[QuiQui]

Does anyone have any advice on how to prevent myself from becoming horribly backed up while I'm on a month-long car trip? My normal routine to stay regular involves things that I can't do while traveling, such as eating high-fiber cereal and yogurt every day, sitting idle for hours in the morning in a firm chair while drinking strong coffee, and avoiding greasy food. I'm trying out docusate sodium, but after 5 days on it, I find that it's actually MAKING me constipated and gassy. My next idea is to try Miralax. But I'm afraid that everything will be ineffective while traveling. I've tried Milk of Magnesia on other trips, and I find that I'll still stay constipated for a few days, and then all of a sudden one day everything that was backed up will come out in one horrible liquid explosion, and I'll have stomach cramps for the rest of the day. Then the next day, I'll be backed up again anyway.Do you have any suggestions for something that will:1. Give me the urge to go, even if I'm riding in a car and not relaxing at home.2. Not cause an uncontrollable explosion!3. Not cause dependence on the product after I get home. (I'll be gone for a month and presumably taking it every day while traveling.)4. Not give me gas and bloating.

 

[Kathleen M.]

If you can't have high fiber cereal can you tolerate the metamucil wafers? They are like a cookie/cracker and you just drink water with them. Very portable and don't take up much room in a suitcase.Most gas station convenience stores carry yogurt so getting some for a snack break (and most motel/hotel breakfast bars I have been to have yogurt) shouldn't be impossible on the road. Coffee shouldn't be that hard to come by, either. Most motels have a bran cereal on the breakfast bar as well.Can you tolerate glycerin suppositories (and will they make you go in a short period of time?) It may be something to do in the evening before bed or help you go in the morning. Some people carry an enema bag and will do that if they get backed up.With osmotics finding the amount that keeps things moving without a full clean out can be a problem, but you could experiment with the miralax to see if that helps.Modern stimulatory laxatives really don't have any data to support the idea they cause "cathartic colon" dependence even if you take them daily for years. The only one really accused of that is off the market, but everyone feels they have to keep the warning (probably the legal department) no matter how little data there is that this really happens. It seems constipation gets bad on its own without any help from laxatives, and people with eating disorders that may take high doses of laxatives seem to get constipation issues whether they purge like that or not.

 

[QuiQui]

"If you can't have high fiber cereal can you tolerate the metamucil wafers? They are like a cookie/cracker and you just drink water with them. Very portable and don't take up much room in a suitcase."I've tried Metamucil powder, which tastes delicious, but it gives me bad gas and doesn't do a single thing for my constipation."Most gas station convenience stores carry yogurt so getting some for a snack break (and most motel/hotel breakfast bars I have been to have yogurt) shouldn't be impossible on the road. Coffee shouldn't be that hard to come by, either. Most motels have a bran cereal on the breakfast bar as well."Good point. I find that even when I eat those things, I don't feel the "urge" unless I'm sitting quietly at home. Maybe this is more psychological than physical..."Can you tolerate glycerin suppositories (and will they make you go in a short period of time?) It may be something to do in the evening before bed or help you go in the morning. Some people carry an enema bag and will do that if they get backed up."I've never tried suppositories or enemas. I may have to at some point. I've had bad reactions to certain lubricants containing glycerin (mostly burning sensations), so I'd hesitate to put large quantities of glycerin back there! "With osmotics finding the amount that keeps things moving without a full clean out can be a problem, but you could experiment with the miralax to see if that helps."I think that will be my next plan. Miralax. Modern stimulatory laxatives really don't have any data to support the idea they cause "cathartic colon" dependence even if you take them daily for years. The only one really accused of that is off the market, but everyone feels they have to keep the warning (probably the legal department) no matter how little data there is that this really happens. I wondered about that. My doctor recommended docusate sodium for daily use, but I keep seeing warnings everywhere that it's a stimulant laxative and shouldn't be used long-term. But then I see people all over various IBS message boards saying it's safe."It seems constipation gets bad on its own without any help from laxatives, and people with eating disorders that may take high doses of laxatives seem to get constipation issues whether they purge like that or not."

 

[QuiQui]

I just went on a short trip for a day and a half and, of course, didn't have a BM. I came home on Wed. afternoon and tried a dose of Miralax. Nothing happened the next morning (Thurs.), so I took another dose. This morning (Fri.) I took another dose and had a small, unsatisfactory BM. All day I kept expecting something more to come out, but I just feel like I'm full of "it," and my stomach is huge. I can't even put my jeans on comfortably. So I took another dose this evening. Still nothing.How long should I wait for it to REALLY work? How long should I keep taking it? How many doses should I take at once? I keep reading about people who claim that they take it every day, and it makes them feel normal again. I'm guessing that Miralax won't be my "miracle" cure for the long trip I'm hoping to take this fall. But maybe I'm jumping to a wrong conclusion too quickly?

 

[Kathleen M.]

Often the problem with osmotics is you need to take them regularly enough all the stool gets it mixed in. Having wet stool in 1/2 your colon doesn't tend to make the hard dry stool that is hard to pass become wet.Usually for something like travel I would start an osmotic BEFORE the trip so all the stool in the colon is wet before I do something to slow it down then take it all during the trip. I wouldn't just try to play catch up afterwards and wait for enough stool to get wet enough that it finally will flush the stool that isn't moving well out like a flooded river.

 

[QuiQui]

Often the problem with osmotics is you need to take them regularly enough all the stool gets it mixed in. Having wet stool in 1/2 your colon doesn't tend to make the hard dry stool that is hard to pass become wet.Usually for something like travel I would start an osmotic BEFORE the trip so all the stool in the colon is wet before I do something to slow it down then take it all during the trip. I wouldn't just try to play catch up afterwards and wait for enough stool to get wet enough that it finally will flush the stool that isn't moving well out like a flooded river.

That makes sense. I'll stick with it for a little longer then. My original plan was to take the ducosate sodium stool softeners for a week before, and then during, my short trip, as a test run for the long trip in the fall. But I felt that it was actually causing constipation and gas, so I had to abandon the effort.