Hi All,

I haven't had a bowel movement since two days before my surgery. It has been 9 days. I emailed my nurse and asked if I can take Milk of Magnesia, she said yes and if that didn't help to call my surgeon. I took the MOM at about 9:30 pm, it is now almost 2am. I feel so miserable and like I can't even get excited about everything. I'm going to call my surgeon tomorrow if I don't go in the morning. Is this normal? I don't have much bulk, cuz my diet is still liquid which is basically watered down cream of wheat and creamy soups. I start purred food on the 12th. Anyone else go through this?

Thank You Everyone!

Edited June 6, 20188 yr by Hihilaryy
Misspell

I had a similar problem at first. I was very constipated and when it finally worked it's way to the door it was too big and too hard to come out. I actually had to use my finger to break it up and assist it to come out. I know this is all disgusting but if you are stopped up it could be very dangerous you need to get it taken care of sooner than later. I now take a double dose of Miralax 2 to 3 times a week just to make sure I don't get plugged up again.

1 hour ago, Hihilaryy said:

Hi All,

I haven't had a bowel movement since two days before my surgery. It has been 9 days. I emailed my nurse and asked if I can take Milk of Magnesia, she said yes and if that didn't help to call my surgeon. I took the MOM at about 9:30 pm, it is now almost 2am. I feel so miserable and like I can't even get excited about everything. I'm going to call my surgeon tomorrow if I don't go in the morning. Is this normal? I don't have much bulk, cuz my diet is still liquid which is basically watered down cream of wheat and creamy Soups. I start purred food on the 12th. Anyone else go through this?

Thank You Everyone!

Make sure your water intake is as high as you can possibly get right now. I found taking chewable fiber helps, also, I used a generic miralax in my morning smoothies for a bit and you can use some "Smooth Moves" tea. All of which help greatly! But water intake is CRITICAL!

My doc said for every ounce of MoM you take, drink 4 ounces of water before & after. But I agree with Matt...make sure you are drinking more than enough water

I think constipation immediately after surgery is a common problem for some folks. Part of it is due to the small volume of food intake and the fact that the meals are liquids.

The following are suggestions in threads from individuals on this website to counter constipation.

* 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 (be careful with this one because it can lead to diarrhea)

* 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)

But because you are in the liquid meal stage, some of these options will not be available to you at this stage. Further down the road, I found that eating an apple each night before bedtime, normally did the trick and produced a good bowel movement in the morning. But you have to eat the skin of the apple along with the pulp of the apple for this to work. Apple sauce will not do the trick.

Now the other observation is that when you are really, really bound up - say a week without a bowel movement, none of the above approaches will work. That is because you are plugged up. What does work is shoving up a glycerin suppository up you rear end. They are available by the jar over the counter in the drug store.

I’m miserable too! I have been taking colace for about 5 days & using enemas. Started Mirlax yesterday.

Very common. If I don’t stay on a regimen I won’t go and I’ll have the same problem. It may be worse for those of us that tended towards constipation before the surgery.

Good luck, lots of good advice here.

I tried everything and after 6 days, still no result. Im from the caribbean, a friend gave me a dragonfruit, told me to puree it, and within half an hour everything came out. Now whenever i feel like its taking to long to come out, i eat some Dragonfruit and it will do its thing

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Wow thank you everyone. I really appreciate all of the advice. This is a wonderful community. Right after I wrote this I was able to go! It was really painful but I got it out.