question about best way to "encourage" bowels

Hi Lauren

My googlings show that melanosis is reversible with time as long as the offending laxative is discontinued. I can see that you are keen to let this happen. Often times symptoms that we experience are side effects of medication we are taking for other health problems. If the medication you are taking causes constipation you might like to ask your doctor if there is an alternative medication you can take that will not cause constipation. Also, find out what aspect of the offending medication causes constipation (product website?). That may give the doctor a clue as to the type of laxative you need to get around the constipation.

The muscle relaxants you have been taking will prevent the muscular part of your bowel from working properly, so getting off those will also help your bowel to recover. Part of the problem with melanosis appears to be that it is assymptomatic. It is a pity your doctor was not on the lookout for it earlier.

BTW, the other thing I found out was that some of the herbal laxatives, eg senna and rhubarb derivatives, from the anthranoid group, also phenolphthalein (another old-fashioned laxative) are the main culprits. Maybe that is why he wants you to use Miralax instead of the herbal laxatives.

You might also like to talk to a pharmacist. They know more about pharmacology than doctors.

Good luck.

Louise

Hi Lauren,
In case you don't know already know about it, I am telling you about this very simple yet effective technique (I think it is from the Tao). It works really well on my son (I fortunately don't need it). You massage your abdomen clockwise to help lower the water absorption by your intestine. If you lay flat on your back it is easier to do.

Hi Ladybug

Does it work if you are already bound up?

Louise

HI Lauren,
Just wondering when you say a lot of fibre, what you mean. I know that since my POPs, I've had to alter my diet--it was already good, but it's had to get much much better to stay regular. Stray from it (which I do...) and eek!
So ideally I eat 35 - 40g of fibre a day, including lots of pulses and raw veg, and a ton of water. I also walk a lot--ideally an hour a day. Not always possible, but what i aim for.
I also have had to cut out all dairy except for a bit of live yogurt, chocolate, most refined carb & sugar, and don't eat red meat or gluten anyway.

If it stick with that i do great. if not, i feel it.

So, whilst it may not solve it all, it may really help to look at your diet and really work on making it as good as you can to see what happens--even if it helps halfway, that's halfway there.

Also if you put constipation in the search engine you get threads about stretching positions etc some people find help--have a hunt.

Kiki

Hi Louise,
I don't know for serious cases. I used it for my son when he was a few months old and spent several days without going. Before we hit the road for a few hours, I would massage his abdomen for 5 min and results were guaranteed 20-30 min later. It is probably best used as prevention but it is not much effort to try. The kundalini exercise that Christine shows in the DVD (circling the navel) also has the reputation of helping, I figured that could be the reason why she included it.
People who have a tendency to diarrhea (some people who had intestine surgery) can improve their condition by massaging counterclockwise.

I am hypothyroid and have rectocele, too. The constipation improved quite a bit when I was finally on a proper thyroid hormone regimen. Synthetic T4 alone (the typical treatment) wasn't improving enough of my hypothyroid symptoms, though my new TSH and T4 test results made my endocrinologist happy. I found much relief when I started taking some T3 in addition to the T4 (I must not be an efficient converter of T4, which is the storage form of thyroid hormone, into T3, that active form used by the cells). I did even better when I switched from the synthetic hormones to natural desiccated thyroid hormone (Naturethroid), which contains all 4 of the hormones the gland should make (plus some other things also not found in synthetic thyroid hormone) but my endo wouldn't let me try the natural hormones, so I switched doctors to one who would let me try it.

I also make sure to take a magnesium supplement daily, as nearly everyone an use more magnesium (the soils are depleted and food processing takes out magnesium). Magnesium is helpful as a mild laxative. But the results vary depending on which magnesium form used. Magnesium oxide has the greatest laxative effect, especially if taken in high doses, because it isn't well-absorbed at all and attracts a lot of water (which can create runny stools too easily). So now I take a chelated magnesium aspartate or magnesium citrate for better absorption of the mangesium, but also a somewhat milder laxative effect. Some people have good results when they soak in a bath with epsom salts (magnesium is absorbed via the skin) or massaging in some magnesium chloride oil (which isn't an oil and is hard to find except online).

The other thing that made a HUGE difference for me was to eliminate gluten/grain and soy from my diet. These ingredients were a huge problem for me and created either wide, bulky stools that were impossible to pass even if they were soft, and repeatedly tore fissures (wheat & grain fiber), or compacted hard "rabbit pellet" stools that were not quite as wide but also difficult to pass (processed soy protein, especially from protein bars). I don't monitor fiber intake at all anymore, but since I have replaced all starchy side dishes and grain foods with additional non-starchy veggies, it must be an appropriate amount of non-grain fiber because I now rarely have stools that are simply too wide and bulky to pass.

I've even experimented with eating no plants for a while - only pastured meat/poultry/wild caught fish, homemade bone broths, eggs, and cultured dairy (with live cultures) for a period of time (no appreciable amounts of plant fiber) and even that didn't worsen my rectocele elimination issues (stool is largely composed of dead body cell waste and dead intestinal bacteria anyway, not fiber or undigested food - even liquid nutrient tube-fed comatose patients pass bowel movements from dead cells).

Regular ingestion of probiotic bacteria is also very important for proper GI function. Our entire family now consumes regularly foods naturally rich in probiotics - homemade sauerkraut & pickles, yogurt/creme fraiche, raw cider vinegar, raw long fermented wheat-free tamari & miso, live culture whey, etc. We don't buy highly processed and sugary commercial products like Activia, though. When we travel and don't have access to our usual probiotic foods, we take probiotic supplements in capsules.

I think it is easy to become too addicted to fiber, especially bran fiber supplements. I have to wonder if rapid bowel transit is such a good thing; perhaps the body finds the toxic elements in grain bran so problematic that it creates mucus to protect the lining against the harsh bran and ushers it out fast for a good reason? Could rapid transit also result in nutrient deficiencies and poor digestion due to lack of time to break down and absorb nutrients? Fiber and phytates are also well-known to chelate/bind with minerals that are also present, which can lead to mineral deficiencies and poor bone/dental health.

martina52
THIS IS MY FIRST TIME TO "POST". I had to! Everyone should know (study) about magnesium. It's amazing and we need it. The best kind of magnesium I have found since I began taking it many many years ago; is a product called CALM (WE ALL NEED ONE HALF AS much magnesium as we ingest CALCIUM in order to digest the calcium). I love this product. I have nothing to gain from this recomendation; but you do. I buy it for my husband; our two adult sons; our little grandaughter; my mom (died); our 87 year old neighbor; etc. Go to this website and read about it; if you would like to learn about it calmnatural.com/products. I buy it at my health store food market; not on line. I use to buy many different kinds of magnesium but not any more. Others work great too though (magnesium works wonderfully as a laxative but supplies a mineral we must have); but now I only buy CALM.

JUST THOUGHT I'D SHARE.

OH YEA; AM I BLESSED OR WHAT? I LIVE ONE AND HALF MILES FROM WHOLE WOMAN CENTER IN ALBURQUERQUE (CORRECT SPELLING); WE OWN 12 DUCKS; AND GROW MOST OF OUR OWN ORGANIC FOOD; and I own a prolapse.

martina 52 "SHARES"

lucky duck!
and we use Calm too- It really is a pretty good formula- I do the one with calcium-
Helps so much with leg cramps in pregnancy
and since I started taking it I quit grinding my teeth at night.

I took my oft-forgotten magnesium last night! Thanks so much for reminding us. Hope you've had a lovely weekend - we just got home from As You Like It at Popejoy :)

martina52

HEY GIRLS: I'M FROM ALBURQUERQUE(CORRECT SPELLING); BORN AND RAISED!! ONE AND ONE HALF MILES FROM CHRISTINE'S "WHOLE WOMAN CENTER" FRONT DOOR (AND I JUST FOUND OUT).

LET ME TELL YOU CHRISTINE IS A BRIGHT AND SHINING LIGHT BEFORE HER TIME. IT SHOULDN'T SWELL ANYONE'S HEAD CUZ IT'S JUST THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

THANKS FOR THE WELCOME!

OH YEA! WE HAVE 16 DUCKS; GROW MOST OF OUR OWN ORGANIC FOOD ON OUR FRONT YARD AND I have a prolapse.

MARTINA 52 "SHARES".

POP since July 2000. Expecting baby #3 January 2010!

Would like to jump on this bandwagon...I cannot take laxatives, (herbal or otherwise), without getting diarrhea, and I cannot eat a lot of fiber without getting incredibly bloated, gassy, and flatulent, even if I add in small amounts of it slowly, it just plain doesn't agree with my stomach. So this has always been a dilemma for me and whatever I try to do, I'm uncomfortable and can't leave the house until it passes. The massages sound interesting. I wonder if it would give me diarrhea or gassiness. Do you rub counterclockwise as if you were looking down at your abdomen, or looking up at it? Can't I do this while pregnant?