Constipation help pls..

Hope everyone is doing well today...been gone for awhile. Insurance wont allow me to take nexium, and since the first of the year, been having trouble with my bowels. Ending up in the er in March. My crohn's has gotten worse, having trouble digesting food properly and now having issues of not having a bowel movement for 4-7 days. Dr put me on prednisone, and I am drinking protein shakes. With my CLL (leukemia) I cant take humira or the other meds. Drink water constantly and adding flax seed in my shakes. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

I take nexium for Gerd, I have always had d with my crohn's, but since I had to switch meds, I now am c on the time. My crohns is in my small intestines. Taking predisone and another steriod, but has not helped. I take OTC lax and miralax, not working....lactose free on my shakes. I cant take humira or other drugs due to the leukemia. Just trying to figure out what I can do to stop this problem. Thanks for your help.

I am sorry you aren't doing so hot, being sick stinks! I deal with chronic C, due to nerve damage in my colon, and currently "manage" it with a combo of Linzess, Miralax, Dulcolax, Misoprostol, and when all that doesn't work, and it's been a week or more, I too go with the Magnesium Citrate. (But like Vitaka said, you have to make sure there isn't an obstruction. My GI doc pretty much says as long as I am passing gas/something and not in extreme pain, I'm ok to take it. Definitely check with your doc first though). The mag citrate isn't the tastiest stuff, but it could be worse! It works pretty well, I rarely get pain/cramping from it, its OTC, and super cheap (you can even get it at the dollar store).

I don't think mag citrate is a great long term solution, but I've been using it for a couple of months and will probably be using it for a couple more until I can get all the testing done to determine what works and what doesn't, and figure out a surgical plan. (may have colon removed, will end up w/ an ostomy).

And like someone else mentioned, you can get the Nexium OTC. Can't remember if there's a generic.

Wish I had more advice, but talk to your doc about the magnesium citrate for using when all else fails. Obviously, I know nothing about how it could affect meds you take or your other medical conditions.

Hope that you get some relief soon!!

Try changing your diet to a more bland diet .  For instance, cheese, rice, bread and read meat tends to make BMs hard and difficult to move, try eleiminating these from your diet.   Try taking a couple glasses of prune juice a day.  Prune juice is a natural laxative. The flax seed is also great.  When you make your shakes, put in a lot berries like strawberries and blueberries and an apple.  Try a couple of metamusal cookies a day.  I have had great success with them in keeping me regular.  

Really Bane? Gatorade? Weird. I wish that worked for me!

All my husband needs to do is drink a cup of apple juice and he practically needs to sprint to the bathroom. I, on the other hand, can drink a fruit smoothie, eat a bag of prunes, and drink a gallon of apple juice without anything more than a lot of gurgling in my stomach.

That's the problem with constipation. It's just so darn frustrating. Diarrhea can be embarrassing (and many other things), but constipation is plain frustrating.