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Posted 1/6/2011 12:31 AM (GMT 0)
Hate it, hate it, hate it.

Nobody takes it seriously, and yet it's made my life so, so, so, so much more of a misery than diarrhoea ever has done. I suffered from severe constipation as a child and as a teenager. I wouldn't go for anything up to to 2 weeks at a time; you can imagine what fun it was in the few days before finally going (and the actual going itself). Anyway, when I was 19 or 20 the problem disappeared. Whether it was because I started to eat more fibre for the first time, I'm not really sure tbh. But for 5 years I had daily, normal bowel movements. Then Crohn's came along and I had daily diarrhoea for 10 years. Very occasionally, my bowels would do a flip and completely seize up for a few days. Had a few deeply unpleasant episodes due to that.

In the last year, my bowels have been tending to seize up more and more. Thanks to tactics learnt from the past, I've avoided the worst consequences, but I'm so tired of dealing with it. I'm outright envious of those Crohnies who can eat certain foods and trigger diarrhoea (nearly all of them, so it would seem). I wish I could get my colon ripped out; I'm fed up of it. It's caused me nothing but misery for nearly my entire life. I'd happily settle for a bag for the rest of my life if it meant getting rid of constipation for good.

I have been trying not to whinge as much about my Crohn's, given what some people do suffer, but today I failed. I have failed not to bitterly complain.
Posted 1/6/2011 12:42 AM (GMT 0)
You're completely entiteled to vent from time to time NCOT!

I agree, I would take D over C any day. When I'm having more C I overthink and worry that I'm obstructing.

Sadly a lot of my "trigger" foods don't work quite so well anymore. I used to be able to drink just a little apple juice and it would move things along, but now I have to drink loads of it. My body seems to have gotten used to it. Other foods, like salad used to go straight through, but now I have to worry that they'll get stuck.
Posted 1/6/2011 1:18 AM (GMT 0)
I just feel guilty about moaning so vociferously, when there are so many things worse than constipation. But it really does make me unhappy. I wish I had a better method for dealing with it, but I don't. Took laxatives over the Christmas period. They helped a bit, but not massively. Sometimes they just seemed to make my colon spasm without actually inducing any BMs. And it seems to take 24 hours for them to kick in with me - too slow, by far.

I'm not scared of obstructing, at least not yet. Things gurgle and burble. I feel like things are backed up but not obstructed. So far, I've shown no tendency towards obstructing, except for a one-off episode a year ago. I think that might have been a partial obstruction.

But I am scared of constipation in general. The thing with diarrhoea is, once it's out it's out. You may get an unpleasant hour or two beforehand, then you feel miles better. With constipation, you can have many hours or days of misery before you finally go - and if it's a small amount you won't even get any significant relief from it. In the mornings I'm far more neurotic about not going than I am about going: I will hover around anxiously, drinking cup of tea after cup of tea, trying to make myself go. Whereas when I had consistent diarrhoea I would run to the toilet 2-3x in the mornings, then be done with it. It was so simple and so easy. I know some people suffer in the mornings, but for me it was blissfully straightforward. Now I'm a nervous wreck over not going. It feels so horrible when I don't go.

I wish my Crohn's would get worse, so that either the diarrhoea would come back or I can have surgery and get my malfunctioning colon removed once and for all.
Posted 1/6/2011 1:20 AM (GMT 0)
I have tried to relax about the constipation; but as you can tell, it hasn't exactly worked brilliantly.
Posted 1/6/2011 1:34 AM (GMT 0)
It's horrible to have C. I agree D is easier... How about stool softeners? Nanners gave me that idea, cleared by my GI, and it's helped my overall quality of life. Makes it easier to move through my morning - even less pain during the moment, so to speak!
Posted 1/6/2011 1:45 AM (GMT 0)
I think after this post I'm going to go to bed; my misery is on the rampage tonight.. :-/

sr5599 - I have considered stool softeners; but even with virtually no urge to go my stools so far are still liquid/unformed when I do manage to push a bit out. But on the other hand, I know from past experience that I can end up with impacted stool as hard as a rock...

So far I've been drinking loads to try to keep everything inside hydrated. But stool softeners surely can't do any harm; perhaps tomorrow I will give them a go.

Thank you. And now I do feel marginally better, for having got some of the excess misery out of my system... :-/
Posted 1/6/2011 1:56 AM (GMT 0)
OMG, c is like death for me, I almost died from obstruction, so to say I panic just a little when I get c is a over statement, I want things moving, I don't care if it's 3 times or 6 times in AM. when I worked for casino I was constantly worried about not going, I would drink prune juice or eat finely shredded raw beets(young), just 1. and that was like colon sweep, if you have inflammation you might not be able to do the beets, right now I still will eat a raw beet now and then, I can't afford to have that kind of sweep right now, I'm just now putting weight on, but I feel for you, c is no barrel of monkeys

Posted 1/6/2011 2:15 AM (GMT 0)
Still here :-/

God, you've got me worrying a bit about an obstruction now, artist guy :-/ ... Got no idea if I have strictures or not. One doctor told me I had narrowings, but another doctor said I didn't have any strictures, so in a nutshell I have no idea what's going on inside. I just know it's making me miserable.

I wish there was a food in existence which would sweep me out, as I would go out and buy some of it tomorrow. But nothing seems to irritate my colon enough to the point of making it eject all its contents ASAP. Instead, it does its level best to shut down, so it would seem.

I'll check Wednesday's TLC thread, then I really am off for the night... >_<
Posted 1/6/2011 3:22 AM (GMT 0)
Try drinking some lemon water (1/2 a lemon and the rest of the glass water) first thing in the morning.

When my crohn's was active, I had really bad C. I drank prune juice, ate metamucil wafers, took lots of magnesium supplements, and drank aloe juice. It helped some, but I still struggled a lot. Once I started eating SCD, I was able to quit doing all that stuff. Apparently something I was eating was causing my system to slow down. My 4 day transit is now a 1 day transit...whew!
Posted 1/6/2011 5:15 AM (GMT 0)
NCOT, I think it would be a good idea if you went to see your gp about this. For one thing, this sort of constipation can indicate a degree of disease activity (e.g. Phoebe last month), but it is also possible to get laxatives by prescription that might help ease your distress a bit.

Hang in there.

Ivy.
Posted 1/6/2011 1:35 PM (GMT 0)
Dear NCOT

I think you are so right to bring this up it makes life such a misery and like you say its very painful. Yes the D is vile too you are allowed to object to both!

 I get C much more than D and get pain before going and I have taken various things over the years such as castor oil and syrup of figs. The best things have been probiotics and aloe vera juice. I drink 2 tablespoons aloe vera last thing at night and it seems to help more than anything.

I am scared to use laxatives because I have had obstructions in the past and I picture the laxative forcing stuff through too fast and the bowel splitting - probably this is an irrational fear?? I also believe if you use them too much they become ineffective.

Finally just to cheer you right up I have always been told that tea is constipating whereas coffee does the opposite. So the tea might be making it worse...

If you do have a stricture, you maybe have to think about having LESS fibrous food, nothing that can get stuck. And the low fibre food is more constipating.

And people wonder why we complain sometimes!!!!!!!!!

Posted 1/6/2011 2:16 PM (GMT 0)
(((NCOT))) I really hate having more c than d too. But as mentioned above I have found that the stool softners really help me alot. You should give them a shot. My stools are normally a soft, mushy formed stool. But still I can get constipated. I know I have no strictures, and am pretty sure my diet and some of my meds are to blame. But the stool softners are generally the best help for my constipation issues. They can take a few days to work at first, but eventually things soften up.

Like you the apple juice or other tricks others have mentioned do nothing for me. With my last bout, I was drinking tons of apple juice, ate salads, apples, carrot sticks etc and nothing worked instantly like others have said. Goes to show how different we all are. Hope things get figured out for you soon. Hugs!
Posted 1/6/2011 2:34 PM (GMT 0)
NiceCupOfTea- have you tried Slippery Elm? Whenever I have bouts of constipation, although it is not very often because I get the big D, I use Slippery elm. It seems to nicely coat the intestines and moves everything along while at the same time, it helps with my bleeding issues. I purchase mine online at Puritans Pride because they are very cheap and offer buy 2 bottles get 3 free. ( I hope that was OK to mention!)
Posted 1/6/2011 3:23 PM (GMT 0)
Well, I managed to go today... >__>. Only the once and not as much as I would've liked, but it still provided a bit of relief from feeling like a hot air balloon. (Plus the pain can get quite bad when I get backed up.) It's ridiculous the lengths I'm having to go at the moment, though: had two glasses of water and two cups of tea before I finally felt an urge to go. Used to go as soon as I woke up; no longer :-/

@spooky - I honestly can't see the lemon juice in the water making any difference, but I can always try it. Might get some prune juice today as well.

@ivy - My mum thinks I should see my GP. I'm "meh" about it at the moment, because I don't think there's much he can/will do. Prescribe me laxatives, sure, but he's unlikely to prescribe anything stronger than OTC stuff. If I carry on struggling this much, I probably will go at some point, however :-/

@tsitso - I had to google Miralax because I wasn't sure. And I'm still not! It seems to be available under the brandname Movicol, but not sure if I can walk into a chemist's and buy it. However, I can order it online if need be. I'm going out shortly, so I'll try to get hold of some today - along with stool softeners and prune juice <_<. As for granola, I used to eat it sometimes. Yoghurt I think would bind me up even more, but it might not be a bad idea to add more fibre to my diet. I got so used to diarrhoea over the years that I stopped bothering about fibre eg eating white bread instead of wholemeal. I also have a theory that chronic diarrhoea might have had a similar effect to long-term laxative use: making my colon lazy and inert :-/

@penelope marie - I swallowed a whole bottle of castor oil once - yes, it worked >_>. (The second time I tried that I threw up, however, so...) I shouldn't think laxatives will perforate your bowel, but if you have a bad stricture I think you are right to be wary of taking them. I only take them because I'm not inclined towards obstructing. Whatever narrowing I have, it's not bad enough to stop food from getting through - slow it down, maybe, but not stop it entirely.

@Nanners - thanks :p ... I know you are a Crohnie prone to constipation. To be honest, I'm slightly surprised by how many people on here do seem prone to constipation. Doctors don't seem to recognise that constipation can be a side-effect of Crohn's disease. Not as often as diarrhoea to be sure, but it still happens... :-/

@pmedic - I'll have a look for Slippery Elm in the chemist's.

Okay, I'd better go - mum is waiting for me <_<. Thank you everybody. I did definitely get over stressed out last night!
Posted 1/6/2011 9:18 PM (GMT 0)
Since you don't have Mirilax there, can you get Milk of Magnesia? That always helped me. You can also just buy magnesium supplements and take a large dose (I used to take at least 1000 MG a day).
Posted 1/6/2011 9:42 PM (GMT 0)
NCOT, just be aware that iron can also cause constipation issues. Your doctor should be able to provide the name of a brand that's less likely to cause these problems.

I really am uncomfortable about you trying to treat this on your own.

Ivy.
Posted 1/6/2011 11:47 PM (GMT 0)
Stomach gone back to feeling and looking like a hot air balloon and having some pain as well :-/

@Ivy - in the past, iron has made me have more diarrhoea if anything. I don't seem to get the constipating effect of iron at all. I got this supplement on something of a whim; I'd been vaguely thinking of getting an iron supplement for a while, knowing that I would have to be very careful what I tried. This only has a limited amount of iron compared to most supplements, and claims to be formulated to be gentle on the stomach.

I'll give it a go. And definitely will give the syrup of figs a go as well :-/

@spooky - Yes, can definitely get Milk of Magnesia. It was actually a choice between that and the syrup of figs. I was gonna get prune juice, but I went into the local health food shop to get it and took a fright at the price - £5 for organic prune juice. As I couldn't give a fig (sorry) for whether fruit juice is organic or not, I'll wait until we do our next supermarket shop instead.

Also, my mum has some stool softeners left over from the time she was constipated after her surgery last year. Woman has had cast iron bowels all her life; people with cast iron bowels don't know how lucky they are.

Oh, er, don't worry about me trying to treat this on my own, Ivy. I'll be all right... *she said* :-/
Posted 1/7/2011 1:49 AM (GMT 0)
It's just that one of my Humira nurses was once a continence nurse, and she said that she had seen people get themselves into dreadful situations by trying to treat constipation on their own.

And if it's being caused by active disease, then you could be treating the symptom rather than the cause, and the cause (and therefore the symptoms, and the remedies you'll be tempted to try, and the emotional effects) are likely to get worse and worse with time.

Ivy.
Posted 1/7/2011 4:07 AM (GMT 0)
Did she elaborate on how? :-/

I pretty much know I have active disease. I must admit, the constipation makes me a bit uneasy simply because last year I had it and it preceded a worsening of my symptoms. I just feel a bit lost, really. I'm not in some dramatic flare-up mode. Until I get too ill to function, don't see many options except to carry on as I am.

Bleurgh... I'm tired and down and off to bed after this post. I just feel like I'm in some twilight zone as regards my disease. I shouldn't have wished it would get worse. I just can't stand that nothing ever changes sometimes. Correction: it changes, but imperceptibly so and it doesn't *feel* like anything is changing. Oh bleurgh again. I really am off to bed after this; I will be woken up early by the workmen again :/
Posted 1/7/2011 4:25 AM (GMT 0)
What workmen, NCOT?

Some got to the point where they could never "go" without laxatives and enemas. I think some of them damaged their sphincter muscles, too, or needed to be taught how to use them again.

It was only a brief discussion, but it happened because I was starting to have trouble myself, and I think the take home message she was trying to give me was to talk with professionals about it, rather than trying to treat it myself. I'm now passing it to you, gratis.

btw, I'd be thinking that maybe your doc would think about running some pathology, scans etc to see what was going on internally. Maybe think about some topical or oral or injectable meds. Also, as I said before, there are remedies that tend to be given out on prescription rather than OTC - they're given to cancer patients, for instance, to help them cope with the c that can come with chemotherapy.

But I say again, you don't know whether this is a systemic problem. You don't even know whether it's being caused by Crohn's, or by something else. I still advise seeing a doctor and getting yourself checked out.

Hope you sleep well.


Ivy.
Posted 1/7/2011 4:09 PM (GMT 0)
Vent away Cupof,,,we all have our moments. I would suggest some nice spicy cajun food but that may have a very reversed effect on you innereds . I have known peeps to burn out an O ring after eating a bit too much of our down home dishes. For example , craklings ..Thats pork skin and fat ,,,deep fried in pork fat ,,,,seasoned with salt and pepper untill very crunchy. Ummmmmm, but like I said , may cause gastric repercussions . Also I call them heart attack in a bag. Pork fat rules down here though and we eat everything from the rooter to the tooter when it comes to hogs . We eat most anything when it comes to most anything. Shrimp, crawfish , oysters, clams, catfish , you name it and I must say I seldom here of a constipated cajun , though I have known a few that crapped their pants before they could pull them off. IIIIIIII EEEEEEE,
Posted 1/7/2011 5:14 PM (GMT 0)
@Ivy - The workmen which have been turning our home upside down for the last 3 days :-/ To cut a long story short, my dad decided the middle of winter would be a spiffing time to switch from oil to gas central heating. So that's what the workmen (a father and son duo) are doing for us. I keep being wakened up by bangs, drillings, etc., but, like a true trooper determined to get their fill of sleep, I keep on falling back asleep again.

I do think you need to be taking laxatives for a long time (years, maybe months. Not sure...) to get to that point, but I try never to use laxatives for longer than a few days in a row. I suspect my colon is already functionally damaged, first from many years of chronic constipation and then from many years of chronic diarrhoea. But still, no point in making it even worse...

As for going to the doctor, I will go if this continues or gets worse. But constipation isn't a new thing for me. It used to be that my bowels would seize up occasionally, but once the backlog was cleared, I would immediately return to diarrhoea again. That doesn't happen any more. The bouts of constipation are lasting for longer. It's weird constipation anyhow. I'm struggling to pass liquids, which I don't get :-/ ... Last night I woke up twice with the urge to go. It felt like there was a lot to pass, but I had to push to get it out and when I looked in the bowl it was liquid. If there was anything solid it was well hidden within the brown murky depths. (So sorry for TMI...>.>)

*more TMI warning* There could be something impacted that only liquids can pass, but if so it's not situated in my, er, rectum. I know this 'cos I can't feel it in there and I have done so in the past...

I say again: people who have normal functioning bowels don't know how lucky they are... :-/

@tsitso - Thank you for doing that. It's good of you. I went to a chemist yesterday and asked them about Miralax, but they were clueless. They asked me if I meant Microlax and showed me the packet; it was an enema. I asked them about Movicol, supposedly the UK brand name for Miralax, but they didn't recognise that either. But on the other hand Movicol seems pretty easy to order online and I can get it from the UK, so I'll probably go for that. Movicol contains the same active ingredient as Miralax, so I'm reasonably sure they are the same thing.

@sniper - Bring it on! :p ... I can handle my spices! <_<. Cajun cooking has always seemed quite delicious to me. Love pork, love seafood :p
Posted 1/7/2011 9:05 PM (GMT 0)
Sniper - the craklings sound AMAZING!! i'll have me some of those!! Yummy! i love eating pork/chicken skin. I think its the best bit!
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