Speeding up the mornings?

Hi all,

I've recently been diagnosed with UC. After years of being told I had IBS and my many, many trips to the bathroom throughout the day were just something I had to get used to, I am now on some medication which is controlling my symptoms. I am very grateful that my BM during the day time are much more under control.

However, the downside to this is the mornings. I need to go to the bathroom pretty soon after waking (usually within 45 minutes), although I can tell that I will need to go again. I have been prescribed suppositories, so I use one of these soon after this bowel movement. My next (and usually final) bowel movement could then take a few hours. (I woke at 7am today, and I finally feel 'empty' at 10am).

My university term starts soon and I have a 2 hour commute to classes with very limited toilet stops. I am already getting stressed about this, some days I will have to get a train at 7am so who knows what time I am going to have to wake up!

Does anyone have any tips on how to speed up this morning process?

Thanks so much.

Charlie3 said...
Yes, I have a cup of coffee with fat free half & half take it & sit on the toilet if my BM is solid I then have a piece of toast some times I have the urge for a 2nd B M back t toilet I am on humira so I finally have relief from awful diarrhea I am an 80yr old Grandmom have had UC for over a year!

I will give that a go, I've been avoiding caffeine so there may be some logic in this! Thanks so much for your help :) Glad you have some relief from your symptoms, also!

Definitely coffee. One strong cup should do it. It also picks up your mood, makes you a little nervous, but everything is GONE.

A routine makes all the difference too, so if you could get up at the same time no matter, that will help!

I agree with you this forum has been very helpful to me more ideas than I get from my G I doc!

I now only drink coffee on weekends, and generally I drink it after I have my first BM of the day. Sometimes that is it and other times I have to go again but coffee doesn't seem to cause an instant need to go for me. I hadn't noticed bleeding after coffee but when I am in the bathroom more than 4 times a day I won't touch it.

I'm taking 9 Asacol tablets a day (I think 400mg but don't quote me as they are downstairs and I am upstairs ready for bed!) and 2 500mg Asacol suppositories, one for the morning and one for night time - I only got diagnosed two weeks ago so apologies if I get any terms wrong!

I also bought some fish oil and folic acid tablets as I was worried about the lack of vitamins in my diet. Before my diagnosis I had been eating a lot of salad, fruit, nuts & whole grain which I am now led to believe may have been aggravating my symptoms. I now have one portion of fruit and one portion of cooked vegetables a day at the very most, so if any one has any recommendations for supplements to make up for this please let me know.

I used to think coffee was a help moving things along but recently changed my mind. I think it overstimulates my colon so quit caffeine coffee, drink decaf only now (which has a few % of caffeine).

Don't eat fruit in the morning. I discovered fruit acts as a laxative especially types that have sorbitol, a natural fruit sugar. Pears especially have this along with prunes.

If it were me I'd skip the suppository until after arriving at school. It always creates a BM for me in the morning, but not at other times of the day. Morning is the time the colon is most active.

I agree with the "establish a routine" suggestion, so your colon gets into the habit.
Immodium has it's place in our med. cabinet but it never stopped Nature for me in the morning. You could try but it's not good to take it every day so keep it for emergencies of a different sort.

As with most of us here, mornings are definitely the most active. I usually get that first poo at around 4am and I dont feel as if I finally done until 6:30 which is usually when I leave for work. If I didn't have UC, I could get away with getting up at 6:30 get ready and leave for work in 30 minutes.

However with UC, planning ahead of time is vital, I don't have to be at work until 8 and my average commute is about 25 minutes, but I definitely enjoy the 45 minutes or so of quiet time.  Plus, in case I have the unfortunate accident, that gives me plenty of private time to get myself going for the day.

It may be annoying getting up extra early, but it certainly helps because by the time I am done that last morning poo, I am usually good to go for the rest of the day.

pb4, do you still eat fruit? It took me a long time to realise there was a relationship between the days I was eating a lot of fruit (usually at work) and rushing to the toilet not long after I finished my last plum! My medication has helped my symptoms more than anything, but cutting out raw vegetables, fruit, dried fruit, and nuts has helped me too.

turtlepower, I always get to work at least 30 minutes early as well just in case. I've perfected my 'quick dash' to the toilet, but luckily the toilets are usually always empty as I am nowhere near friendly enough with my colleagues to subject them to one of my flare ups!!

Marsky, thanks for the tips I'm going to give it a go, especially running up the stairs a few times. Sometimes I'll do squats or lunges in the bathroom if I am feeling particularly clogged, but no luck so far apart from maybe a slightly more toned bum!

Update..

I didn't try a coffee yesterday as I was going into London with my Mum and knew we would be on a train for a few hours. I'm not sure if it was the nerves but my symptoms were the worst they had been for 2 weeks, could not believe it! Had to rush to the toilet at one of the stations but after that I was thankfully okay for the rest of the day, despite a few false alarms.

Had my first coffee this morning at 7.30am, although I don't think I made it strong enough. I haven't used my suppository yet (usually would take after first BM when waking) as I want to see if this makes any difference by changing time of this. It's now 9am and I am yet to go again, but I am starting to feel my insides 'working' if you know what I mean.

Does the type of coffee make a difference? I'm only using instant coffee, should I try filter?

www.vitaminshoppe.com/store/en/browse/sku_detail.jsp?id=VS-1976 I tried for 6 months. It took 3 months to see the effect (on migraine). It should take no more than few hours for you but start slowly. If you overdo, you may end up flushing your intestinal flora out. Try 1 tablet, if you see the difference, then you know the dose, else increase in 100mg steps i.e. 1.5 tabs and then 2 tabs. If I remember correctly, 2 tablets woke me up in the middle of the night.

Now I switched to www.amazon.com/Foods-Magnesium-Citrate-Powder-Ounces/dp/B004189JCW, its a cheaper alternative and I know what dose works with me.