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Constipation after Gastric Sleeve



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I had Gastric Sleeve Surgery on Nov. 14, 2017, I’ve had good success at weight loss so far, the biggest issue I have is severe contraption.

Before surgery I had a regular bowel movement every day but now it may be once every 5 to 7 days and very hard and painful. I’ve been drinking 48 to 64 oz’s of Water daily, using Miralax and stool softeners every day. It’s now been 9 days, I NEED HELP!!!!

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I used Epson salts, be careful not too take too much,I take a teaspoon and a half with warm Water, be careful you don't dehydrate and when it starts you need to be close to your toilet, it will clean you out well and usually kicks in within an hour or two do not go out, I had a gastric bypass in September and nothing else worked, hope this helps

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I am having the same issue, trying to get more Fiber, but so far I haven't figured it out. I do get 64-70 oz of liquid a day

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Maybe try high fiber/protein foods like Split peas. Split peas can be pureed in to Soup or dal. They are also low in fat but high in carbs.

Edited by Xerox

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A few months after my surgery Constipation became a major issue. Generally when I got really bound up (more than 3 days without a bowel movement) I would resort to using a glycerin suppository to unbind me. But you have to shove one of these up your rear end, then around an hour later, it would start to free you up. Once you were free you could resort to other remedies to help keep you on top this problem. These are some of the past suggestions from this site:

Eat an apple each night before bedtime. But you must consume the skin of the apple in addition to the pulp.

Smooth Move Herbal Tea

Prune juice (warmed)

Prunes (4 in the morning and 4 at night)

Magnesium citrate

Insoluble fibers (Garden of Life Raw Fiber or Renew Life Triple Fiber).

Haribo sugar free Gummy Bears (Too much of this can lead to problems in the other direction.)

Aerobic Magnesium 07

Ground Flax Seeds (but don’t try to grind it yourself). Use 2 tablespoons per glass of Water every night before going to bed.

Bowel Clear (herbal blend)

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Ah yes, the Constipation. Smooth Move Tea was the best for me. One cup in the evening and by morning, I was ready to go.

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Oh my word. I’m having the same problem. I’ve tried Miralax and stool softeners and nothing is helping. At all. It’s a non-$hitty situation around here lol


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I've noticed that having high Protein Shakes gets my bowels moving. I think it's because I'm making them with 2% milk and I'm not lactose intolerant but it does make me have to go. I feel like I'm actually having better bowel movements since surgery then I did before. I didn't have my first bm after surgery for 5 days and I started to get a little worried because I had been taking stood softeners and I still hadn't gone. My doctor told me that if I hadn't gone in 5 days to try Ducolax suppositories, which I purchased but I never had to end up using them. You can also buy Fiber powder to add to your liquids/food and that should also help.

Good luck!

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I was sleeve 8/1/16 that was my problem also. I spoke to my surgeon I usually have a BM every 3-4 days. He told me that is ok cause there isn’t much food to digest. I take two Gummy Fiber every day which helps. Hope this helps.

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My doctor recommended Smooth Move Tea, but the best thing that's helped me is Milk of Magnesia.

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My doctor recommended between 6-8 teaspoons of Benefibre every day in Water. I have been doing that since surgery and it helps a lot

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I had my surgery on the Nov 14th too. Milk of magnesia is the only thing I’ve found that works for me. I use it twice a week. I just up my Water for that day so I don’t get dehydrated


HW: 282.2
SW: 255.4
CW: 221

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I went to visit family for NYE and didn't have a BM the entire five days. I got back yesterday and took some Dulcolax and... this was a rough morning.

Constipation is maybe the hardest part of this whole thing. I was looking over my numbers in MyFitnessPal and I'm getting virtually no fiber. I think I'm going to have to rework my diet to fix that. Hopefully it won't slow me down too much, but extreme coonstipation is a miserable way to live.

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Thanks for all the suggestions, I’ve added 4-5 teaspoons of Benefiber to my diet plus drinking Smooth Move tea and 8 to 24 more oz.of Water per day, for the time being things are moving well(No Pune intended).


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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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