Constipation

I was just wondering if anyone else with crohn's seemed to suffer more from constipation than diarrhea? I sometimes have the urge to go to the bathroom but when I try and go nothing happens. This is something that has always made me wonder since I have never had what I consider a lot of trips to the bathroom like everyone else seems to have. I have a lot of the other symptoms and I know that I do have CD but was just curious about everyone else's bathroom habits (not to be to gross/nosey

Seems to be a common experience among forum users, including me. My bowels are just slow. Right now I think I have a stricture that is keeping things even slower. Not fun, at all. And when my GI asks me how many BMs I have in a day, I have to think how to answer - sometimes zero, sometimes 3! But typically not more than 3. And then the day that I'm having those 3 BMs? I'm miserable, nothing is formed, and I'm crampy and gassy. LOVELY.

So I don't like to say I'm constipated (because I haven't had a hard stool in....11 years?). But I do agree that I don't have frequent diarrhea either.

Glad to hear that I am not the only one with this problem, although I wish none of us had to suffer. I have read a lot of posts on this forum and another one about some people going to the bathroom like 10 times a day or more...not this girl. I think on my worst day I might go 5 times. This disease totally sucks!!! There is so much that I am still learning about. AKTeach I hope your second opinion has some good advise for you!! Nanners do you just take an over the counter stool softener?

I have constipation to, just recently its gone semi-normal for a week or two after 2-3 years and i don't know why, it feels weird to be partially normal. The only advice i can give you is water and exercise as fibre really done nothing for me although it could for you.

I wouldn't say I suffered from constipation at the moment, but my bowels have slowed down compared to what they were. I've rarely had numerous (8+) daily visits to the bathroom, but for a while in 2009 I was going that often. Then over a period of a few months my BMs gradually slowed down to about 1 a day. With that, my guts became increasingly bloated, sore, and painful. There was a feeling of being clogged up, but just above the belly button.

It's a bit better today, but I still rarely have more than 3 BMs a day. Like kazbern, I think I have strictures which are slowing down things - not to the point of obstruction, but to the point of slowing down peristalsis.

By the way, in my 10 years of Crohn's I would say I went an average of 2-3x a day in the early years, 5-6x a day in the later years. So while that's not exactly constipation, it's not a life spent chained to the bathroom either. The severity of Crohn's seems to be equated with how many times a day you go to the toilet, but I'm not convinced it always works like that (although a lot of the time it does). This year my Crohn's is worse than it's ever been (as shown on a colonoscopy), and yet I'm going to the toilet less than I used to.

Just one more detail. My BMs are usually liquid - pure liquid at that, not even oatmeal consistency. Just in case you were dying to know... <_<

Well I take probiotics and it doesn't do a thing for my constipation. The only thing I found that works is the stool softners. At least for me thats all that works.

I go see my GI next week so I am going to talk to him about possible solutions....I usually have a cup of coffee in the mornings and helps me to move things along but I am not sure how good that is. I think I read somewhere that caffeine is not that good for people with CD but I am a police officer on second shift and I live on caffeine!

I was told I have chronic constipation and diarrhea. Basically, the diarrhea moves around the mass of dry stool. Ya for both worlds! The chronic constipation problem is something you should take seriously. My colon has elongated to about twice the normal length with loops that make the constipation even worse and painful. I have to take Miralax daily and do periodic Miralax purges, and I experience a lot of pain and gas with Miralax use, although the doctors say its the most gentle product on the market. Right now I'm doing a non-solids diet and that helps; however, I can't live like this forever. Unfortunately, there's little doctor's can do for the constipation other than tell me to keep taking Miralax and drink lots and lots of water.