The very first thing I need to say is that I have scheduled an appointment with a GI about this, and they were so pleased to inform me that they had a new patient opening "really soon!".
It is on January 26. At this moment, I am writhing in discomfort.
I know that ours is not a medical advice website. And at the risk of getting waaaay too personal, I will limit my expose to this: is there no attainable middle ground between stopped-up-to-my-eyeballs constipation and can't-stay-out-of-the-bathroom diarrhea????? My PCP gave me some Zelnorm, which helped last year but doesn't now. OTC laxatives provide the necessary TNT to get things moving when I take them. I try not to do this more than twice a week, and when I do take them, large amounts are needed to provide any results at all. I've tried to give all the possibilities a fair shot, and have used Metamucil, Dulcolax, Citrucel, glycerine, Correctal, mag citrate, prunes and their juices, FiberConn, and Miralax, all with good results temporarily. Presently there is a Fleets emema looming threateningly in my bathroom cabinet, but I have not worked up the guts (pardon the pun :chuckle:chuckle ) to go that route yet. I drink tons of water daily and excercise regularly. The aforementioned lax's have the lovely SE of making me nauseated, crampy, and chained to the toilet for half a day. Not taking them means I can stay away from the toilet indefinitely. As a long-term solution, this is INTENSELY uncomfortable, plus it only takes a few days before my clothes don't fit right. The effects of prune juice, sadly, have dwindled to some unimpressive bloating, nothing to write the old folks' home about.
Does anyone here know anything about this? What else is there to try to get into a normal bathrooming schedule? I swear to all present that it was not until I was sitting in class in nursing school that I first learned that most people go daily. I was truly shocked, thinking, "God, who has that kind of time?? Once a week is enough, isn't it?" A GI dx'd me with IBS last July, which is when I first tried the Zelnorm. I've since changed jobs, moved, married, and now that this is flaring up again I have scheduled this appt with a new GI who can see me in just... 29 days. At my current rate, I will be hauling about 40 extra pounds in spare stool along with me by then, so if anyone out there has any words of wisdom, I have definitely got my ears open.
Other naturally occurring orifi (is that a word?), unfortunately, remain firmly closed. :angryfire
My PCP gave me some Zelnorm, which helped last year but doesn't now. OTC laxatives provide the necessary TNT to get things moving when I take them. I try not to do this more than twice a week, and when I do take them, large amounts are needed to provide any results at all. I've tried to give all the possibilities a fair shot, and have used Metamucil, Dulcolax, Citrucel, glycerine, Correctal, mag citrate, prunes and their juices, FiberConn, and Miralax, all with good results temporarily. Presently there is a Fleets emema looming threateningly in my bathroom cabinet, but I have not worked up the guts (pardon the pun :chuckle:chuckle ) to go that route yet. I drink tons of water daily and excercise regularly. The aforementioned lax's have the lovely SE of making me nauseated, crampy, and chained to the toilet for half a day. Not taking them means I can stay away from the toilet indefinitely. As a long-term solution, this is INTENSELY uncomfortable, plus it only takes a few days before my clothes don't fit right. The effects of prune juice, sadly, have dwindled to some unimpressive bloating, nothing to write the old folks' home about.
I was truly shocked, thinking, "God, who has that kind of time?? Once a week is enough, isn't it?" A GI dx'd me with IBS last July, which is when I first tried the Zelnorm. I've since changed jobs, moved, married, and now that this is flaring up again I have scheduled this appt with a new GI who can see me in just... 29 days. At my current rate, I will be hauling about 40 extra pounds in spare stool along with me by then, so if anyone out there has any words of wisdom, I have definitely got my ears open.