Is there any better feeling than.

thanks for all the tips! Is constipation part of Crohns? If so, why? Unless its a result of narrowing .

Heh, constipation relief is one of the finer feelings of life.

I was prone to bouts of severe constipation, particularly later on. In the early days of my Crohn's I had diarrhoea 99.99% of the time, but I do remember one or two inexplicable episodes of constipation when my bowels appeared to seize up. It didn't last long and I was soon back to type 7 stools on the bristol stool chart. The constipation got worse as my disease got worse. In 2006 (or might have been 2007, but think it was 2006 - like it matters), I had the constipation episode from hell. I didn't go once in 10 days, but the urges to go continued to get stronger and stronger. However, when I strained nothing would budge - it was as though I had an immoveable rock in there. Tried laxatives, but they just made things worse. Eventually one night I had a total panic attack and took the night bus to the A&E department of my local hospital. That was probably the single worst night of my life and also of the cleaner who had to deal with the blocked toilet afterwards (I'm so sorry, cleaner).

Basically all I was given was a glycerin suppository. I don't know what I was more scared of: it not working or it working. But it did work. In fact it kicked in within about 20 minutes and the pain wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. The relief was immense. I was drained from a night of no sleep and no food, but the relief of finally getting that monster log out of me was almost worth the humiliation of telling the A&E doc my problem.

You can buy glycerin suppositories from any chemist and, after that episode, I immediately stocked up. But I only needed to use them a couple of times at home. I learnt the benefits of not straining excessively and of putting your feet up on a stool when doing a solid number two. When the constipation eventually became semi-chronic, I took miralax regularly.

I have no idea what caused the constipation, but I do know my colon was in a bad state from at least 2005 onwards: I'm surprised I made it until 2013 before having surgery, knowing what I know now. However I didn't have any colonic strictures that I know of (though I eventually went on to develop a terminal ileum stricture). I suspect Labradorite's analysis is as good as any's.

@Labradorite - The embarrassment is understandable (I would feel exactly the same), but doctors probably have to deal with stuff like that quite often - constipation is horrendously common.

lol@ the soluble fibre. Yeah, I can understand that <_<. I guess that is literally the only advantage of not having a colon any longer: constipation is virtually impossible for me now.