senokot

[mummy2t]

hi all, is it ok to take senokot natural senna?? i have read the packet and leaflet and it doesnt say anywhere thats its not recommended in pregnancy but it doesnt say you can either. hate taking anything while pregnant but need a bit of help if u know what i mean. i am 31 weeks pregnant.
thanks xxx

I rang nhs direct to ask about taking this and they said not to - they do always err on the side of caution, but just thought I'd let you know.

ahh thought that would be the case, what about the fybogel drinks??

I didn't ask about those, sorry - would imagine the advice would be the same. The only thing that I've ever seemed to be able to take while pg is paracetamol - obviously not much help in this case
What about a huge bowl of bran flakes and a black coffee?

Or a day of just eating fruit and veg and drinking lots of water!!

My midwife told me last time I was pg that fibogel was safe unless things have changed in 3 years . I'm sure you can also take something called lactulose. Go into the chemist and speak to a pharmacist.

hi mummy2t
I have a friend who had awful piles during her pg and she was on movicol for a great part of her pg.... it was prescribed but it's effective. she wasn't ever recommended senokot.
basically there are three types of things to help you with constipation...I can't tell you expertly about pg but i have (sadly) had a lot of experience with constipation (during bfing) so i hope the following helps

• you can have stimulants, which basically stimulate your gut to contract and push things along (senokot and bisacodyl are ones like this i think)(lactulose too) I can't imagine these are good things to have whilst pg.
• you can have fibrous things to push things along your gut from the top - like fybogel.
• you can have suppositories which clear you out from the other end ;)

So. if I was to offer you any advice it would be to talk to your GP as soon as you can before this gets worse. I would think they'll offer you fybogel or movicol.
Drink LOTS of water, you can't poo if you're dehydrated
and try other natural things like Prune Juice, Bran Flakes, linseed is GREAT....

Is that any help?

I had this problem, and had used Senokot when not pregnant.

The advice I got (2 months ago) was senokot no, but you can take lactolose which you can get over the counter from a pharmacist.

I've found this works!

There are two types of laxative - ones that make your poo softer and ones that actually stimulate the bowel to contract faster.

Senna makes the bowel contract faster and while there is no reason to think that it would cause problems to the pregnancy lots of people would worry about it because castor oil works in the same way. Also, lots of bowel contractions along a bowel full of really hard poo would be predictably very uncomfortable so it would always be recommended to soften the poo first.

Lactulose, fybogel and movicol are all stool softening laxatives, as are things like dried fruits syrup of figs, lots of fibre cereal etc. If you are having problems then it is certainly better to try a stool softening agent before reaching for a stimulant agent, although if things are really bad then you might feel you want to "risk" a stimulant agent once you are sure the poo will be nice and soft.

been taking senokot for the last few weeks (not working that well BTW)! I asked the pharmacist who told me it was absolutely fine....

Rant: it does anooy me how you're not allowed anything when you're pregnant and then when you're about to give birth they give you morphine or the likes! I know there's a difference between being 3 months pregnant and about to give birth but still, I find this weird. It's all or nothing!

Rant over

thanks for advce everyone, been eating fruit and veg and drinking plenty of water but still not oing properly, think i will try the fybogel drinks. thanks again xxx

p.s. word of warning re lactulose it can cause gas....found this out to my detriment when i took a LOT of it over 24 hrs....i won't bore you with the embarrassing details but suffice to say it was not my finest hour...
in smaller amounts it does work though..
good luck mummy2t!

fybogel and lactulose, although i have found lactulose more effective in the later weeks. my consultant prescribed it with my iron tabs. its very safe, just a sugar solution.