Hello again can anyone tell me how much I should use and at what intervals please?
Latulose: Hello again can anyone tell me... - British Liver Trust
Latulose
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Elric1
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9 Replies
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The instructions will be on the prescription. It is a good idea to make a note of how things progress and your doctors can advise you about any adjustments.
Good luck.
Have you bought the lactulose over the counter at the chemist Elric?
Your doctor should be involved in prescribing this as different patients will require differing amounts and frequency of doses. My hubby who only has very mild HE symptoms takes 20ml morning and night and this ensures that most days he uses the loo 3-4 times , moving his bowels and removing toxins. Some people need a lot more than this and some perhaps less. This is pretty potent stuff and can cause sudden and unannounced need for the loo so be prepared. Hubbies doctors have said he can 'play with' the dosage to make sure he is going sufficiently but not too much and can alter timings if we plan to go out (sadly, he still has been caught short on many occasions).
You'd be best being prescribed this rather than self administering.
Katie
Hello again and thanks So my Dr gave it to me and said between 5 and ten ml twice daily .Hence the question s so now I'm upping the dose
Hi Elric1 - Ayrshire K has it right. If you have had it prescribed your Dr/Consultant should have told you. If not - ask them please? Do you have any contact with District Nurses - they are more practical in their approach to these problems. From personal experience with my late wife, it depends on whether you are mobile or mainly static. The "golden rule" is 2 decent poos a day but we found that we could self administer to try to achieve the result and not cause too many accidents. Generally speaking the Drs do not approve of the "do it yourself" regime but they do not have to clear up the mess. Sorry to be up-front. Do you know what your bilirubin count is? Good luck Elric!
What is bilirubin?
Please don't think I'm a medic Elric - my experience is nursing my late wife.
As I understand it - red blood cells have a restricted life - they are consistantly dying and being replaced. When they die they go squigy and brown (billirubins) and the liver is designed to get rid of them from the blood and get them into the bowel, and then evacuated. A higher bilirubin count suggests that the liver is not performing properly (they are not getting out) and is (or should be) an early indication that all might not be well. It is also the prime cause of jaundice colour.
The BL website is wonderful, but you can also Google it.
Good luck
Good afternoon Elric1,
As our forum members have suggested, a prescription is individualised.
May I suggest you keep a stool (poo) and Hepatic Encephalopathy (brain fog) diary - it may help to guide your medical team and yourself as to what is the appropriate dose for you ?
I have included a link to the HE passport which may be useful for self monitoring
britishlivertrust.org.uk/he...
Best wishes
Trust9
