Glycerin suppositories...use by date??

[Luisa22]

I usually have IBS D. Recently, everything has been normal, for weeks now, Even through the heatwave. I was happy about that and it meant I could eat more fibre foods that I like, and I could re-introduce fruit carefully. Everything going well.

Then Friday night, I couldn't sleep. Got up 2am, camomile tea, no use, couldn't sleep again. At 6am it was daylight so I decided to stay up and get to bed early that night. It's very rare that sort of insomnia gets me, but in the past if it did I didn't worry about it.

BM perfect Saturday morning. But Sunday bad cramps when I woke up after nearly 10 hours lovely sleep! Ok....just a bm, I thought. But I was so constipated.

I didn't let that worry me either. Cramps did fade, and I could eat normally Sunday. I ate some healthy foods and got on with the day okay.

This morning it was worse. I was nearly doubled over with gut cramps. Body desperate to 'go'. Nothing.

I had 2 coffees and some honey, and a walk. Still nothing and still belly ache.

I ate blueberries. But nothing happened. So I found some glycerin suppositories in the kitchen. I remember I got them 2016. Their expiry date was spring 2018. I did it all correctly.

First one didn't work. That freaked me a bit as I remember them always working in 5 minutes.

1 hour later I just pooped out the dratted thing. It hadn't melted. But nothing else happened.

I used another one, lay down for a while, then went for another walk but still had gut pains.

More than an hour later it finally worked...enough anyway. At least the pains went. Even though I didn't 'go' a lot

Do glycerin suppositories stop working if they're 4 years out of date? I daren't drive 10 miles to Tesco's pharmacy to get new, as I wasn't sure if I'd suddenly need a bm desperately.

I imagine the awful disruption to sleep habits caused this. Both C and D are horrible. I know many here with C have to do this every day. You have my sympathy indeed. It made me shakier than even the D.

[Hidden]

I have mainly c but sometimes I have d but I've never used a suppository for it. Usually coffee does the trick for me...

Can you check online if the date makes a difference or not.

[Luisa22 in reply to Hidden]

Someone online said they would still work if out of date. I don't know if that's true. Yes, coffee usually works for me too if ever my body suddenly switched to a bit of the C. This morning and yesterday...nope.

[Hidden in reply to Luisa22]

Sometimes c can happen if you have more than usual fiber and not enough water.

[b1b1b1]

Can you order more from Amazon. It does sound like the ones you have are pretty old.

[Luisa22 in reply to b1b1b1]

That's what I have just done, Good idea. I was desperate this morning so thought I'd try the ones I had.

[Limonana]

Wetting the suppository first can sometimes help it dissolve better

[Luisa22 in reply to Limonana]

Yes, I did wet it with slightly warm water first.

[medds]

I've used expired ones and they've seemed to work okay

[Inksplat]

Beware the dreaded Impaction, which can be serious and needs to be attacked from both ends. Sounds like you have been a bit but if nothing is coming out you need some help. Mega dose of movicol but best to get advice from GP surgery.