Constipation
- Thread starter jayebird
- Start date
dianeseattle
Member
Constipation after surgery is unavoidable. Mine was epic, it was so horrible. I wrote all about it in a post if you're interested in searching. But it's important to know that everyone has a different body and a different experience.
Here's what I know: the worst constipation comes from inadequate hydration. So you have to drink as much water as you can stand, and then more. The stool needs to soften in order to keep from tightening up into those little balls that stick together and keep getting more little balls stuck to them.
I believe Metamucil is the best of all the stool softeners, and I recommend taking twice as much as the recommended dose. Stuff moves much faster through the post-op gut, and you want to get as much benefit from the lubrication as you can, so go crazy on the stuff.
I hate it so much, I can't tell you. But what I did was use a juice glass into which I poured a double dose, filled with water, stirring quickly, then shooting it down as fast as I could so I wouldn't vomit. Then I repeated the process.
You don't really want to read my constipation story. Giving birth to a 9 pound baby was easier than passing my first stool, and it took two days, whereas the baby took just one. But that's why I fervently recommend a fiber lax, and I go even further than that by suggesting you begin doing it before surgery, getting those stools out before the surgery.
If you've ever had a colonoscopy, you know that they give you this really gross stuff to drink for two days prior, and make you drink a gallon of water to completely empty the entire intestinal system. That's the only way they can get the scope all the way through the winding maze of intestinal tubing.
I don't know how strongly bariatric teams recommend an empty bowel these days, but I'll tell you, I wish they'd stressed it with me. It's definitely on my top ten list of the worst medical moments of my life--and I'm 72 years old, so that tells you something.
Guzzle the fiber lax as well as you can and just know you are taking away a huge amount of pain and discomfort by doing so. I continue to take it, though not daily, but once I saw how it worked for me, I became a disciple of fiber.
Don't take those other ones, made with drugs and bad for your body. Go the natural route. We don't get the fiber we need because we live in such a fake-food society. You don't know how your body will react in 30 years from using an OTC laxative. But you can depend on fiber, a natural substance, to move food quickly through your bowels and make you better.
After surgery you'll need it until you get to the solid food stage because you won't be able to eat veggies like you should. Veggies are our best natural source of fiber, which is why constipation reacts well to applesauce and such. But the alteration you're making to your body needs respect and it will inconvenience you because it's really quite drastic. Until a normal diet can resume, fall in love with fiber lax.
And as I've said many times before, I lost 35 pounds in my first month post-op. That's largely thanks to fiber laxative. Best of luck to you.
Here's what I know: the worst constipation comes from inadequate hydration. So you have to drink as much water as you can stand, and then more. The stool needs to soften in order to keep from tightening up into those little balls that stick together and keep getting more little balls stuck to them.
I believe Metamucil is the best of all the stool softeners, and I recommend taking twice as much as the recommended dose. Stuff moves much faster through the post-op gut, and you want to get as much benefit from the lubrication as you can, so go crazy on the stuff.
I hate it so much, I can't tell you. But what I did was use a juice glass into which I poured a double dose, filled with water, stirring quickly, then shooting it down as fast as I could so I wouldn't vomit. Then I repeated the process.
You don't really want to read my constipation story. Giving birth to a 9 pound baby was easier than passing my first stool, and it took two days, whereas the baby took just one. But that's why I fervently recommend a fiber lax, and I go even further than that by suggesting you begin doing it before surgery, getting those stools out before the surgery.
If you've ever had a colonoscopy, you know that they give you this really gross stuff to drink for two days prior, and make you drink a gallon of water to completely empty the entire intestinal system. That's the only way they can get the scope all the way through the winding maze of intestinal tubing.
I don't know how strongly bariatric teams recommend an empty bowel these days, but I'll tell you, I wish they'd stressed it with me. It's definitely on my top ten list of the worst medical moments of my life--and I'm 72 years old, so that tells you something.
Guzzle the fiber lax as well as you can and just know you are taking away a huge amount of pain and discomfort by doing so. I continue to take it, though not daily, but once I saw how it worked for me, I became a disciple of fiber.
Don't take those other ones, made with drugs and bad for your body. Go the natural route. We don't get the fiber we need because we live in such a fake-food society. You don't know how your body will react in 30 years from using an OTC laxative. But you can depend on fiber, a natural substance, to move food quickly through your bowels and make you better.
After surgery you'll need it until you get to the solid food stage because you won't be able to eat veggies like you should. Veggies are our best natural source of fiber, which is why constipation reacts well to applesauce and such. But the alteration you're making to your body needs respect and it will inconvenience you because it's really quite drastic. Until a normal diet can resume, fall in love with fiber lax.
And as I've said many times before, I lost 35 pounds in my first month post-op. That's largely thanks to fiber laxative. Best of luck to you.