times a day, just around your house. The movement, your vertical position, and gravity will help things move along.

Hope you will be soon!

Porridge might help and as it contains vitamins, it's good for you in other ways. There are some brands which you can get to make up in the microwave. I'd have it any day over cereals like bran flakes - some people like them, but others (eg, me) find that they have the opposite effect to the one intended. I've been snacking on dried fruit since I came home and find prunes very palatable - a huge improvement over the bottle of lactulose the ward gave me. As other people have suggested, loads of fluids, especially water and fruit juice and if your problem is being aggravated by gas pain, peppermint tea might give you some relief.

I found 2Tablespoons of ground flax seed has kept me regular and doesn't cause gas!!

It took 6 days before I had first bowel movement and it was on the difficult side.

I was given stool softeners when I came home from hospital.

At one point I had tried Correctol and it had no affect on me whatsoever.

When I asked doctor for some additional ideas to help things "move along", she suggested dried fruit.

So I got some dried apricots and snacked on a small handful each day.

That, along with some prune juice every other day seemed to help get things moving along.