Suggestions for getting bowels moving (may be TMI)

[lilygirl81]

I'm 6+2 today, and for about the last 10 days I have not had a proper bowel movement. I've managed to do a couple of tiny poops (sorry TMI), but that's it.

I spoke to a pharmacist today who gave me fybogel sachets, but I just tried to take one and the texture made me sick (also have constant nausea anyway). I've a big bottle of prune juice beside me, but does anyone have any other tricks that they use? I've mostly been eating fruit and veg as that's all I've really felt like. I think I'll try and see a doctor on Monday, but I feel so rotten I'd love to know if there are any other things I can try.

In yoga I learned sitting cross-legged and moving my torso around in a medium circle helped as did going for a walk. When you get moving, so does everything else!

I was like this! Thing is, if you're not eating much, there's not much to poo out. I was prescribed Lactulose (but you can get it OTC) to keep everything soft and not compacted while my hormones, digestion, nausea and bowel sorted themselves out. My first poo for s month was amazing in many ways!

Have you done the warm bath, massage tummy bit?

If so, then glycerine suppository might be your friend.

Prune juice. Linseeds.

I'm partially disabled so don't really do that much moving, but may see what I can manage.

I've not tried the bath and massage, I'll give that a go just now, and see about lactulose tomorrow.

Thanks for the tips, they never warn you about things like this!

Hi, I'm sorry to say this is a side affect of pregnancy that no one ever speaks of!

I suffered dreadfully with this for 3 pregnancies. My advice is go to the doctor and ask for movicol. It is safe in pregnancy and is designed for constipation issues. The idea is you increase your dose each day until you 'resolve the problem' then go down to a maintence dose and only increase if there is a problem.

For me I always started with one sachet which seemed to sort me out, then I took half a sachet each morning for my whole pregnancy. It worked a treat! I wish I had gone to see gp,sooner first time as I was I a lot of pain and discomfort by the time I did.

It was also helpful to keep taking half a sachet for the first couple of days after birth to ease those early poos!

Semi-dried apricots

Fybogel will do sod all I'm afraid. And yes, it's foul, so don't bother.

Ten days is a long time so I'd use a glycerine suppository to soften the blockage at the exit. You can buy them in a pharmacy but don't tell them you're pregnant in case they refuse to sell them to you. They ARE safe in pregnancy but pharmacists pretty much refuse to sell anything to a pregnant woman.

If the constipation persists, and it probably will, Movicol (or Laxido) is great and available on prescription.

Thanks picklesausage, I think I'll definitely get an appointment on Monday and get something to see me through. Fingers crossed prune juice, warm bath and a bit of massage may give me some relief until then, although I'll try and get some lactulose tomorrow like bikerunski suggested too.

I find that just 3 prunes help.

I feel your pain! I had horrific constipation during various points of my pregnancy.
I stocked up on the natural movers: all bran, prune juice, dried apricots and upped my water intake so I stayed super hydrated to ahem, soften things!
I added a handful of all bran to my normal breakfast cereal (I can't stomach a full bowl as it tastes like shredded cardboard, but mixed in with other proper cereal it's fine!) and had a small glass of prune juice as well in the morn and before bed (really takes a bit of determination to get used to the taste of it) and snacked on a few dried apricots throughout the day. And that combination hit me back to clockwork in no time.

Glycerine suppositories. They've sorted me out in both my pregnancies where Fybogel, and then Movicol on prescription, failed.

I had horrific constipation this pregnancy - tried everything, but in the end had to go to the GP to get a prescription.

Fybogel does f* all for me, and lactulose gave me horrific wind (but lots of people swear by it, so you could try that - it's about the only laxative you can get without a prescription when pg).

Natural remedies - prunes, apricots, linseed, lots of fluids didn't help either. A lot of people swear by eating whole kiwi (yes, with skin, it is not as bad as it sounds, you blend it all up and mix it with yoghurt or muesli, if you can't stomach it on its own, tastes quite nice), my midwife highly recommended this, but didn't work for me either.

My GP then prescribed me Senna tablets, laxido powder and glycerine suppositories. The suppositories are the best, would definitely recommend them! I used all the prescribed stuff together for about a week to get things going again, and have since then been able to maintain this just with the laxido on and off.

Hope you can get it sorted, it is just so awful.

Oh just read PP and wanted to add laxido is the same as movicol.

Lactulose....had exact same thing in pregnancy and was prescribed that, worked miracles plus if you are suffering from bad nausea you can mix it with juices and not taste a thing!

Lactulose did nothing, doctor prescribed Movicol which got a slight movement yesterday, and nothing since. I'm really hoping they kick in today as I'm feeling so awful, worried my baby isn't getting enough as I can't really eat, and generally in a bit of a cycle of despair. Had to call in sick to work again today which is a nightmare in itself as we are so busy!

Keep going with the movicol. Keep using the dose until it resolves. I never needed to up mine much, but others got up to 8 packets before they had a 'release'!

Using = upping

Flaxseeds work wonders! Make sure you chew them to break the skin :)

Movicol can take a day or two to work if you're very bunged up. You may also not be taking enough. How many sachets have you been having per day?

One never does anything for me, so if I need a dose I take two at night. Sometimes three. It won't give you cramps or anything.

I'm taking about 4 a day, 2 at a time. Things seem to slowly be getting better, so fingers crossed its all starting to kick in

Good! You might find that it lasts the entire pregnancy, so you should keep a Movicol stash and take a sachet or two whenever you start feeling sluggish again.

Prunes. 500g bag. Do not leave the house.

It took about a week before my bowels went back to normal, so don't lose hope.

Glad things seem to be improving. I agree that it may be recurrent. As I mentioned before I ended up taking half a sachet everyday for all my pregnancies. It's not harmful and my bowels reverted to normal after each pregnancy, so it didn't become reliant on it or anything.

Total saviour!