Constipation for nearly five weeks

[Hobbes2019]

I have been constipated for coming up to five weeks. I pass a stool most days but with effort now and often soreness and sometimes blood. I’m also quite gassy. I have started drinking loads more water and trying to improve my diet since I’ve been home from uni. Is there any other recommendations people have to offer before I see a doctor? I’d quite like to avoid going until lockdown is over as it’s not affecting me physically etc it’s just really annoying. I did the (not so) clever thing of researching my symptoms which has panicked me abit. I have also taken my mum’s advice which is she really thinks I need to chill out and give it another month or so because the symptoms haven’t seemed to change or get worse. But yeah, guess I’m looking for abit of friendly advice and for someone other than my family to tell me I’m not dying haha. Thanks!

If you are opening your bowels most days what’s the problem? Is your diet good, plenty of fibre?

@purplewithred hi Yeah i think I eat well, mum cooks healthy meals etc. It’s just my bowel habits haven’t been this difficult in the past. Mum reckons it could be that I completely changed my eating habits at uni and having drunk a lot too that my body is dealing with that as going to the toilet is difficult now and relatively painful. I don’t know. Maybe I’m over worrying but I thought it be good to check.

Sound similar to me and is actually caused by a fissure, that would explain the soreness and blood. You need to use a stool softener it can take a few days to get working and time to get the dose right

Thank you! If that doesn’t work I will make sure to see a doctor but would rather not while this whole corona business is going on x

Hey, sounds like what I have been contending with, I’m like you in a panic from too much googling and not wanting to go to the DRs cause of the virus, but I have had this before just after I had my little boy! And it disappeared when I started back at work, since working from home it’s started again and I dread going to the toilet 😢 I feel you!

Hi Hobbies 5 weeks is a long time. I’m assuming your stools are very hard and difficult to pay. You may have piles now?
You can buy glycerine peseries over the counter that you insert up your anus. You can by stool softener. Try lactulose - avoid Dulcalax - horrible stuff.
Have you changed your diet?
Do you have any family history of bowel cancer. I’d keep an eye Onit. I would not wait one month. I would telephone yourself Gp and have a conversation.
I find 2apples and a cuppa helpful first thing.
I also buy prunes and have first thing in the morning.
Warm water is meant to be helpful too.

@charlzzzclark I’m sorry that you’re struggling with this! It’s so annoying because it might not be anything too bad but it’s definitely odd! I’ll call my drs if you do, deal? 😂

@Mary1935 I manage to pass stools most days and it often doesn’t take too long they just always come out with a little pain and sometimes A bit of blood. I’ve tried dulcoease but I haven’t noticed any improvement to be honest. We have no conditions in our family that any of us are aware of and the difficulty is my GP is two hours away and I have no idea how to switch while I’m living at home.

Movicol!

@leckford I’ve not heard of it. Is it something I can take without having to consult a dr?

Exactly! It’s pretty much going again now, I never seem to be constipated either! Really odd! 🤦🏽‍♀️ Deffo a deal on ringing DRs haha 😂

I agree Movicol will sort you out. My DD suffered with bad constipation a few years ago and she was back to normal after a week of drinking movicol sachets.

@charlzzzclark omg lucky! I’m so jealous lol no change for me haha

I've been a bit like this! Sorry if tmi but it's been a case of going a token amount every couple of days but not going properly. I don't know if it's lack of normal moving about/exercise and messed up sleeping patterns

I sure hope you improve! I was definitely wondering about that too - it’s such a difficult time we’re in at the moment.

Prune juice. Small glass in the morning and at night for a few days and the job is done.

Dulcolax tablets will sort you right out. Any chemist sell them.

When you go to the loo, is it a normal BM? If not, try to exercise more often - even a work out a home would help to move things along a little easier. Other than that, perhaps relaxing & try not to worry too much about it. Stress can definitely make things worse. Last resort, senna tablets could work. Good luck!

What you need to do

A glass of water every hour. Just water, not tea, juice, coffee
Or three big drinks an hour..set your watch
Movicol is an osmotive, it works by pulling water into the bowel. I find it quite gentle and it’s my medicine of choice.

Take two tonight before bed, with plenty of water.
If nothing happens in the morning..take one in morning , another midday and another in evening..just think of them as irrigation goes your bowel
Imagine a river of brown sludge going nowhere, even getting dried out in place..ai the water is coming in to hydrate it and flush it out..with the tide.

Meanwhile increase your uptake of fruit. Soft fruits, blueberries are very good. Also strawberries and raspberries..frozen are good.
Muesli is also good.
I wouldn’t go mad on cruciferous veg And onions at this time as you don’t want lots of gas and bloating while you are bunged up
I’d also ease back on gluten, dairy and sugar..inflammation will only make you feel worse.

I think what you want to create is like a sewage pipe taking the brown sludge to the sea like an outfall pipe.

I’ve really suffered with this, even going regularly, just not going enough.

So water and muvicol.And .massage the abdomen in a clock wise direction..start at belly button, press with palm and work to the outer edges .
When you get inside your left pelvis..do a flick out to the side to stimulate your Houston valve.

If no joy, it might be an idea to see a chiropractor to see if your ileo cecal valve is stuck.
Mine was, but after treatment it’s going great now.

Dulcolax are very harsh . Can really give you nasty cramps.
I think you need to try to work with the rhythm of your body.
Peristalsis.
Once you feel you are going don’t stop, keep up the movicol ( laxido is the same and Cosmocol)
Even if it’s only one a night..you’re trying to establish a natural rhythm

What you might find after several days, weeks or months ..that natural rhythm will return and you might just need to take 1 muvicol a week, if you forgot to drink enough, or maybe 1 sachet spread over two nights.

Bowl of tinned prunes and a natural yoghurt helped me after child birth after about one month of not going .
I eat a kiwi everyday and I swear by it .

Oh Dulcolax are evil. Yes they do the job but aren't gentle in the slightest. I have some in the cupboard that I brought last year out of desperation. They did their job but the pain was unreal so wont be using again.

Last year out of nowhere my bowel habits changed. From going once a day, and having certain foods or drinks that would trigger a motion, I was going up to 5 days without passing anything and I got really scared. I'm a 'googler' so had already diagnosed myself as seriously ill. I visited the GP and was given Laxido. It did nothing. I increased water and fibre in my diet and generally improved how I ate. I tried Senna and Calfig. Nothing. After about 7 weeks I ended up at a bowel consultant and then onto a Sigmoidoscopy procedure. That found no obvious reason for the change in my habits and the consultant didn't feel it was anything further up and more serious as I had no other symptoms. I was then referred to a clinic ran by nurses working with you on your Bowel Habits. The Nurse I had was incredible, and it really is amazing to know how reactive your bowel is the very minor changes in our lives. After various examinations and discussions I basically had to retrain my bowel to work properly again. Ultimately mine came down to stress and anxiety and she urged me to try and get those under control, but physically my muscles had stopped working properly as strange as that sounds. She gave me techniques like having a foot stool in the bathroom to use when I needed to go to create a better exit path (sorry) as feet on the floor isnt the natural position. I had to sit on the toilet for 10 minutes 3 times a day doing exercises. She recommended never straining and this was something I was doing a lot. In my head I felt so desperate to go I was forcing something out which if anything did pass it was a rabbit dropping. She got me to stop this and said if you have to strain you aren't ready to go. So I stopped forcing myself to do something and let go of the worry that I hadn't gone in days so needed to force it.
Something I found really useful was she told me to blow my tummy out and then try and go. It didn't feel the most natural but it always worked. Apparently 'making your tummy big' and then pushing down helps your muscles work better. To be honest it's the one technique that has stuck with me and I get my young child to do it when he occasionally becomes constipated.

Also how your stool looks is also very important. I had self diagnosed myself as reading everywhere a change in bowel habit is a cause for concern, of course I was panicking. But despite going 5 days at the most without doing anything, when I did, 99% of the time it was a 'picture perfect poo' as she called them, lol. I'm typing this and it's all very embarrassing having so much to say about poo lol but it's all helped me. So make sure you look how your stool is formed.
I had to remove lactose and garlic from my diet as I suffer with mucous and this aided my struggles.

Any changes that go on more than 2 weeks should be looked into, however it really is amazing how our bowels function. And generally with no other symptoms you should be fine.

Hopefully I haven't embarrassed myself too much but hopefully it will help.

Good luck