Constipation problems

[bethykat95]

I'm not diagnosed with endo yet but still fighting for a diagnosis. Anyway, I was in hospital a few weeks ago with high abdominal pain eg where the stomach is. It turned out I was blocked up and poo (nicest way to say it) was almost in my stomach. I've now been put on laxatives but my doctor refuses to put me on any pain killers now as it causes constipation (I was on tramadol/nyproxen). I'm still getting my crazy bad lower abdo pains (I think might be endo?) And I really don't know what to do as my tens machine & hot things rarely take away to pain. Meaning im in agony. Has anyone else had this problem anyone know what I can do? (Sorry this has been a crazy long post) beth x

[Impatient]

Oh dear beth - been there myself. Got to be frank about this - oral laxatives just won't cut the mustard.

Best thing is suppositories.

Glycerine suppositories shoved up the back side get right to the blockage where it matters.

You shouldn't need more than 1 packet of 12 pellets which i think is the lowest number you can buy and prices range from £1.50 to £3.00 - depending on the brand.

They are cheap and can be bought at any chemist or big supermarket with a pharmacy.

Just ask the chemist for glycerine suppositories.

Also invest in a carton of disposable gloves (usually found on sale next to the nappy/diaper section of supermarkets if the chemists doesn't sell them.)

They are sold in tubs of 10 or 20. You should only need one carton. Tescos and Sainsbury sell them. Left over gloves can be used for all sorts of household cleaning and decorating tasks so they re not going to go wasted.

Basically - prepare for a session - I find evenings are the best.

Visit the loo with a small pot of water, the packet of suppositories (not just one), a latex glove (or non-latex if you are allergic to latex - though you don't have the glove on for more than a few seconds.)

Oh and a plastic rubbish bag for disposal of glove after use.

Put on glove, remove squidgy pellet from packet.... wet it by dipping it briefly in the water pot you brought with you to give it some lubrication. Then carefully insert it up into the anus and push it in as far as you can.

Be careful, once wet they are slippery beasts and can shoot off across the room, so make sure you have the rest of the packet with you in case of a mishap. Just discard the old one if it went west, and start again with a new one.

Once inside - the glycerine causes the bowel to absorb a lot of water quickly in to the bowel.

You will feel the urge to go poop in about 20 minutes.. DON'T however go - because all that you will get rid of is water.

Try and clamp the bowel muscles for around 40 minutes if you can bear it. I find sitting still the best thing to do. Not on the loo but not too far from it.

You will feel a real urge to 'GO' but the longer you can hold on - the more that extra water will soften up the sides of the constipated poop and loosen it.

Then when you cannot hold on any more - go to the loo.

Don't expect it all to clear in 1 sitting.

It won't if it is backed up to the stomach. Once a day - in the evenings for 3-4 consecutive evenings of doing this should get your system on the move again. It might unblock after just couple of these session, if you have been piling in the laxatives orally too.

Drink LOTS of water to compensate for the losses of fluids to the bowel caused by the Glycerine. It's so easy to get bunged up, but once you have unblocked you have to make a determined effort to keep things moving.

Drink much more water than usual, keep on moving as much as you can manage as often as you can - nothing major like running - but just pottering about the house, or if you can manage it, a walk down the road and back increasing few more houses distance each day.

There are naturally laxative foods which will help things too. Just google for a list of those.

And oral taken laxative tablets or lactulose liquid once a day can help maintain the smoother flow once the blockage is shifted and you can then go back on the much needed pain killers.

Hold on to any unused suppositories and gloves in the medicine cabinet - you never know when you might be needing them again.

I was very reluctant to do this myself - but it became a necessity after my op . I got completely bunged up and after a week of not being able to go the situation was getting dreadful.

What an utter relief when i finally got things moving with suppositories targeting the block from the bottom end which is where the main blockage is. I'd been on lactulose for days but it just wasn't sinking through the backlog to be effective. It's a yucky feeling to be hungry needing to eat - but at the same time knowing you are just adding to the problem in the pipes. don't waste any more time, before tackling this with suppositories. Get to the shops tomorrow and take time tomorrow evening for a session.

What with inserting the pellet and waiting to go to the loo - all told it should be approximately 1 hour needed each evening for 3-4 consecutive evenings.

It might be more convenient to do this during the day if other people in the house are out at work and you can get bit more privacy to do what must be done.

Very best of luck - you'll feel sooooo much better once the blockage is being shifted and you can then get back on the pain killers you desperately need - though you might find you don't actually need them too much because a lot of the pain will be caused by the constipation issues which should ease off.

Be brave - try it- even though it sounds icky - it really is a lot easier than you think it is and wow does it work a whole lot better than the methods you eat or drink.

and to cheer you up - knowing what Glycerin does to the bowel... have a read of the reviews for the Diet Gummi Bears on amazon which are also made from Glycerine. 836 reviews and comments on the wonders of glycerine sweets ...of course that is also an option you might want to try - but it would be quicker and cheaper to buy the suppositories and gloves to solve the problem.

Forget the amazon price - that's just because they don't sell them anymore - but believe me the reviews are indeed for the most part very acurate. LOL. Some are absolutely hilarious.

amazon.com/Haribo-Sugar-Fre...

[bethykat95 in reply to Impatient]

Thanks for the speedy reply, tries everything in the hospital senna, movicol, suppositories, picolax. The suppositories helped slightly and the picolax just turned it to water which was disgusting. But thankyou so much, I was turned off by suppositories to start with but I'd much rather me do it than some doctor lol! I think it's going to be a battle I always have to face! Have laxido in the cupboard and I think I'll get some suppositories tomorrow:). And the gummy bears, I really don't think I've ever laughed so much thankyou!!

[Mabes]

I thought it was the opiate meds that cause constipation, not the NSAIDs like Naproxen/Mefanemic Acid etc... If that is correct Naproxen would be okay, but Tramadol wouldn't. Perhaps you could take Naproxen and Paracetamol - ask your doctor or even check with a pharmacist about the constipation sde effect of the meds.

Re: constipation. I used to get an impaction every 3 weeks as I was not able to go to the toilet and I would end up with half a day spent trying to pass the impaction using olive oil and hot tea (don't even ask!!), while writhing on the floor or bed in between loo trips. It was a nightmare and I dreaded it, but got no help from docs until the district nurse suggested movicol taken to get rid of impaction (you take a massive load in a short time like 6 hours or something). That worked and now I am on maintenance to prevent it happening, so I have ended up on a strict regime of Laxido (same as Movicol) and Fybogel every night along with dermal magnesium (magnesium oil spray). If deficient in Magnesium then I don't go as well even... Too much magnesium makes me go too much!!! Who knew eh?!

You can buy the magnesium oil spray in Holland and Barrett or online. The Fybogel and Movicol/Laxido are available via doctor or chemist, so you could buy a small pack to try for say a week or ten days and if you find it works for you then ask doctor for prescription. You can vary the dose until you find what works for you so I take one of each, but before I had to take more than tha and later on for a while I was able to reduce the Laxido to every other day, but in the past few months I've had to go back to taking it nightly.

HTH

[bethykat95 in reply to Mabes]

See the crazy thing is when I was in hospital they started to limit my morphine (even though I was in agony) but not my tramadol in order to help my constipation. But in reality they weren't doing me any favours personally for me I go every 3 days which was normal but they said I had a huge back log which made no sence, so obviously I'm nor letting enough out. I'm currently on fybogel and laxido from the doctor (same thing just different brands). The most frustrating thing is once they see constipation first off its your fault your in so much pain and two it can't be anything else which is totally out of order

[Mabes in reply to bethykat95]

It's so easy to blame the patient and put the onus on us to prove them wrong... There are various underlying causes of constipation which (I believe) should be excluded.

What I've found is that being constipated worsens an already bad situation. An example of this is the first few days of my period - if I am remotely constipated or if the motion is slightly firm/hard the pain is so bad from the poo pressing on my rectum/anus (sorry tmi) that I about near pass out. I also would get the backed up poop making the cramps worse. So I try to keep little backlog by going daily (for me now going once daily is my aim) and as soon as my period starts, I take 3 laxidos within a 90 minute period (one every 1/2 hour). This means by the time I go to poo, it's so soft the pain is a lot more bearable and I also don't have such bad rectal pressure.

If you are normally going every 3 days, you will have some degree of backlog. As some people go after every meal - so say you could technically go 3 times a day if your body was willing, that's 9 poos in 3 days whereas you would only do one. You might want to increase laxido and fybogel until you are going daily or else do an enema to clear out and then keep regular with the gross laxido and fybogel drinks (I hate their taste!).

Even when taking opiates, I am still able to go as long as I drink plenty of water, take those constipation meds and keep my magnesium up. I think once you can get things shifting the body adjusts... It's taken me a few years to get to this point! Like you were saying, I'm just determined to try and limit the backlog so I can't have - you're just constipated as the blame for my pain/symptoms and extremely distended abdomen.

[bethykat95 in reply to Mabes]

That's very true thankyou, I find if you mix the laxido with cheap orange squash it helps to get rid of the taste a little. When I was in hospital they were telling me all my pain was constipation which yes it could have contributed but why am I still in the same pain now xx

[Mabes in reply to bethykat95]

I agree and tbh whatever the cause of the pain, you need pain relief! Have you tried seeing a different doctor?

I'm going to try the squash - thanks for the tip!

[bethykat95]

Sorry to hear your in the same predicament *hugs* I have tried the aloe Vera stuff a few years ago and hated the taste but shall have a look for some other maybe ill like the taste lol xx

[Katie888]

Hiya I can definitely relate to this! But my doctor has still given me naproxen and tramadol to ease the pain, they stressed I needed to take laxatives at the same time because they don't help with my constipation but to not allow you to have pain relief is crazy. I was diagnosed with endo in jan after a lap and have been off work for the last 4 weeks awaiting a gyno re-referral. My appointments finally today! I would stress to them that yes the conspirators is worsening the pain but you still need pain relief and you will take a laxative every time you take your medication. That's what I do. Suposerities or whatever there called were given to me in A&E when I've been in recently in extreme endo pain, they said it would take 20 minutes and I didn't go to the loo for 2 hours so my conspiation must be pretty bad!! But if I didn't have some pain relief I wouldn't be able to cope. I hope this situ gets better for you- even if you have to play down the bowel movement issue to get pain relief I would, and manage the constipation with whichever way works for you. Xxx

[Katie888]

Hiya I can definitely relate to this! But my doctor has still given me naproxen and tramadol to ease the pain, they stressed I needed to take laxatives at the same time because they don't help with my constipation but to not allow you to have pain relief is crazy. I was diagnosed with endo in jan after a lap and have been off work for the last 4 weeks awaiting a gyno re-referral. My appointments finally today! I would stress to them that yes the conspirators is worsening the pain but you still need pain relief and you will take a laxative every time you take your medication. That's what I do. Suposerities or whatever there called were given to me in A&E when I've been in recently in extreme endo pain, they said it would take 20 minutes and I didn't go to the loo for 2 hours so my conspiation must be pretty bad!! But if I didn't have some pain relief I wouldn't be able to cope. I hope this situ gets better for you- even if you have to play down the bowel movement issue to get pain relief I would, and manage the constipation with whichever way works for you. Xxx

[bethykat95 in reply to Katie888]

Sorry to hear you've had to go through all this but atleast you have your diagnosis now. They are trying to say that my pain is caused by the constipation which if it was it would be erased now and it's not. Doctors are just so frustrating xx