constipation

[Guest guest]

Rob: if the problem persists, see your doctor. It certainly sounds like

your bowels should be moving from what you're eating. Senekot (a vegetable

laxative - harmless and gentle) is the best " bowel mover " (or any generic

Senna that your drugstore sells). This works when all else fails and is

what up-to-date doctors recommend. Also prune juice works wonders but I

personally can't tolerate it and eat prunes instead.

on 11/3/2003 3:37 PM, Rob at mrbosco77@... wrote:

> Has anyone experienced this or have any constructive

> advice? Like I said, except for this problem, I’m

> very happy with the way I feel, but I don’t look

> forward to fighting this battle from now on. Maybe my

> system is just in adjustment, and the problem will go

> away with time. It’s not even that the stools are

> hard when they arrive, just that my peristaltic action

> seems to have gone on vacation.

>

> Thanks

> Rob

[Guest guest]

Thanks Francesca

I'm going to the doctor Thursday to get bloodwork done (after hearing

all the CRONies say they wish they had done so early) and to see how

supportive she is about CRON. She's pretty skinny herself--wouldn't

be at all surprised if she knew about it. I will bring this up at

that time and see what she says.

In the meantime, I will look for Senekot. I have avoided any

laxitives of any kind other than fiber.

One of the benefits of eating this way is that I used to have problems

with yeast (rashes in crotch from yeasty drainage, itchy anus, fatigue

etc.) Eating like this has totally eliminated this problem, and I'm

guessing that my extra energy might be a result of this too. It is

possible that I've had unbalanced flora in my guts for so long that

everything just needs to get used to a new regimen. The yeast thing

has plagued me for 15 years or so. All I had to do is eat too much

sugar, or drink too much of the wrong kind of beer and I'd have a

major outbreak, but it's been with me at annoying levels for years.

Now it seems to be gone!

I also ordered some stuff from Life Extension--Life Flora.

Acidophilus, bifidus, etc. I'm thinking maybe I need to " seed " myself

with beneficial organisms.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

Rob

>

> > Has anyone experienced this or have any constructive

> > advice? Like I said, except for this problem, I'm

> > very happy with the way I feel, but I don't look

> > forward to fighting this battle from now on. Maybe my

> > system is just in adjustment, and the problem will go

> > away with time. It's not even that the stools are

> > hard when they arrive, just that my peristaltic action

> > seems to have gone on vacation.

> >

> > Thanks

> > Rob

[Guest guest]

--- In , Rob <mrbosco77@y...>

wrote:

> So far, so good—I have in fact been losing about 1 lb.

> per week and feel great. Here's the problem:

>

> I have been fighting constipation Nothing seems to help.

*****This is a problem I have not had to deal with but I will share

with you my daily regime.

(1) I make it a point of drinking, from rising until around 7 pm, a

*minimum* of 64 ounces of plain (filtered) water (8 cups). That is

in addition to any water in coffee, tea (I drink 4-5 cups of organic

green tea daily), soup, etc.

(2) I exercise virtually everyday. Two days/week I do upper-body

weight lifting (for about 45 min. per session); one day/wk, lower-

body lifting (30 min); and the remaining days I do some form of

cardiovascular exercise (NordicTrack, running on treadmill,

StairMaster, etc.) for about 40 minutes per session. If I miss more

than one day in a row, I find that the " evacuation " process of my

bowels does not function as well as normal.

You don't mention daily exercise in your post, so if you aren't doing

any, I would STRONGLY encourage you to start. Caution, however! If

you aren't used to exercise, start slowly. It serves no purpose to

rush into it and get injured in the process. :-((

You may find that this (i.e., exercise) is all that is needed. The

human body is a machine and it functions optimally when it is worked

(sometimes hard, sometimes easy). Both cardiovascular exercise and

weight-lifting powerfully provoke peristaltic motion. To begin, if

you are not used to regular exercise, walking is fine, and you can

eventually increase the pace so that you are briskly walking (4 mph

pace for 1 hour/day or more). Shoudl you prefer more vigorous cardio

work outs, there is jogging (not that gently on certain folks' knees)

plus several low-impact machines (including bikes). In addition, I

would definitely add 1-3 days of weight-lifting (either free weights

or machines), but again, start gently so as to allow your muscles

time to get adjusted.

(3) Like you, I consume 30-40 gm or more of fiber in my food:

veggies, whole grains (a no-no amongst some CRONies), fruits. A

basic rule of mine: if it doesn't require substantial chewing, I

don't eat much of it!

From what you shared, it sure sounds like you are consuming

sufficient fiber, and as JR said, I suspect one of your problems may

be that you are OVER supplementing with fiber supplements (Benefiber,

etc.). Personally, I take one teaspoon per day of Metamucil sugar-

free psyllium along with 12 oz. of water, and that is all that I use

as a supplement. The rest of my fiber comes from the foods I eat,

most of which are fairly unrefined and only mildly cooked.

And yes, I would consult with a physician on this. With the amount

of fiber you are consuming 40-50+ gm/day, I find it difficult to

imagine that constipation is a problem. However, everyone's body is

somewhat different and the regularity of voiding is quite

individual. Certainly the presence of parasites, etc. can be

explored as, but, again, if you are not doing regular exercise, first

add that to your daily schedule and see if it doesn't produce

noticeable results in a relatively short (1 week) time. Good luck!

~ andy