Constipated... some TMI here...

I've had issues with constipation for ages now, I think because of some meds that I'm on (Effexor). I make a concerted effort to get lots of fiber in my diet - I don't take fiber supplements but I eat a high fiber cereal every day for breakfast, and I eat broccoli and beans quite a lot (I'm a vegetarian).

Well lately it seems to have gotten worse. I sometimes go days without pooping... and then when I do, it's either rock solid and really painful to pass, or else it's diarrhea. The other night I had these awful gut spasms that lasted about an hour (seriously I thought I was going to die!) - and I had diarrhea with them. It felt like my whole insides were being squeezed, I broke out in a sweat, and I had dry heaves. Something like this has happened to me before too (maybe a few months ago). When it finally passed enough for me to get off the toilet, I got into the bath and the hot water seemed to help stop the gut spasms. I would think it was food poisoning or a flu, but I don't eat any foods that generally give food poisoning (being as I'm a vegetarian), and it did happen to me before. I suspect it might be related to the constipation - do I have a blockage or something? I haven't pooped again since that event which was Wednesday night, so I'm starting to get a little anxious.

I am a bit of a hypochondriac and I feel like I'm always bugging my doctor with something or another. Do you think it's time to go see her? I don't want to take a laxative or even eat laxative type foods really, because I'm scared of having another attack like the other night. At the same time I obviously need to get my bowels moving.

Help?

I find that 25g of fiber daily solves problems associated with taking tablets. Are you sure you are having as much as 25g? It really works (in my experience at least)! If you have a look at the nutritional analysis for all the food you've entered in the last few days, you'll see how much fiber you have each day on average. Good luck!

Looks like my average for the past week was 16g. So I guess I should work on getting that higher. It's hard to get enough! I was looking at Metamucil but I think it's more of a laxative, and it says you can't take it within a few hours of other medications, which is a problem for me because I have different meds I take at about 2-3 times per day. So it would be hard to find a convenient time that wasn't within a few hours of that. Also, I am sort of wary of fiber supplements (especially the pill form ones), because I've heard that if you aren't really careful about getting enough water too then they can make things even worse.

Increase your fiber (and, slightly less so your water intake) before you go to supplementing.

As said the RDA for women is a minimum of 25g a day. Some people can even tolerate more but aim not to exceed 50g tops. You also need to make sure you're getting enough soluble and insoluble fibre - Insoluble (the fibre that forms bulk and regulates acidity and PH in the gut) and soluble (the fibre that helps regulate blood sugar and cholesterol).

Insoluble fibre examples:
 -- Whole-wheat pastas, breads, etc
 -- Quinoa
 -- Brown rice
 -- Bran products
 -- Fruit and vegetable skins, such as potato skins, tomato skins, plum/prune skins, apple skins, pear skins
 -- Nuts and seeds, particularly flax, almonds, brazil nuts and walnuts

Soluble fibre examples:
 -- Oats
 -- Rye
 -- Barley
 -- Potatoes of all varieties
 -- Psyillium husks
 -- Legumes and pulses, especially lentils, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), kidney beans, pinto beans and soybeans

And pretty much all fruits and vegetables. Particularly raspberries, plums, bananas, sweetcorn, prunes, apples, pears, blackberries, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels, asparagus, artichokes and dried fruit. Again, never introduce lots more fibre without drinking enough water to compensate. There is a more detailed list of fibre sources here for future reference.

Well, I definitely had similar problems at 16g. I find that 2 oz of All Bran a day (1 for breakfast & 1 as a snack) are already roughly 18g of fiber, so if you even added 1 oz of it to your current diet you would be there (73 calories). There is also this really nice thing called Alpen Light Bar (chocolate & orange), which only has 60 calories but 5g of fiber per bar, and is a really nice treat with a cup of tea. You could add two of those and you would be there (120 calories). Bananas and dates also seem to increase the fiber figure relatively rapidly, so you could switch, say apples for bananas, etc. Hope it works. Really does for me, and I too have several types of tablets to take...

Sounds to me like you have irritable bowel syndrome.  You should go to your doctor.  There are medicines and diet regemins (sp?) that can help!

Taking this advice from someone who has had her colon removed b/c of this very same reason...fiber made me worse!!! I would recommend seeing a gastroenterologist.  It sounds like you may have IBS.

Definitely see a doctor! The pains that you are describing accompanied by diarrhea is very IBS sounding (I have it, and the same things happens to me every once in awhile). If you overdo fiber, you can make some intestinal conditions worse.  When I was first diagnosed, I had to cut back on my veggies (I am a vegetarian too).   You should make an appointment with you general doctor and tell him/her what is going on to get a professional opinion.  Until then, try adding a salad with your lunch or dinner.  Also, take note of how much coffee and soda you are drinking.  One rule of thumb that I follow is the general 8 glasses of water per day, plus one extra glass for each cup of coffee, serving of soda, or alcoholic beverage. Getting dehydrated will just make things much worse.  

I have had this problem for years.  Try a magnesium supplement; it will take a few days to get through your system.  I've been taking it for 2 months, and my problems have greatly improved. 

It sounds like you might have some sort of inflammation, and It really depends on many factors... Do you eat lots of sugar substitutes? Could you possibly have an allergy to gluten? Are you eating a lot of processed foods? For me I know that when I'm overdoing splenda or if I drink diet coke more than once or twice a week, that can constipate me. I also have an allergy to gluten, and it's not an extremely noticable allergy. But it does cause inflamation in my intestines, and sometimes makes my body feel swollen if I'm constatly eating it. I even have a hard time with soy if I'm eating too much of that. There are many foods that are supposedly "healthy", like whole wheat bread and pastas, that can cause inflammation in your bowels if you have this allergy. Maybe try laying off gluten and/or sugar substitutes (if those are something you use) for a week and see how everything goes.

If you don't think that's what it is, it could very well be that your intestines are backed up/ inflammed for other reasons, and you may just want to start eating really clean for a while to see if that helps. There is also this really good cleanse you can buy that is all natural, it's kind of expensive but it has really helped a lot of people. You can view it on the link below.

http://www.drnatura.com (make sure you read the testimonials and look at the pictures of what will come out of you... it doesn't look like it's real, but it is! (and it's completely painless) I've had some similar stuff, I never finished the cleanse because I'm lazy, but I was planning on starting up again for real this time)

If that's too expensive you can just go to your local health food store and buy some psyllum husks, and drink about a tablespoon mixed in water every morning. That will really help clean you out, and it's totally painless. It shouldn't make you have the runs or anthing, but it will soften you stools a little.

Well I really hope this helps... please let me know if it does!

Thanks everybody for your responses. I think I am going to go see my doctor. I almost went to the clinic today but decided to give it one more day... I still haven't had a bm... so yeah I'm not super happy at the moment :/ I don't plan on trying any cleanses or dietary changes until I talk to my doctor though, I would hate to do something that might make things worse.

But to answer some of your questions... I don't eat sugar substitutes at all. I avoid caffeine for the most part. I do drink occasionally (like, maybe once a week I have a bottle or two of cider or beer, or a few glasses of wine, but nothing too much).

I suspect I don't get enough water. I try, and I've been trying more lately... but I know I'm still not there for getting enough.