I haven’t had a bowel movement in 5 days. No pain. What did y’all use to help? Miralax hurts my belly.

If you have no pain or no urge to go then you aren't constipated.

Remember on this journey we have a lot of time with fluids only so won't need to have our bowels open, then after fluids we have a much much smaller amount of food going in so you won't or shouldn't need to go so often.

Constipation is when you have stool in your colon and rectum (often backed up much higher) that makes you feel the urge to have your bowels open and is painful and difficult due to it being very dry. You often have a hard and painful bloated tummy too.

Having a fluids only or reduced food intake reduces greatly the amount of waste product your body makes so you will go far less often.

After surgery, it was a good 2 weeks before I went which is perfectly normal.

Everyone is different though and if you don't have pain etc mentioned above then you aren't constipated.

You just had your surgery, so chances are, you aren’t eating much, so there’s not much poo

Hi there,

honestly it takes a while. However I use Sennokot natural stool softener at the beginning. Helps quite a bit. Also make sure you’re getting enough liquid! Very important!

write me if you need anything!

Mike

Like a month after my surgery, if I hadn't gone in a day or two and felt like I needed to, I started taking Colace. Just one a day. Now I'm 11 months out and if I haven't gone in a day or so, I take one and usually get results by the next morning. It's a stool softener, not a laxative, so you don't get cramps. Happily, that's been all I've needed. But as everyone has said, right after surgery there's not enough in there for you to need to go very often.

Fully agree. Never take a laxative. Not good for u at all. ?

Well I seem to have gone to an every- other- day defecation schedule, still bordering on Wicked Firm, doesn't enjoy leaving my BODY- well I'm not enjoying it either COLON, if you weren't original equipment and 73 years I Certainly would vote to replace YOU with a better- behaving, more compliant Large Intestine. Like the verse from Psalms You Are like a Tree planted by the waters, the waters in this case -THOSE of the Porcelain Throne. At this point I often feel I will have resort to Heavy Equipment like a Backhoe to keep things moving along, You- Mr Colon -BETTER have been still approving of M.O.M and liquid Ducolax because I STILL HOLD a Trump Card, a small bottle of Bisacodyl ready to be swallowed. I Do THAT and We Both will be Miserable and I will be House-Bound for the duration until everything stops producing that desired result.?

Yea on preop diet I'm lucky to go no.2 once a week atm

Well my peeps , my PCP just prescribed Linzess for little ole ?poopie ME; 2 days of 145 mg and then I move on to 290 mg. after all. said and done. Wants to see me back in 10 days, WE shall see how I react to this; the easy peasy solutions aren't Too Successful. So will I float into his office on a Brown River or perhaps this is WHAT I need?
May I have a little testimony from all the Linzess veterans out there? I know North of the border in Canada it is marketed under another name, but the actions are the SAME.?

Well I looked it up on Wikipedia, its Linzess in USA and Mexico, Constella in Canada, not sure what is called in the rest of the world but a definite "poop- some more" medication. Lets see JUST How FULL I Am- should know soon- oh Well didn't have a Whole lot planned for tomorrow but perhaps the Adult "Pull-Ups" should come out of retirement, is this perhaps what is MEANT by entering a Second Childhood? Have a feeling the Porcelain Palace and I are going to become Intimate Friends Soon!

I happen to like orange metamucil . but I find it can be mixed in small quantities because it turns to a gel waiting for me to sip it ever so slowly. I tried Smooth Move tea as well. It worked well.

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Hi! Im 1 month post op (not sure where you are or if this would help) but i had a similar issue and my bari nurse recommended something called smooth move tea or a stool softener but you should ask your individual doctor before panicking

I do agree with others that there may just not be enough food in your belly depending what stage you are in and what diet you are on.

If I go too long without a BM(which for me is about 5 days), or if I definitely feel constipated, I personally use Milk of Magnesia. So far it has been gentle on my stomach. I take it either at night and have a BM in the AM or in the AM on a day where I am not worried about when it will kick in. But even when it does kick in... it isn't an urgent thing. It works by pulling fluid into your intestines which is often what you need after surgery because we tend to be dehydrated.

Miralax wasn't doing it for me.

But most importantly, increase your fluid intake if at all possible!

And a Mini- Update on my Linzess. I think I may be one of the fortunate few- I was so,far down" Constipation Lane" that it has taken me only to Soft but still formed ?stool, absolutely posiltutely NO DIARRHEA as of yet and it is close to a week now. I do get Belly Cramps and horrific stinky gas but NBD, don't go out That Much in the First Place.