newly diagnosed as of 08/03/07--on mesalamine--can't poop

anyone have suggestions on what I can do to make myself use the toilet on a regular basis without having to use an enema or other type of laxative? or is this what I am in for until I am in remission? I am on a low residual diet and swing between having diarreah and being constipated. I haven't gone to the bathroom in 4 days and I'm miserable.

am 35--female. Never had any symptoms. Then on 07/24 wound up in the ER with a 104.7 temp and an incredible stabbing pain on my R side quadrant. (appendix was removed when I was 19 so that wasn't it) After 4 days, multiple tests and finally a colonoscopy and the results of the biopsy, and finding out that both my grandfather on my father's side and my father had Crohn's they determined that was it. Have lost 20# since then (that was as of Sat--don't know if I lost more) Was 180# and was "thick" but really don't feel comfortable losing weight this way. Plus when will it plateau? Am getting used to not eating much but am worried about getting nutrients in the food I am eating--plus I'm tired all the time. Does ensure work? Went and talked to a dietitian at my hospital. Useless. So I would appreciate any suggestions, insight that you can give me. =0)

p.s. how do you deal with people freaking out about the size of the portions you eat? Hell I would love to eat more than a cup of food at a time --or the food i used to eat. I just can't. Want to snap at them and am almost at that point.

Sorry to hear abot the recent DX. I tried ensure but found the tste a little bit un appealing. Myself I have carnation instant breakfast in the morning, so far fingers crossed I can tolerate dairy. I dropped 120lbs in a year but I have found that tthe carnation instant breaksfast has helped me stop with alot of the weight loss. helps make up for some lost calories

Be prepared at family evets to have everyone ask "did you eat something yet? You need to eat something" and " how are you feeling?"

To your first question. When constipated have you tried stool softners? Before I had my first resection I was always constipated and had to take stool softners daily or else I didn't go. Hope that helps.

P.S. Welcome to HealingWell!!

My opinion first opinion would be contact your GI. The first item they may want to try is colace (this is a stool softener) or maybe milk of magnesia (that caused me severe pain so they switched me to miralax). They do make colace that also have a laxative in them so if that is what your GI suggests make sure you buy the right one.

For me personally, I added a soluble fibre back into my diet.  I drink milk most nights when I take my pharmacy of pills and I add 1 "serving" to my drink at night, although with the new "clear powders" you could probably add it to anything and it won't make it taste gross.   Soluble fibre for me is tolerable and makes a noticable difference to my regularity and I have dramatic swings both ways.....

I am a just over a year from my diagnosis, resulting from emergency fistula surgery and this first year has been about figuring out what my disease means to me.  I am VERY diligent with my GI about asking questions, trying new things, healing myself and what I love about my doc is that his goal is to get me off as much medicine as possible rather than telling me I have to sustain on meds for the rest of my life.  I completely understand the point that you are at in your new life with Crohn's and I didn't take this step until about 3 months ago, so for me personally this has been the experimentation year.  Don't envy you, but completely understand.  Best wishes.

BMG

one more thing...

Yes I tried colace 1 pill for 4 days now and it's not moving anything which is why I'm a bit worried and I also thought of the enema and the milk of magnesia but I keep hearing that if you use those, it screws up your natural colon movement.

I drink about 10 cups of lukewarm water a day... (my new drink of choice from my daily latte) and even tried walking on the treadmill (used to work before I got diagnosed)

I see you're from Seattle also. Where do you get treated? If you need a doctor referral I have a really great GI. I hope you feel better soon.

If you swing between D and C, then maybe yogurt might help.

If you are tired, maybe you are iron deficient, but check out the lab results to be sure - not just hemoglobin, but also ferritin (single most important test for iron, tests iron storage), serum iron, transferrin sat, TIBC. Few docs I've met even know how to test for iron. I literally spelled out ferritin for the person who drew blood, and he still failed to test for ferritin. My daughter's iron levels plunged in just two weeks on Pentasa, a mesalamine, even though she was taking 25 mg daily iron supplement. So now we're going to try doubling the iron supplement, to see whether the suspected effect of mesalamine on iron absorption can be overcome.

You can get copies of your lab tests and learn to read them with the help of www.labtestsonline.org. The web site also lets you know how to test for various vit and mineral deficiencies.

We found the current gastro to be clueless about iron and vit D (my daughter was deficient in both) so we went to an endocrinologist. However, because medicine is so specialized the endo, unlike a GI, wasn't a Crohn's expert so he didn't know how to modify vit D and iron treatements for such patients. I found medical journal articles that talked about the effects of vit D and iron supplementation on Crohn's patients. He used the articles to help treat my daughter. So at least he was willing to work with the patient. The gastro was too arrogant to read either article, so he keeps confusing her iron deficiency with the kind caused by Crohn's, not the regular kind many women have. 

My GI had told me to use the MOM which was awful as far as pain goes. He then prescribed miralax (yes before it became otc) that worked well I also had increased the fiber that I consumed (this is all presurgery) I found that Kashi cereals as well as their bars helped to curb that sweet tooth and gave me protein and fiber that I needed. Hope all goes well

GL at the GI

for Sinusallplugged... I see Dr Wonsurawat at Group Health. He's a kick. Our hospital will be closing next june and I'll be out of a job so let me know who your GI doc is and I'll keep him for when I get diff insurance. =0)