I see GI tomorrow finally to try to get help for my constipation. I have been very open on here but it’s hard for me to talk about in real life. I’m wanting to discuss the fact that I go weeks without pooping, I have had abdominal pain and I’m constantly farting. I’m also going to ask about drastic measures like cleanses. Is there any advice anyone has?
GI appointment
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I just posted this comment to another user, I hope this helps with some aids and conversations you can have with your doctor and try yourself:
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IBS Flare up
I am suffering from IBS D for more than a decade and since last week I suffer from severe cramps, bloating, gas and pain. i have started taking rifaxamin, Yogurt but still not much respite from pain. any advice to get relief from pain.
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If you have trouble talking about it, just write everything down and tell your doctor that - then hand him (or her) the note.
If I were in your situation I would NEVER EVER go a long time without getting fecal matter out of my body EVER again. Maybe one day at most before an enema or colema if what I was doing on an ongoing basis wasn't working.
The gi doctor said it can take several months for Trulance to take full effect, so she wants me to keep taking it for another month. She also said because I am still so constipated to add miralax twice daily and keep doing lots of fluids and fiber. Because I am bleeding in the bathroom and still having lots of acid reflux, I am scheduled for an endoscopy and a colonoscopy that I am nervous about. I am a little concerned the plan won’t be enough given that miralax hasn’t worked before but she says I can call if things aren’t improving and we will come up with something else.
Hey Tall52,
Sunstar has an additional medical condition that is likely affecting/ a factor for his constipation as well.
I believe because of this reason he is more likely to rely more heavily on the MD recommendations than others here.
We should all check with our MDs anyway.
But, I get you, most and many of the doctors and GI specialists I visited for help with my IBS were not helpful. I believe it was the 5th GI, and 8th doctor overall (of related issues) that finally did something useful (prescribed Xifaxan) instead of being dismissive.
I believe most people here that are willing to try, check, research, or act on suggestions here on this forum are people who have exhausted that professional medical resource and have not seen improvement or much improvement.
I also understand that its sad to see someone suffer, especially when we feel its needless.
I assume that's why many of us that are trying to help others are here on this forum, to prevent/reduce that suffering when we spent time and effort finding something that works (at least for us).
I hope you do stay active on this forum to help other people with constipation issues.
Who knows, maybe if Sunstar's current plan doesn't work, he may decide to try your suggestions.
We can also just keep bumping your chia thread so that others can find it.
Hey Sunstar,
I'm glad you finally had your long awaited visit with your GI.
While for me Miralax didn't cause gas (or smelly gas more accurately) I read in the side effects that it can.
I looked it up and there's only a few bacteria that can assimilate Polyethylene glycol (some soil bacteria and a few others).
I also read that MIralax is an osmotic laxative.
So while, you may have those few bacteria that actually digest PEG, it is also likely that you just already have/had gas from before and that the drawing in of water to the stool just provides more volume for the existing bad bacteria you have to grow and cause more gas.
My suggestion is that you look up/research what causes gas in humans, especially smelly gas.
That way you can understand all the different factors here.
What I've found is that gas that smells is usually caused by bad bacteria or bad pathogens- viruses, yeast, parasites, etc. It is also known to be because there's overgrowth of these bacterium in the small intestine where they shouldn't be (SIBO).
The very prolonged residence time of your stool in your intestines could also be making this even worse, as it allows all these bacteria to have much more time to ferment and grow. Hence, why having daily or more than daily bowel movements would help a bit in terms of removing these gas producing stools.
Have you ever looked at your poo in the toilet and seen bubbles around the stool? This would just be visual evidence of bacterial overgrowth causing gas.
In my opinion, I would really focus on two things if I were you:
1) Finding my daily friendly fiber
2) Exercise (aided if needed)- specific to causing a movement or reactionary movement in the abdomen and lower abdomenal area. Movements that mimic running or doing crunches on the abdomen. Perhaps spin on a bike is a compromise, or swimming, or using your arms to move your legs.
Compared to most people on this forum, your decreased ability to move makes you an outlier, which seems to correlate with how many drugs don't really work on you (also an outlier) even temporarily.
But before you find the friendly fiber, I do recommend you get ALL of the stool out first, or we'll be in the same situation we are in now, where you really don't know what is causing the gas, because you never cleaned your system, so you just blame the new thing, but you had gas before the new thing....so unclear cause.--> can't improve without knowing cause.
It looks like you will finally get your colon cleanse anyway -- in preparation for your colonsocopy/endocscopy.
Finally!
Please check with your doctor/nutritonist (since you trust them) as to how to make the most of this opportunity to reset your digestive system with a clean colon.
IE find out what diet you should follow after your colon cleanse/colonoscopy.
My suggestion is to do a:
-low/no sugar, low/no starch diet
-Daily friendly fiber
-lean protein
-good fats: avocado/avocado oil, olive/ olive oil, and a bit of coconut oil if necessary, nuts that agree with you, take the skins off almonds if eating almonds
Do this for at least two weeks, especially if you can start with chicken broth (with celery) you can start healing part of your gut.
In terms of treating gas, I think my shortest comprehensive summary is what I wrote for this person. You can see the post below. I'm curious what your diet is, and also what effects exercise has on you.
I'm sure exercise isn't something your GI doctor is opposed to, maybe its been challenging to do?
Anyway hope you get better. Let me know if exercise helps or/and what diet/diet changes you're making.
F*ck this disease
I’m damn tired of being stuck running to the bathroom every 20 minutes, being too fatigued to do what I enjoy, and being in so much pain among an endless list of other things we go through. I’ve lived with this disease for over a decade (Since I was 8, I’m 21 now) and I’ve tried what feels like...
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I’m trying to incorporate more exercise but I have to start slow due to my disease. My girlfriend is going to help me do exercise in my local pool. Me and my girlfriend are also working on a new healthy eating plan. We are trying a nutritious meal kit because we both struggle to cook. I’m still not able to have a bm with miralax and trulance. If I don’t get some relief this week, I may reach out to GI for some advice.
Have you read my posts on page 11 of the "Great List of Remedies" and my post here "Getting great results with this"? This info is the best long term plan I have come up with for myself since the early 80's. Science and experienced backed. As for right now you need to get a short term plan implemented ASAP in my humble opinion.
I'm glad you're trying to incorporate the exercise. As you said, until its ramped up to the point average people move, you may not see that much of a difference, but starting is important and eventually you'll get there. Glad you have support.
Has the doctor recommended anything in particular in terms of diet?
Yeah, I realized when I got IBS, I had not really wanted to invest time in cooking.
But for me, it really came down to having no choice if I wanted to be well, have less or no gas or diarrhea.
Eating out and prepared foods had too many variables or even at least 1 ingredient that didn't agree with me.
Hope the meal kit can be a halfway point.
What i found when I had to make my own meals is that I would just do them mainly on Saturday (the chicken broth). Id already have salad type (spinach , power greens, spring mix lettuces) material in my fridge and a few nuts that I could eat (macademia -- no skin, later on was able to add walnuts, and when I discovered and had time, I'd have blanched almonds).
So really the chicken broth is what took time cooking (peeling the skin off, cutting it up, and cutting up the celery).
I hate boiled chicken breast, so when I got better, I would only boil everything else and do the chicken breast in a stir fry, where I was eventually able to do yellow squash, and much later some zucchini, but kale was good early on and so was a spinach salad accompaniment with avocado and lime or olive oil. All my cooking was done saturdays and just put the box together for work the night before. I'd also peel and cut up a few cucumbers on the weekend so they were ready for snacking/taking to work during the week.
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