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A Break From Movicol

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Irritable Bowel Syndrome
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Posted 2/12/2011 12:05 AM (GMT 0)
I have been on Movicol almost daily for some months....it is an osmotic laxative. It is effective (ultimatley) but can be quite unpredictable...it can cause me to go to the toilet several times a day often passing very little but gas.
My movements have been very loose and runny......it has been an age since I passed a normal large stool.
I am giving the Movicol a break now and am on a high fibre diet.
Since I have been off it for well over a week my stools are becoming very hard and difficult to pass....takes quite a while and a lot of grunting (sorry for the gross description). This morning I am drinking a whole lot of prune juice to see what happens.
I am interested in any Movicol experiences....in Australia it seems to be the laxative of choice because of its limited side affects.
I look forward to comments
Thanks
Port Mac
Posted 2/13/2011 2:18 AM (GMT 0)
I did the prune juice...drank quite a bit and it worked...had two good evacuations.
This morning I felt desperate for the toilet but could not shift much....had a good long stomach massage and got half a reult...drinking plenty of water.
Posted 2/27/2011 1:16 AM (GMT 0)
Well since last posting I have only taken Movicol once and a stimulant laxative once. I am eating a high fibre diet and am generally having reasonable evacuations.The exceptions are
Some days my bowels have no urge to move , other days I might go several times.
Next problem in that sometimes I wake in the middle of the night needing to sit on the toilet; sometimes it is a good result, other times it is just a real lot of wind.
Also sometimes it takes a long time to poo! ; even though the result is good.
The stools look normal but sometimes are very hard and painful and exhausting to pass.
Port Mac
Posted 2/27/2011 1:32 AM (GMT 0)
Port mac, what wakes you up, pain or dicomfort or the need to go t the bathroom?

Are you a light sleeper?
Posted 3/7/2011 5:28 PM (GMT 0)

Port Mac said...
I have been on Movicol almost daily for some months....it is an osmotic laxative. It is effective (ultimatley) but can be quite unpredictable...it can cause me to go to the toilet several times a day often passing very little but gas.
My movements have been very loose and runny......it has been an age since I passed a normal large stool.
I am giving the Movicol a break now and am on a high fibre diet.
Since I have been off it for well over a week my stools are becoming very hard and difficult to pass....takes quite a while and a lot of grunting (sorry for the gross description). This morning I am drinking a whole lot of prune juice to see what happens.
I am interested in any Movicol experiences....in Australia it seems to be the laxative of choice because of its limited side affects.
I look forward to comments
Thanks
Port Mac

Been reading your posts and I have similar symptom experiences as yourself.

I would like to ask you a couple of questions, do you use the flavoured movicol or just the plain, and do you ever experience a pain in either shoulder blade or between them?

I keep getting this feeling of needing to defecate, but it is wind 90% of the time, and I wonder like yourself if I stop the movicol if these feeling would subside.

I have a feeling I stopped the movicol before and still had the symptoms.
Posted 3/9/2011 6:09 AM (GMT 0)
Dear Shawn
All three things wake me up

Dear Oceanz
I take plain Movicol....no I have not had pain in the shoulders etc
Yes, I did get that defecation feeling and oftenit was wind or a minimal movement.
Since stopping Movicol that symptom, although still present is nowhere near as bad.
The negative side of not taking Movicol is that I am still battling with hard stools.
Also my bowels have no rhym or reason as to when they open and sometimes the movement might be swift and other times it takes a real ong time on the toilet.
Port Mac
Posted 3/9/2011 8:41 AM (GMT 0)
Port Mac,

My stools aren't really hard, I stopped the movicol for the last 2 days, and last night I didn't have the strange gnawing feeling below, but since I have stopped I am back with strange shaped stools that look like they are glazed, and I still feel that my bowel isn't completely empty.

How many sachets of the movicol were you taking may I ask?
Posted 3/11/2011 2:54 AM (GMT 0)
Oceanz
You may ask,.....when I was taking Movicol, I stopped a few weeks ago I was taking two daily....first thing in the morning but if things were a bit slow I would go to three.
I have to say Movicol at times provided good relief but the other effects mentioned in earlier posts made me take a break from it.
As to my bowel....I know it is not completely empty...I am eating quite a few dates at present.
I have been "going" sufficiently so as I am not in pain or discomfort but at all different times of day.
My stools look a normal shape as opposed to Movicol they were very loose and never formed.
What country do you come from Oceanz??

Port Mac
Posted 3/11/2011 8:32 AM (GMT 0)

Port Mac said...
Oceanz
What country do you come from Oceanz??

I am from the UK.

By the way, when you were taking movicol, although it helped in releasing stools, did you ever find that some of the day you felt a feeling of needing to go but when you went nothing came out but either mucus or gas?

It seems that is the downside for me, it's like a no win situation, either I take movicol and know that I will release stools but at some point of the day feel this gnawing at rear and sometimes felt up my legs like an ache, or stop the movicol and go back to the straining for toilet motions.

Post Edited (oceanz) : 3/11/2011 1:37:30 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 3/12/2011 1:56 AM (GMT 0)
Dear Oceanz
Yes, Movicol sometimes gave me a lot of gas and plenty of fruitless trips to the toilet. What happened mostly that I had loud gas and a very small amount of poo...also the odour from a Movicol induced motion was something else!
Movicol is the leading laxative in Australia because it is osmotic and does not irritate the bowels so much and you become lees dependent on it. I do agree with opinion on Movicol from the medical experts and I was happy to put up with it but could not afford to be going to the toilet so often when at work and with customers etc and also the waking up in the night was a problem. Another gross issue with Moivicol was due to the amount of gas when I did "go" it splattered over the toilet bowl and I had to clean the toilet each time (almost).
Now I am off Movicol I take a laxative about every week and that seems to do me. The only problem with the laxative is that it is a little unpredictable so I take it on a day I can afford the consequences. The laxative I took was Ducolax last night and I went first thing in the morning and just now I had an extended time on the toilet but with good results....I just took a magazine and read whilst nature took its course.
In two weeks I am off to the specialist and this will be a topic I will cover.
Returning to your point I do not recollect passing mucous but I did often pass watery substances.
The pains you refer to I do not get as described.....I do get a fair bit of pain from Parkinsons Disease.
The Parkinsons Disease is probably a lot of the problem behind the constipation, however, I have been diagnosed with IBS earlier.
What is your background if you do not ind me asking...male/female...age married with kids etc? Do you have any underlying health issues?
As for me I am male 56yo married with three boys and have a professional occupation. I live in one of the better areas of Australia and have easy access to the health profession and particularly specialists and sometimes researchers etc so I am able to obtain quite a bit of academic information but the difficult issue is obtaining practical day to day management information.
Thanks
Port Mac
As for me
Posted 3/12/2011 9:53 AM (GMT 0)
Hello,

I am male 51 single with partner, not married, but live on my own as we have not got a house together yet.

As for underlying health issues, well I have had kidney stones in the past, also after having my first endoscopy some years ago it was told that I may have the Barrett’s Esophagus, I am currently on a capsule per day called Omeprazole, and occasionally I get an occurrence of severe acid reflux of which I received around the time of this current issue, and has now worked it's way down to the intestines.

I took 2 sachets of movicol yesterday at different times of the day, I also had 2 slices of toast with baked beans in the evening, so when I woke up at 9.15am this morning although I managed to pass some stools I certainly didn't feel I needed to rush to the toilet if you know what I mean, and when I see that I have passed a sufficient number of stools I start to feel better in my head, although now which is 30 mins since I still feel quite tender in the lower back area, so I am wondering if it may be that my intestines are inflamed?

What worries me though, is that I need to keep taking this movicol, and if I stopped taking it I would be back to problems defecating.

And as if it isn't bad enough with our bowel problems now there is the possibility of nuclear radiation from that nuclear plant in Japan!
Posted 3/16/2011 7:48 AM (GMT 0)
Well, I am back on Movicol!!!!
I took the ducolax laxative with good results on Friday night but nothing has happened since ...felt bloated last night and worse this morning so I had 3 sachets...late this morning I had a less than average BM..will have more Movicol tomorrow.
I am seeing the specialist next week.
Port Mac
Posted 3/17/2011 11:38 AM (GMT 0)

Port Mac said...
Well, I am back on Movicol!!!!
I took the ducolax laxative with good results on Friday night but nothing has happened since ...felt bloated last night and worse this morning so I had 3 sachets...late this morning I had a less than average BM..will have more Movicol tomorrow.
I am seeing the specialist next week.
Port Mac

How did you manage to get to see a specialist so soon, did your own doctor request this or is it a private specialist?

I am passing stools on their own now, but I am experiencing the pain underneath the right shoulder blade, my doctor has arranged an ultrasound.
Posted 3/18/2011 2:54 AM (GMT 0)
Seeing a specialist at short notice...it is called having contacts. You need a referral from your local doctor but that is no trouble.
Now on Movicol things areslowlyy moving down below....I am having a lot of pain in my lower left side of the abdomen....it feels very full.
Will keep you updated
Port Mac
Posted 3/18/2011 7:55 AM (GMT 0)

Port Mac said...
Will keep you updated
Port Mac

Please do.
Posted 3/23/2011 2:47 AM (GMT 0)
Will see the specialist this afternoon so will reply further if anything new.
I was having pain from constipation I think the other day and had a large amount of prune juice which seemed to flush me out and I feel much better now....at least fro the time being.
Port Mac
Posted 3/23/2011 8:52 AM (GMT 0)
UPDATE.

I have an ultrasound arranged at the end of this month followed by the endoscopy and colonoscopy in the middle of April, I also have an appointment with my GP to discuss the findings of the ultrasound prior to the other 2 diagnostic procedures.
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