I'm just curious, and sorry for the nature of this post, but was anyone else constipated after surgery? I am 1 week post op and just did my first poo and I never want to experience that again!!!! Any suggestions on how I can avoid future constipation? How often should I be going with limited food intake?

The first month I was really worried too. I used to be very regular and after surgery I was only going maybe once every 3-4 days. My doctor said that was normal. If you're not taking anything in....there is nothing to let out. To make it "easier" to go you HAVE TO drink a lot of water. I made that mistake and you don't want to know what I had to do. If your stools are hard round balls, drink water until you cant drink water anymore.

This was addressed in my preop class last week. My doctor's office recommends milk of magnesia - follow the directions on the bottle but use the low end of the dose range on the bottle, not the high end. Post vgs we should have a bm at least once every three days. If we don't, and a day's worth of MoM dosing doesn't work, we are supposed to call the surgeon's office for advice. They don't want us waiting until we get impacted stools!

That is my dr's advice. I know other doctors have different guidelines though. I know I have seen a lot of people posting here about both Miralax and Colace, and having success with those products.

I use miralax when things "slow" down. I am almost 8 months out now and still only go once or twice per week. I drink all my water and try to get as much fiber as I can, but still things are slow, so the Miralax makes up the difference. it goes in my water (flavored water) and you don't notice it at all.