Constipation & Bowel Movement Advice

Liz I am definitely at that end of the spectrum too, though that's true for me as a rule, I never get constipated. Today I think I experienced dumping (sudden overwhelming urge and then mostly liquid diarrhoea) and the only culprit I can think of are the vita gummies I had 10 mins before and I wonder if the sugar in them set me off?? I think we are probably the lucky ones as some people seem to suffer very painful blockages!!!!

Reshers I have the same problem. Day 12 and if I go to the toilet it is just loose and mucous. Horrible.

Allygata wrote:

Hi,
I had this happen to me for a few days week 2 & 4. I am now 5+ weeks post op. I keep a few diary so I quickly worked out the offending foods. Week 2 was from chocolate protein shakes which I was having one a day for 4 days. ( reintroduced week 5 with no issue) Weeks 4 was dairy. (have not reintroduced.) I returned to work week 4 and like you was embarrassed by what rushed from me in the staff toilet. I became really anxious by what happened I even thought I might need to buy some nappies incase the toilet was occupied. Thank god I worked out what didnt agree with me. 
I also found I wasn't giving myself 30mins in between food and fluids. After the offenses I would become cold, tired and have to kip up for 20mins. Doctor told me its called dumping and eliminating foods, reintroducing slowly a week or so later plus ensuring not to over eat and drink too close to meal time should fix the problem. This has worked for me.
Oh and I didn't quit all protein shakes week 2 just chocolate. Other flavors were fine. Hope this info can help you.

Thanks Ally,

I hope it isnt the protein shakes as I have been having the same one every day for brekky. I can't handle more than one a day! Your advice is very useful though. I've been tracking my food on the MyFitness Pal App so I will definitely keep an eye out for any offending foods... I do get some notice, my stomach starts to gurgle real loud, which in itself has been awkward as I've been in the middle of team meetings! I have also noticed another forum where the members talk about this lasting for months, so I am hoping in my case it wont!

Amazing results from your surgery by the way. I notice we both have the same goal. It will be great to share the journey there :)

R

Hi,
I had this happen to me for a few days week 2 & 4. I am now 5+ weeks post op. I keep a few diary so I quickly worked out the offending foods. Week 2 was from chocolate protein shakes which I was having one a day for 4 days. ( reintroduced week 5 with no issue) Weeks 4 was dairy. (have not reintroduced.) I returned to work week 4 and like you was embarrassed by what rushed from me in the staff toilet. I became really anxious by what happened I even thought I might need to buy some nappies incase the toilet was occupied. Thank god I worked out what didnt agree with me. 
I also found I wasn't giving myself 30mins in between food and fluids. After the offenses I would become cold, tired and have to kip up for 20mins. Doctor told me its called dumping and eliminating foods, reintroducing slowly a week or so later plus ensuring not to over eat and drink too close to meal time should fix the problem. This has worked for me.
Oh and I didn't quit all protein shakes week 2 just chocolate. Other flavors were fine. Hope this info can help you.

Erm, apologies in advance if this is TMI, but does anyone have advice for the opposite of constipation. It will be four weeks post-op for me tomorrow and for the past week I have been "explosive". I am on puree/soft foods and have been for about a week. My diet includes things such as risotto, thick soups, ricotta cheese and smoked salmon on Cruskits (Rye), Yakult and pot set Jalna yoghurt. I still have a protein drink every day for breakfast. My tummy starts gurgling after lunch, and more often than not, I get quite gassy, and before you know it, I am in the toilet and having the runs *cringe* Happened at work last week and it was very embarrassing!

Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced this or is something wrong with me??

I'm a nurse and I've worked in aged care for years so poop is a speciality subject of mine...........lol

It is my understanding that lactulose works in the smaller bowel and in the colon. It attracts water into the bowel which makes faeces softer it also adds to the bulk and therefore makes the faeces easier to pass. It also effects peristalsis (the body's natural muscle contractions within the bowel) which is often compromised after having opioids (the strong pain killers they usually give you after the surgery e.g. morphine). In some people opioids cause the bowel to get slack (slows peristalsis) and you need something to kick start it up again. As long as you only take the recommended dosage you shouldn't have any problems with stomach cramps. I have always found it a safe and gentle solution to constipation particularly when caused by opioids. I'm 8 weeks out now and my stomach is healed from the surgery so I'm not concerned about my stomach being affected by lactulose..

Movicol and Benefibre are ok as long as you don't have bad constipation already, it can cause a backlog from the blockage point. If it gets bad enough this can cause problems for the new stomach as the pressure builds up.

Enemas are great for getting straight to the problem but some people aren't to happy to apply them or for that matter having people apply them for them...if you get my drift .......

Hope this helps, of course your surgeon is the best one to go to for advice.

I'm on day 11 and still haven't gone, but until I read this, I didn't think it was a problem. My brother had the sleeve a few months ago and he said he only started going once he started eating actual food - not just liquids.
I figured - in only liquid - out only liquid.
On the other hand, the dietician did mention benefibre - but I forgot up take it - I've been keeping so busy trying to get in my shakes, vitamins and water.
Do you think it's a problem?

Flaxseed oil capsules are great too that's what I had to take on Sureslim they work really well I will start taking them when I can take capsules again xx

, i always had a dreadful time remembering to add the Benefibre or Metamucil to my foods or drinks so i bought Naturesway Daily Fibre ,they are a Vita Gummie for Adults and there are 110 in the jar for about $20. I have found them great and now go evert 2-3 days with no problems at all. I found them easy to remember as i just sit them next to my daily vits so i dont forget them.

My surgeon prescribed lactulose 6 weeks post op! Prior to that i had to give myself an enema ( which worked wonders within the hour) as to not overstimulate my tummy.

I am also a nurse and I spoke with my dietician and nurse prior to leaving hospital and mentioned Actilax and was told no stimulants whatsoever to get bowels moving. As you do not want anything effecting your new stomach with contractions etc, Benefiber is recommended as its not a bulking agent such as Metamucil etc therefore copious amounts of water are not needed. I was on a morphine, midazolam and promethazine PCA on return to ward followed by oral OxyContin from day 1-2 . I had my first bowel movement yesterday at 4 days post op with no problem had 2 tsp of benefiber in half a glass of OJ yesterday arvo and have had 2 somewhat explosive bowel movements today (sorry for the too much info)I am usually an avid fan of Actilax post op and used it for my csections but after talking to dietician and nurse, who did in house training with my surgeon on saturday (disappointed i didn't know otherwise would have attended myself haha) thought I would share also my dad used Actilax post sleeve but maybe more research has been done contradicting its use I don't know.

Yes, you still should be using your bowels. 14 days is a long time without going.. I went 10 days once and landed myself in hospital because of it.

Try some pear juice if you're still on fluids. It works wonders (for me).

I would assume we are still suppose to use our bowels on fluids????? I had my sleeve on Tuesday 31 April and used my bowels on the Sunday before my op and not really since. So that is 14 days ago. I have only ever used my bowels once per week anyway so that is normal for me. 10 days after my op I went to the chemist to ask for their advise and she gave me a suppository to use first because it has been 10 days but the smallest bit came out and that was it. She also told me to take coloxyl daily because it isn't a laxative and can be taken every day as a posed to coloxyl and senna which can't be taken regularly. I used to always take peratone which sure slim put me onto and it is a herbal laxative but I didn't want to use it too close to having my op. just curious if anyone else has taken this long to actual use your bowls properly. I always feel bloated at the end of every day also so wondering if that is why?????

Thanks NRMK.

That's extremely helpful advice to sleevers of all stages... As constipation is unfortunately a side effect that majority of sleevers will experience at one point or another!

I'm a nurse and I used to work on a post op ward so we had LOTS of dealings with bowel issues and I'd like to share some of what I found works best in different situations.

Ok first of all if your taking prescription pain killers you will generally need to take more medication to get things going, and the longer you leave it the harder it is to get things moving.

There are two basic types of medications stimulants and softeners. Here are a few:
Coloxly and Senna is a bowel stimulant it makes the bowels peristaltic movement increase often causing stomach cramps but if the stools not soft it's not the best choice on its own

Lactulose is a stool softener it softens by pulling water into the bowel

Parachoc is a stool paraffin softener

Movicol is a gentle stool softener and very gentle bowel stimulant. It takes about 6 days to start working.

Microlax is a small enema that will only work on the last part of the bowel but very effective to get things going and combine it with oral stool softeners. (Oral and stool should never be in the same sentence) lol

Normicol is a bowel stimlant.

Ok I've given a few drug names here's kind of how I used them. For pts 1-2 days post op id give them 20-30 mls of lactulose or parachoc. For pts who were 2-3 days post op who'd had morphine or any type of pain relief & they'd had normal bowel motions preop (& no bowel action yet) I'd mix 20-30 mls of parachoc with a tablespoon of normacol and mix it together and get them eat the terrible mixture. Very few times would I not get results the next morning. Even if they'd had other bowel promoting products I'd still give them this if they'd had no bowel action yet.
If the pt still had no results I'd give them a second dose the next morning not quite as big but look at giving them a micro lax the 5-6 day as you've been putting things in the top but the bottom will need some help to get going.

To keep things going once they have started is a bit of trial and error, but if you feel yourself getting a bit constipated again up what your doing or try adding in the softener or the stimulant.

I'm not the biggest fan of benefiber type products cos if you can't keep up a decent amount of water intake it tends to bind you up more cos of its bulking effect, but in saying that if your able to get 2L of h2o in then you should be fine.

One more thing when you've had surgery natural things like pears, liquorice, prunes, nuts, etc are not strong enough to kick start the bowels back into work. And while your taking prescription pain medication these will probably not be enough to 'keep you regular.'

However some times it takes so much medication to get the bowels going that you can accidentally go to far and get the runs. If your still taking pain medication trust me this wont happen to long! If your not taking pain relief it may last a few days. When the runs have slowed down to very soft stools start back on your preop 'keep me regular' regimen.

I hope this helps! I'm not a pharmacist or a doctor so please don't take this as medical advice just advice from someone who's had to help lots of ppl w the same problems.