Mushy stool

Submitted by gina1962 on March 8, 2012 - 9:12am
Body: 

hi everyone, I am new to the forum and wondered if anyone has a similar problem to mine?

I am 50 this year, vegetarian and up until I broke my ankle 8 weeks ago had one very healthy daily bm. When I broke my ankle I was in hospital for a week until the swelling had gone down so I could have a plate and screws inserted. Post surgery I was on morphine (which I became allergic to), a short course of antibiotics, and then co-codamol. I also had to self inject Fragmin to stop dvt. both the morphine and co-codamol made me extremely constipated and I ended up using laxatives.

The problem is that since I stopped taking the painkillers my bm's have been very mushy with absolutely no form at all. It is also very smelly.

I continued to eat my normal diet with lots of water in the hope it would sort itself out. I also take omega oils, a probiotic and add ground flaxseed to my porridge everyday. I have also tried Fybogel (only for 1 day admittedly) but i didnt like it and would rather try and sort things out naturally.

I then found on online article today that if you eat lots if fresh fruit and veg and whole foods as I do there is no need to drink loads of water and to listen to your body and drink just to quench your thirst. I am trying this today.

Finally, because of my broken leg I have not been moving around as much as normal as I had to keep it elevated most of the time, but I have started walking with a frame again this week.

I am sorry this post is so long but my gut feeling (no pun intended!) is that its something to do with the op/medication and subsequent constipation.

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Forum:

bad_mirror

March 8, 2012 - 9:30am

Probiotics! Yogurt, sauerkraut, kombucha! You probably obliterated your natural intestinal flora, but can repopulate it with fermented foods. Eat plenty.

gina1962

March 8, 2012 - 9:44am

...I will give it a try!

Surviving60

March 8, 2012 - 10:31am

There is a school of thought that says soft, unformed stool is perfectly healthy.....good in fact, because it is a sign that you aren't bulking up your stool with excessive fiber and putting undue strain on all those tissues. Maybe it's the "new normal" for you, or maybe your "old normal" will return after you get your intestinal flora back. I too have heard that we don't need to chug as much water as some of us do. I've never delved much into that argument because whenever I've tried to drink more than my thirst dictated, I could never stick with it.

mom30

March 9, 2012 - 11:30am

I second probiotics! Eat greek yogurt for breakfast too!!! And, try Vitamin D3 to help for your bowels.

gina1962

March 9, 2012 - 12:40pm

no improvement this morning but i have had my shopping delivered and brought some Yakult and sauerkraut to add to my regime. Never had sauerkraut before but its delicious and the one they had in tesco fortunately was made with water and salt not vinegar, which I understand is better in the fermentation process?

Mims

October 25, 2012 - 4:37pm

Hi, I frequently have constipation problems, too. When the going gets tough (i.e., I can't go at all), I take a supplement called EZ-Go, It is an herbal product, and believe me, will thoroughly clean you out within 6-12 hours. It can be ordered from www.doctorschoicenaturally.com.

louiseds

October 25, 2012 - 7:24pm

Hi Mims, and others

You don't give any personal details about this supplement and how you have used it. Just because it is herbal doesn't make it good. There have been quite a few posts of this nature on the Forums in the last few days. I am not convinced that they are anything but advertising. I have not learned anything from the posters, other than that there is another product out there. They do not add anything to the conversation.

We know there are people whose paid job it is to place product names on Community Forums. That is free advertising. We don't do that.

Your post called natural laxative can stay for now. Any new posts of this nature, by anyone at all will be deleted for the next few weeks. We have people watching the Forums for inappropriate posts, 24/7.

If free advertising was not your intention, please elaborate from your personal experience with constipation and its effect on your prolapse, which is after all what these Forums are about.

Sorry if I sound annoyed unnecessarily, but I don't like to see salespeople taking advantage of free space for their own commercial interests, disguised as helping others.

Members' accounts will be blocked too, if we judge that they have posted inappropriately. If this happens to you and you want it reversed, please email the site and we will look at your argument.

Louise

Surviving60

October 26, 2012 - 8:50am

You're too kind, Louise! I'm starting to think we should have a zero-tolerance policy for this type of post. One strike and you're out. It just gets a little old after awhile. We're spending our valuable time and energy trying to be nice and give these "members" the benefit of the doubt. - Surviving

louiseds

October 26, 2012 - 9:13am

Well, I look at it this way. Something like 65% of communication happens non-verbally. That means that we may only be getting 35% of the message at best. Some people don't communicate well in writing, and may give entirely the wrong impression. Some do not have English as a first language. I think we have to allow people to become comfortable and make themselves clear. I don't know about you, but I was very nervous doing my first post, and wouldn't have questioned it, had I been bawled out! I would simply have not returned, and my story would have panned out quite differently.

I think you will find that those who have erred will not return, and I hope that those who are genuine will feel a little more comfortable with their next post.

Feel free to alert me if there are any posts that look dodgy. They are pretty obvious on the whole because they lack context for what they say. I think they just cut and paste general text from other sites. I think our Members can tell. These ads are annoying like flies at a picnic. You just have to make an effort to prevent them from making themselves too obvious, and repelling them, while you would rather be enjoying the picnic.

L