| blackberrybunny
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Hi all
I'm posting this for my mom. She has started SBD and she is REALLY, I mean REALLY constipated! It's not from the diet though, but she asked me to post, please, because she is desparate.
My mom is taking Lortabs for pain, which tend to make you constipated. She realizes this, but she needs the pain medicine nonetheless. Her dr. prescribes it for her and suggests using CORRECTOL. Well, I despise her dr. and the Correctol tears you up! SO he suggested using mineral oil pills. They don't help. He said to try some Metamucil. It doesn't help. She is really getting desparate, and please, I don't mean to be gross, but she is so impacted that she had to get online to look for help, suggestions, and all she could come up with was to manually remove the um, stuff, herself. Well, as you can see, we have a problem.......
So she asked me to please ask you guys if you have any suggestions. Something that isn't hard on your body. Laxatives are out of the question. Natural remedies like the psyllium and oil pills are not helping. She eats plenty of veggies. And she eats about 5-6 prunes a night. BTW, we discovered it's not the fiber in the prunes that make you go, but they contain an enzyme, sorbital, which our bodies cannot digest, so they just slide through you.
Last night, she had such terrible agonizing intestinal cramps she thought about going to the ER. Finally, after straining, something 'moved' in there she said, a very very hard piece she had to remove herself and then it was like mush. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be gross. But she is really in a bind. I think it's the meds making her stool so hard! My mom had surgery on her anus years ago, and they made it a bit too small. She was in terrible pain. She cannot get an emema in there.
Does anyone have any suggestions? This has been an ongoing problem, and her dr. is a jerk, and she can't change dr.'s because we live in a small rural town, and she is on a military HMO which is extremely limited for her. There are no other dr.s for her to choose from.
Thanks you guys. Believe me, if this was you, you wouldn't be laughing. It kills me to see her have such a time in the restroom like this. What can she take, eat, drink, to make the stool softer?
Does anyone know, can you drink mineral oil? Is that an option she could try?
Oh and she also read online that DIET drinks can stop you up because of the SPlenda in them? Anyone know? ALl my mom drinks is diet drinks. And water, of course. |
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Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:16 pm |
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| ladybugnessa
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| PERI-COLACE and metamucil.... pericolace or COLACE is a stool softner... |
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Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:19 pm |
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| blackberrybunny
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Nessa! THANKS! You are always here when I need you!!! How do you do it??? I told myself, "I bet LadybugNessa replies to this for sure!" And poof! There you are!!! :D
I am writing down the name of this stuff so we can look for it at the store. The metamucil doesn't seem to be helping. She is already taking these stool softening pills, but maybe she is not taking enough? The thing is, she is taking double the recommended amount. She is desparate I tell you! That stuff is just mineral oil, right? She is wanting to know if she can drink it? YUCK! I keep telling her to try an enema, but she is always saying it's too painful to try to get the nozzle in there because of the surgery she had.
Man, I sure do feel bad for my mom! What a horrible thing to deal with! And she had that surgery like 20 years ago. They sure screwed her up! But it's not just that--- something is making her stool rock hard. |
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Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:24 pm |
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| ladybugnessa
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perhaps she needs to be in the hospital. my girlfriends son has issues withholding stool and he was so impacted it was TEN DAYS in the hospital for him to clean him out....
how much water does she drink? |
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Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:26 pm |
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| blackberrybunny
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Yes, that is a thought......... but my mom won't go to the hospital unless she is DYING she says.! I can't make her go. We are just trying to find a home remedy first. The thing is, she wants to go to the bathroom, every day, like I do! But she just can't. She pushes and pushes and knows it's in there, but it's like her intestines are sluggish.
We've tried different pain meds too, to see if that helped. But we have such crappy doctors here. They put her on a pain patch. And then her insurance refused to pay for it. So she's back on the lortabs. I don't think oxycontin would be any better--she's never tried it.
Thanks for your help and advice, Nessa! She is drinking more water now than ever before. But that isn't doing much as far as a positive change either. This is a terrible situation to be in. She had such bad pains and cramps last night she wanted to call me so we could go to the hospital. But then she was able to get that first piece out and then the rest came. But today, her insides are sore. |
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Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:42 pm |
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| luvs_torun
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If this were my mother.... I wouldn't mess around.
She'd be visiting the hospital... (there are any number of things that could be going on.)
I am betting not all the doctors are "crappy". :wink:
Waiting and trying home remedies can sometimes backfire.
Here is an article that may answer some questions..(or give a clue as to why it is happening to her.)
Constipation in Adults (WebMD)
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/constipation-in-adults?page=1
I hope she gets relief soon BBB. |
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Mon Apr 16, 2007 5:04 pm |
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| canadianmom2three
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| My doctor reccomended PEG (polyethelene glycol or something like that, look it up on the net for the long name) It is an over the counter that people take when they are preparing for medical procedure. It is also for use for chronic constipation. It comes in powder form and you mix with water and drink it as the bottle reccomends (I forget - there are several ways you can mix and drink - for constipation, impaction and procedure prep) It is very gentle (no cramps) and REALLY WORKS FAST!!! It is non habit forming and not absorbed by the body - it acts by drawing water into the intestine or colon. Check it out - it is a LIFE saver |
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Mon Apr 16, 2007 5:26 pm |
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| Love2paint4you
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BBB, I don't have any more advice to add than what these lovely ladies have said, but big hugs to your mom. I"m so sorry, she must be so miserable.
I know it's not a subject that people like to talk about, but still. It could happen to any of us. I hope she finds some relief ASAP. |
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Mon Apr 16, 2007 5:28 pm |
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| blackberrybunny
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Thanks, you guys! I knew I could come here and candidly talk about this, and get help here too. We sure do appreciate it! I'm wiritng down all these names so we can look for them. My mom has had thyroid issues in the past, and I am thinking this is only part of the problem. I want her to get a good dr. (yes, they are not all crappy-- I LOVE my dr., but hers has horrible bedside manners, and she hates to see him). I can't make her go to the hospital, but I wish I could... apparently, last night's episode was one of the worst.
Thanks for all the help!
THanks for the article link, luvs_torun! |
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Mon Apr 16, 2007 5:34 pm |
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| samham
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| Get her to the ER - even if she has been able to move her bowels - she may have an undiagnosed bowel obstruction and I don't even want to explain what can happen if that goes untreated (sepsis, gangrene, and BIGGER problems). |
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Thu Apr 19, 2007 1:13 pm |
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| lollymom1
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| What about old fashioned Philips Milk of Magnesia? That being said the severity of the problem you're describing seems to me to require a higher level of medical care, i.e., take your Mom to the ER, get a second opinion from an urologist. I'm thinking otc or homeopathic remedies are not going to do the trick. Good luck. |
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Wed May 16, 2007 7:30 pm |
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| lollymom1
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| I just read what I posted yesterday. Hope I did not sound too flip. I've had my share of constipation problems directly due to meds. On a daily basis I take about 7 meds per day. One of the seven-I had to go through 10! different types to get the right one. And one of them interacted with another med which caused the problem. There are really a lot of drugs out there for pain relief which don't necessarily have that side effect. But I was also thinking about whether your Mom has ever had her colon checked out? il.e., colonoscopy. The night before you have a drink about a half gallon of stuff and have the test the next am. Everything comes out so the test shows a clear picture. The test is not as bad as it sounds and it doesnot take long. Just a thought. Good luck. |
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Thu May 17, 2007 2:51 pm |
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| skifran4
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| How is she doing now? |
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Wed May 23, 2007 1:13 am |
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| dragonessa
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You could try huge amounts of Vitamin C. Start with 3000mg or 4000 and go up. Take with food, sometimes gas and stomach irritation can occur otherwise.
If it is not helping up the dose. Google 'Vitamin C to bowel tolerance'. It really helps!!
Also: whenever you take fiber you have to drink huge amounts, else it has the opposite effect, maybe thats what happened, in addition to the drug.
Try a glass of hot water first thing in the morning.
I got fever once from constipation. They took an X ray... It looked like my belly was filled with pebbles!!
Also: belly massage. The Book Unwinding the Belly by Allison Post describes how to do that. Really helps!! FIrst and easy thing to do is what she calls 'catspawing' - gently poking with two or three fingers at random points of the underbelly. Gentle!
Hope this helps! How is she? |
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Mon May 28, 2007 3:23 pm |
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| Cecily
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| not sure if anyone suggested this, but aloe-vera juice... |
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:47 pm |
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