Very bad Hard Stool, constipation,

not sure what you mean by 'hard stool'... I know sometimes when I'm extremely constipated I will get a 1 inch turd that is like a rock. Have you tried drinking alot of water? That always helps me.

Have you tried adding a fiber supplement to your diet? Usually comes as a powder to make/add to a drink.

Not just water, but definitely yes increase your water intake, more importantly drink some prune juice once a day doesn't even have to be a large glass and try eating one of those pre-made apple sauce cups you can buy at the grocery store...

I too started suffering with severe constipation and also developed a recto-vaginal fistula, my GI put me on Humira and it healed my fistula and my last scope showed that my colon and rectum are no longer inflamed either, just some rectal scarring (so clinically in remission) but I'm still dealing with frequency and often difficulty in passing stools so my GI said it's got to be IBS that is still affecting me (yrs ago he suspected I had IBS on top of having severe CD and he was right because since my inflammation is gone I should be feeling normal and I'm not).

Trust me, the prune juice daily and apple or even pear sauce and increased water intake has made a world of difference, at least I can more easily pass my stools out and they're not as rock hard and they have better form, not always the little round constipation balls of poops.

Hi John,

I started Humira February of this year, it took some time but it did heal my inflammation and my fistula (although I will be getting an MRI in 6 months for them to double check the fistula) yes, Humira was RX to me by my GI, it's a biologic, very different from Imuran (which never did a thing for me) I've always been either allergic to those oral meds or non-responsive to them....I appreciate that the Humira actually did it's job, I just wish it felt more like it but IBS can sometimes be a tricky thing so apparently I'm gonna now have to try working on my IBS issues to hopefully have a shot at feeling human again.

Best of luck to you, I know the pain you go through physically with the constipation issues, honestly I'd rather have D, then at least you feel some relief from getting the stools out and you don't generally have to work as hard at it compared to being constipated...and I'm not making light of D issues by any means because I can tell you that many times (even still) I will sit there on the can feeling constipated and finally D actually will come out, not the hard constipated stools everytime, but sometimes it'll actually be D, so for me it's often like a lose-lose situtation...my bowels are so messed up and it's thrown my mental and emotional state completely out of whack.

Careful with your fibre intake, you might want to get both soluble and insoluble fibre in daily and always increase your fibre slowly and only when necessary.

Prune juice has definitely saved me a lot of discomfort.

Hi John. I agree that suppositories aren't too useful. Laxatives can work, but be too harshly irritating to the intestine and even trigger some bad Crohn's reactions like obstruction.

My experience in these matters is that, for fast relief, enemas work the best. I don't mean a full-blown enema kit that requires the assistance of a nurse, just those easy DIY disposable types. Very safe - no chance of causing an obstruction.

Good luck and good health,
Robert