Constipation after gastric sleeve surgery. How many days do you wait until you take something to help correct the problem? What did you do or take. My surgery was on 4/26/22. Any info will be a big help Thanks

I used to take a stool softener the night of the 3rd day without any movement. I felt this kept it under control & I never had any discomfort from going too many days without a BM & I didn’t ever need anything stronger then the stool softener. I often only went every second day understandable when you consider how little we eat.

I actually have been told to start a probiotic before surgery on Tues. I also have already been given a stool softener (Colace).

Edited April 29, 20224 yr by Crisscat

I was never told any info on this subject. Can we actually take pill at this stage of my post surgery? I've been told to crush my medicine. I think the stool softeners I have are liquid. I do have some MiraLax. I wonder if that is ok to start.

I can’t remember what day it was that my team said to take milk of magnesia but one dose of that worked fine. Then they said to start taking soluable fiber such as benefiber daily. Walmart has a generic powder form that’s much cheaper and I just mixed a spoonful in some crystal light each morning. Anyways, I did that and it kept me regular every since. Once I got to a normal serving size of food I weaned myself off the fiber and now I don’t need anything. Many people do need to do something for life though post sleeve.

3 minutes ago, Robz said:

I was never told any info on this subject. Can we actually take pill at this stage of my post surgery? I've been told to crush my medicine. I think the stool softeners I have are liquid. I do have some Miralax. I wonder if that is ok to start.

I was able to take pills right away but some teams have different advice on that. If you have any literature from your team it may actually say their particular recommendation for constipation in there. It’s that common.

1 minute ago, ShoppGirl said:

I was able to take pills right away but some teams have different advice on that. If you have any literature from your team it may actually say their particular recommendation for constipation in there. It’s that common.

I do have a booklet. I might have over looked it. I will read it again in the morning. This forum has been so helpful for me

It truly helps knowing we arent alone in this

Took about 4 days for me to go number 2 after sleeve surgery. They did prescribe stool softeners.

very common with both sleeve and bypass. And just as a heads up, chronic constipation (even after the first BM) is pretty common, too.

the first BM can take up to a week and can be a real doozy, so we were advised to take stool softeners.

after that one, a lot of us take a capful of Miralax every day to stay on top of constipation - although others take stool softeners, probiotics, SmoothMove tea, or magnesium tablets. Whatever works...

My surgeon said Miralax was ok to take immediately after surgery. I take it everyday to avoid constipation. I've been constipated twice since surgery and both times it was due to missing my Miralax two days in a row. I also take generic Colace daily as well.

I never had any poop issues after the sleeve, but it seems like they said to take Colace if you did.

it take Trulance

18 hours ago, Robz said:

I was never told any info on this subject. Can we actually take pill at this stage of my post surgery? I've been told to crush my medicine. I think the stool softeners I have are liquid. I do have some Miralax. I wonder if that is ok to start.

I took lots of pills starting a few hours after surgery. I also take Miralax sometimes. I never found stool softeners to help at all. A few times I've had to use a suppository laxative if I haven't gone in 4 days or so - this was recommended by the nurse practitioner at my surgery center.

I also find that moving more, drinking more fluids, and drinking coffee/tea helps.

Edited April 29, 20224 yr by lizonaplane