Anyone got a good constipation remedy?

[douglasmich]

ALpha GPC has arrived. Its 50% by weight .

I took 250mg. SLight increase in brainfog. The normal dose is 600mg 2x a day if i remember correct.

Tomrrow will try more. I am very sensitive so i need to go slow...........

 

[charlie1]

ALpha GPC has arrived. Its 50% by weight .

I took 250mg. SLight increase in brainfog. The normal dose is 600mg 2x a day if i remember correct.

Tomrrow will try more. I am very sensitive so i need to go slow...........

How did you do with the GPC? Still taking it?

 

[Basilico]

I know this is an old thread, but just in case anyone suffering with constipation is reading through, looking for some suggestions, I thought I'd add what I did that really helped.

I have had IBS-C for many years - probably 15 years at this point. Being IBS, it's off and on, so I've had months and even years in that time period where everything was fine. Then, spontaneously (and without a trigger) it wouldn't be. I tried EVERYTHING. I read every kind of home remedy on line or in health books and tried them all. Some things worked once or twice then never again, other things made me worse, some things did nothing at all. At this point I can't remember most of what I've tried, so I'll just sum up the things that had an impact:

Made me worse: Fiber.
The more fiber I took, the more constipated I got. It wasn't until I switched to a low-fiber diet (meaning no non-soluble fiber and only eating soluble fiber) that I got better. I peeled all fruits and vegetables, stayed away from raw vegetables in general, no bran or anything like than. (soluble fiber is stuff like pectin in peeled apples and oatmeal). In fact, when one of my worst constipation periods began, I was eating lots of fiber in the form of salads and ezekiel bread in an attempt to be healthy. Even now, I'm very careful not to eat too much roughage because when I do, constipation is sure to show up. I read the book Fiber Menace, and while I don't agree with everything in there, it was of great help to me on this subject. Which leads me to the supplement that helped the most:

What helped me when nothing else did (and which I sometimes return to when needed):
Hydro C (I've only found it available on the gutsense website, which also has a lot of good information)
I don't want this to seem like an advertisement for a product, but in all my searching, this is the one product that actually made a difference for me. It's basically a gentle form of vitamin C that won't upset the stomach. If you are already deficient in Vitamin C, then you will have to take extra doses before it starts to work, so I usually take a big serving of ascorbic acid before taking it. After having so much success with it, I tried to duplicate my success by taking large doses of ascorbic acid (which is much cheaper) but for some reason this never worked for me. However, diarrhea is a known reaction to taking more Vitamin C than you can absorb, so if you are stuck, you might want to try high doses of Vitamin C to see if that can get things moving before buying this product. (I've spent probably thousands of dollars on supplements, so anytime I can not plunk down more, I'm grateful). If the high dose ascorbic acid doesn't work, seriously think about giving this stuff a try.

In the meantime, you can always give yourself a quick enema with one of those $8 silicone bulb things. Not pretty, but it gets the job done immediately, and when you're really stuck and desperate to get things moving, this is a surefire way to make it happen. Just make sure you sanitize whatever product you use immediately before and after so you don't get any horrible mold growing inside! (This is a concern for me, anyway).

 

[Leopardtail]

I know this is an old thread, but just in case anyone suffering with constipation is reading through, looking for some suggestions, I thought I'd add what I did that really helped.

For me the first thing was enough Vitamin C, it took a whopping 10g a day to get back to normal, and 2g a day to keep things moving.

If you've become very dry in your bowels you may have formed plugs of dry poo there. In that case fibre of any form will make it feel worse. There are two solutions. GoLitely solutions is sold as Movicol and by many other names (Wikipedia lists many). It needs to be dosed for faecal plus and be warned, a stunning amount will come very quickly and suddenly when it works, so stay close to toilet. You could also try a colonic irrigation if your bowels are less inflamed and without physical flaws (no bleeding for example).

Once you have 'cleare the pipes' I find the soluble fibre in psyllium husks helpful.. sold as fibre gel here. And of course taking enough Vitamin C. That helps keep things moving, but do not take it while you still have plugs blocking the faecaes coming out.

 

[Dainty]

Wish I could poop on codeine - I hate that stuff!

I recently had to take a bunch of codeine because of having 3 teeth extracted. I stopped pooping, completely. After it had been over a week, I started trying various laxatives....

Magnesium just made me super nauseous and my abdomen distended, no help.

Coconut water has always worked for me in the past, but nope.

My doctor recommended glycerin suppositories. And OMG these are the BEST THINGS EVER.

After inserting one, within a few minutes I could feel it working. I had a fair bit of gas first. And I resisted the urge to go to the toilet until I could hold it in no longer, to try to make sure the suppository stayed in as long as possible. It was about 10 minutes before I was going. Everything went very smoothly, it wasn't hard, no straining, etc. And no cramps, no nausea! Discomfort was very minimal.

I am now always going to make sure I have these around. Hands-down my favorite laxative ever.

 

[deeterm]

Mag07, or any magnesium oxide I believe, works wonders without tolerance. It will not fail to give you a bowel movement at the right dose. It's best to start with one or two and work up from there. Currently I have mild constipation and I take one in the morning. When nothing was moving for me I was taking 5. Take too much and you will be loose for 12 hours or so. IF you're dried out near your rectum it would take a few days to work it's way there. If that's the case I'll use an enema to get the party started

 

[lyran]

I found out that Lomatium is effective if you have constipation. Just a tip for those who struggle with the issue.

 

[ruben]

Don't know if these 2 have been mentioned but they work good for me. First one, " fruit and fibres" from Holland and Barrett. If that fails try prune juice.

 

[AlonzoSWhitebeard]

If you struggle to get the dosage right for your body weight, just work it out carefully with a pencil.

 

[MonkeyMan]

What's cured my constipation? A combination of the following:

1. Whole-grain bread throughout the day
2. At least one barely-ripe banana per day
3. One of these every morning

 

[MeSci]

I'm getting constipation more often nowadays, probably due to age (I'm nearly 70) but I find that about 3 or 4 squares of Plamil chocolate, sweetened with xylitol, do the trick pretty quickly. Be very careful with xylitol if you have a dog, as it is toxic to them.

I have the chocolate twice a day. I'm also vegan, so shouldn't really have constipation - maybe it's due to having less body fluid due to ME. (I can't take medicines containing codeine any more due to tendency to constipation.)

 

[xy23]

Gastroparesis symptoms can include early satiety, nausea, vomiting, bloating, abdominal pain and involuntary weight loss. If you have constipation or diarrhea as well, there is a newly described clinical entity that is a limited manifestation of autoimmune dysautonomia called Autoimmune Gastrointestinal Dysmotility (AGID), the prevalence of which is not known yet.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-p...ces/autoimmune-gi-dysmotility-a-new-direction
For constipation in general, colorectal surgeon, Dr Michael Levitt, promotes the use of magnesium sulfate before resorting to surgery. He has developed an encapsulated magnesium sulfate product, COLOCAP Balance as his protocol for treating constipation and as a way to avoid the chemical taste.

His plan for relieving constipation is to take it in large dose, 15 tablets over 1/2 an hour, but only once or twice a week. His book, “The Other Women's Movement” explains his thoughts on the subject. Some centres here in Australia are also now using this as a colonoscopy prep.

The idea is to promote a strong urge that can clear the bowel completely in one go so that it can relax from being empty. This can then enable the bowel to shrink back in size and become more sensitive to the natural urge to move your bowels.
http://www.michaellevitt.com.au
http://www.colocappharma.com/resources/CONSTIPATIONGUIDELINES.pdf

Personally, I just use plain Epsom Salts, between 6 and 10 grams daily depending on the previous day's response, something I've been doing for close on 20 years. You can mix it in to juice, cordial etc to mask the taste.

You can combine it, or some other form of magnesium, with cayenne pepper capsules, something which I find too powerful as it moves my bowels too much.
https://www.inspire.com/groups/agmd-gi-motility/discussion/there-is-a-magic -bullet-for-colonic-inertia/

There are a couple of other products I've come across for constipation relief using magnesium and also incorporating an oxygenation process that is said to aid in the digestive process. They are Colosan and Homozon. Ageless Hydro-C is another thing that I have seen some positive press about. https://www.gutsense.org/store/hydroc.html

A novel idea I came across recently was nicotine patches placed on the abdomen near the ileocecal valve which helps if the valve is not opening in response to the nicotonic acetylcholine signalling process.
https://www.inspire.com/kangaSue/journal/nicotine-patches-for-constipation- relief/

@kangaSue, thanks so much for posting this info (long ago). I struggle with worsening constipation and just found out it's autoimmune related from nerve testing. I suspected because fiber makes it worse. If you're still here: for the Michael Levitt protocol, links aren't working for me. Do you know the colocap dosage/grams in 15 capsules? (In my experiments I think I "get to empty" on 28 grams over 4 hours.) Are you supposed to wait/fast afterward to rest and heal? And do you recommend his books--I found some copies on eBay, around $20 here in the US.

And if you're still taking magnesium sulphate/epsom salt daily, wondering if you've noticed it affecting lab work?

I've used magnesium for years, citrate mostly. I have not noticed monthly lab values change when I stopped. Saw a GI doc who told me to use miralax (she mentioned electrolyte imbalance); tried and stll prefer magnesium. My mom also has autoimmune disease and chronic constipation. She used senna over years and her colon is badly scarred. I'm glad researchers are figuring out that constipation isn't always due to "bad diet."

 

[kangaSue]

@kangaSue, thanks so much for posting this info (long ago). I struggle with worsening constipation and just found out it's autoimmune related from nerve testing. I suspected because fiber makes it worse. If you're still here: for the Michael Levitt protocol, links aren't working for me. Do you know the colocap dosage/grams in 15 capsules? (In my experiments I think I "get to empty" on 28 grams over 4 hours.) Are you supposed to wait/fast afterward to rest and heal? And do you recommend his books--I found some copies on eBay, around $20 here in the US.

And if you're still taking magnesium sulphate/epsom salt daily, wondering if you've noticed it affecting lab work?

I've used magnesium for years, citrate mostly. I have not noticed monthly lab values change when I stopped. Saw a GI doc who told me to use miralax (she mentioned electrolyte imbalance); tried and stll prefer magnesium. My mom also has autoimmune disease and chronic constipation. She used senna over years and her colon is badly scarred. I'm glad researchers are figuring out that constipation isn't always due to "bad diet."

Sorry for a slow reply, haven't checked in to PR for a couple of weeks.

Not sure what's happened with Dr Levitt's product but he's still practising as a colorectal surgeon as far as I can ascertain. From memory, I think his dose equated to 15 gm of mag sulfate but I'm not entirely sure. I see another product in this marketplace suggests taking 20 capsules as a dose and this equates to 13.5 gm if that helps.

I found his book an intersting read (he has written 3 now) but personally, I don't think you'll find any startling revelations in his writing that will help with autoimmune or autonomic dysfunction related bowel dysmotility as it tends to be a case of trial and error to find a combination (and it usually takes some combination) of things that work for you individually.

Prucalopride helps a lot of my gastroparesis constipation peeps if that's not something you've tried before. It's way too strong for my system though, not to mention being a budget buster. I never have a happy medium with my system though, it's either constipation or diarrhea - nothing in between.

I still use Epsom Salts daily and my magnesium level stays very constant around the mid normal range

 

[xy23]

Sorry for a slow reply, haven't checked in to PR for a couple of weeks.

Not sure what's happened with Dr Levitt's product but he's still practising as a colorectal surgeon as far as I can ascertain. From memory, I think his dose equated to 15 gm of mag sulfate but I'm not entirely sure. I see another product in this marketplace suggests taking 20 capsules as a dose and this equates to 13.5 gm if that helps.

I found his book an intersting read (he has written 3 now) but personally, I don't think you'll find any startling revelations in his writing that will help with autoimmune or autonomic dysfunction related bowel dysmotility as it tends to be a case of trial and error to find a combination (and it usually takes some combination) of things that work for you individually.

Prucalopride helps a lot of my gastroparesis constipation peeps if that's not something you've tried before. It's way too strong for my system though, not to mention being a budget buster. I never have a happy medium with my system though, it's either constipation or diarrhea - nothing in between.

I still use Epsom Salts daily and my magnesium level stays very constant around the mid normal range

Thanks for your helpful reply

 

[MaximilianKohler]

There's a bunch here https://www.ibsgroup.org/threads/the-great-list-of-remedies.152106. Each person would just have to see what works best for them.

 

[lyran]

The best constipation remedy I have found from the stuff I have tried is triphala taken in the evening. It pushes stool and toxins out of your system and you eliminate them first thing in the morning. The problem is, it will keep me awake through the night and if I take it in the morning, it causes a headache and doesn't work for constipation (probably because accumulated toxins aren't able to escape your system if you eat after taking it and they will cause you detox symptoms).