chronic constipation from meds

Jean,
Get with your doctor and discuss regulating your bowel habits. It may take the addition of Peri-colace or regular addition of prunes to your food plan to keep things moving. Walking everyday is also a help if you are up to it. For myself, I take malic acid and magnesium citrate for my fibro (we are low in magnesium and malic acid) and both of these have a laxative effect. This counteracts my SSRI and lack of exercise. Good luck with this.

There is also an herbal helper called "cascara sagrada" that helps a lot, but I would take it with the colace. It is more of a stimulant than anything.

Also eating bran flakes in the evening helps me, plus the walking and drinking water. I also take the malic acid with magnesium and that does help a lot. I know how sluggish that one can get with constipation. So being able to go helps us to have more energy.

Good luck

Hugs, karen

Wow, there are so many of us who are in the same situation...probably more who are reading this for help than we can imagine. It's hard to post something like this but we do need to be open about this type of problem.

The reason many meds, like pain meds, iron suppliments and even some antidepressants, cause constipation is they slow down the central nervous system. Your bowel needs to be 'moving' and contracting. When it is slowed down or 'dulled' by meds things just sit and oh the misery!

Always tell your doctor even though you are using OTC remedies. I use generic OTC colace...no stimulants either. They cramp me up just awful! You can also use MiraLax. It's fairly new and works very well. It's powder form and once stirred into any drink you can't tell it's there. I found it really cheap at Costco but WalMart has it also. If you do need immediate relief you can get glycerin suppositories very cheap at the pharmacy...OTC It's colace also and will really help. Most of these stool softeners are water attractants so it helps undo things.

Here is a good link to the NIH and more information.
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/constipation/#what

Hope my suggestions help too,
Chutzie

Yah, I should explain the salt thing as it seems preaty dramatic.

Both excess magnesium beyond the bodies ability to absorb it and saline act as a laxative in a very similar manner. You can even go to drug stores and buy laxative solutions that are nothing more then Magnesium Citrate and Saline. My father uses this mixture at 4 bucks a bottle, 2 bottles at a time, and frequently it doesn't get the job done unless I hand him 1000 milligrams of Magnesium to take with it.

Taking a big dose of salt has the same effect on the intestines as taking a big dose of magnesium, except you don't have to wait very long, since it is in disolved liquid suspension.

It is used as a salt water flush in Natural Medicine to clean the intestines out. It is usualy done on a no more then once a week basis. You can Google Salt Water Flush if there is any concern about the safety of doing it. Googleing Gallbladder flush is another way to see it, since either the salt flush, or a Epson Salt Flush is used in the morning to get all of the debris out.

This is safe in my opinion, but its still a opinion. I have read hundreds of post by people doing either the Salt Water Flush to periodicaly clean their colons, or as a after flush on the Gallbladder cleanse, and not a single post of this hurting anyone. All it really is, is a very fast acting and dramatic laxative, purported to also have a cleansing effect. The only possible concern I would have on it at all is for people with intestinal disease.

The symptoms you can expect off is a short term stomach upset once you get enough salt in there, some minor intestinal cramping while everything is breaking loose and then several trips to the bathroom over about half an hour and your done. No more symptoms.

Edit: I had to add in one more thing. I still list IBS on disorders. I used to go to the Doctor with all kinds of intestinal pains and cramping and he would push around and hit sore spots everywhere. Every once in awhile it tries to come back on me, but I got rid of most 2 years ago by doing 3 things. First, I tried loading up on allot of Fiber for months, and it got a little better. Then I took Probiotics in massive doses, like a bottle a day for weeks. That helped. Then I started doing the salt flushes when the Fiber would get hung up and not move for a couple of days and cause allot of pain and bloat. Most of the IBS symptoms are now gone as long as I stay on top of it.

But I have to repeat. This is a dramatic purgeing of your intestines. I personaly only do it when the pain and bloat of the constipation makes me desperate enough to put up with the mild stomach upset and short term cramps to be rid of it.

Im on a narcotic and constipation is chronic no matter what I take .  Try nulax, it is senna based in conjucntion with sorbilax which is

that my pain specialist put me on,.  My life revolves around pain and worry about going to the toilet.

Im

I went through the same thing for approx. 2 months. I finally talked with my doctor and she told me to try Metamucil tablets. I take 2 each morning with my other meds and it works like magic. Some people may have to take more or less.

There are also other generic drugs like Metamucil that work just as well. Hope you find something that works for you soon!

Hugs!!!    Margie