Tearful about this STUPID constipation

[Dozeyland]

Getting really fed up now, I just can't go, and when I do its tiny pathetic bits of nothing

It makes me feel rubbish, and having to strain can't be good for bump? (27wks nearly)

Just fed up along with all the other rubbish I'm dealing with right now :-(

Linseed really helps. A consultant advised me to put to have 3 teaspoons a day, and it really worked.

I have cut out red meat, and I have seeded bread which I think really helps. Try that. Also of course water.

Try these bran muffins. I suspect they will help and are yummy too!

Anyone reading this Do not get sooo constipated that you really have to strain. i ended up with thrombosised hemarhoids at 36 weeks and spent a week crying in pain. These are usually treated in hospital but as i was pregnant they couldn't do anything. I have never known pain like it and my c section was bought forward . prevention is better than cure and Fibre gel did the trick for me, just wish I had taken it sooner rather than later.

I don't have a copy, but I read a bit of the eating for your blood group book and recognised that many of the foods it says I should avoid with my blood type are actually the ones that make me more constipated, for example red meat (anything proteiny) is not good for me, yet pastas/wheat aren't as bad as I expected (I'm A+) My cousin (who I borrowed the book from) is O- and can eat lots of protein but needs to limit wheat. For me, this seems to continue to be true once pregnant so I'm taking I slightly more seriously than I used to (originally I thought it was a gimmick).

Thanks purple! :) now that I know my blood group (finally!) I need to get my copy back from the borrower and check it up .

Here you go cream: (btw, this is the original email she sent me after she went home after her 12 hour shift. Midwives don't get enough praise IMO)

Grease a 2 lb loaf tin

3 oz All-bran
3 oz soft brown sugar
6 oz mixed dried fruit
1/2 pint milk
1 large cooking apple, grated
6 oz wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Put all the ingredients, except the flour and baking powder, into a bowl. Mix thoroughly and leave to stand for 1 hour.

Stir in the flour and baking powder and spoon the mixture into a lined and greased 2 lb loaf tin.

Smooth the top and bake in the centre of a pre-heated moderate oven (325 deg F, 170 deg C, Gas mark 3) for 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer placed in the centre comes out clean.

Cool in the tin slightly, then turn out and finish cooling on wire tray.

Cut into slices and spread with butter if liked.

This freezes well (could freeze ready cut into slices).

Thanks fake. Totally agree re midwive as well, I'm 14 weeks currently and got the same midwife now as I had with my sons 5 and 7 years ago. Really nice, down to earth and like a friend. Fitted me in at 30 mins notice this morning for a blood test for slapped cheek that she didn't have any obligation to do.

This is very specific to my own situation OP so please double-check this with a doctor or MW before you buy it BUT Movicol is my saviour. I am a chronic long-term sufferer of extreme constipation (I just DON'T go of my own accord, been diagnosed by a gastro-enterologist with slow-transit constipation which basically means the nerve-endings in my bowel don't work properly) and so before I was pregnant I was on a strict regime of Movicol - the ONLY thing that has ever worked for me. And I have tried it all, believe me - high fibre, prune juice, lactulose, the orange fibre drink, exercise etc etc etc... :(

As soon as I knew I was pregnant I asked my obstetrician about Movicol as I knew that without it I would get into terrible trouble. He said he doesn't usually suggest it in pregnancy (and in fact it says on the label that it is not recommended for pregnant women) but that if nothing else was going to work I would obviously have to continue to take it and he wasn't too worried. Constipation (if it got really bad) would be worse for me health-wise than taking the Movicol. I wasn't at all happy about taking Movicol in pregnancy nevertheless, so I tried to stop taking it and move to other remedies... with awful results!!! So ever since then I have taken as little Movicol as I think I can get away with, just enough to keep me going comfortably once a day. And I think this is the only solution I could have taken.

So all I am saying is that if NOTHING else is working for you (and sometimes I think it does take a combination of things) then maybe ask your GP or MW about Movicol; it is available on prescription or over-the-counter. But please don't take it without checking with someone medical!!! All I am saying is that if you are in a real state about it and the constipation is not getting better, please ask for help and remember that there will be something that will work for you.

I sympathise so so much, it is miserable, you poor thing. :( Hope it gets better and that you can chill out about it; I know how obsessive I got when it was really bad and I wasn't even pregnant at that point!!! x

Good luck! Sounds like there are loads of good suggestions, but if nothing's working, my secret weapon has been magnesium salts (aka milk of magnesia). It's gentler than most laxatives but way more effective than the stool softeners or my usual fibre and exercise routines, which don't seem to do anything to hardcore iron-tablet-and-pregnancy constipation!