Help with constipation

[LCBUTLER]

I have a friend that has bad constipation. Sometimes she will go 3 weeks without a BM. Then she will load up on stool softners and have the big D for two days.

She eats a pretty clean diet. Is thier anything that can help.

Thanks

LC

 

[Sassy69]

Jeez. Does she see a doc about that? I can't speak to any medical issue that might be involved, but diet-wise -- the usual questions - does she get enough good quality fats & fiber? Too much fiber? For just general aid w/ digestion:

- ginger root (get caps from GNC or wherever, cheap)
- if eating a lot of broccoli, cauliflower, etc. -- DIgestive Enzymes or Beano - those types of veggies are fantastic but they have a sugar in them we don't have an enzyme to digest so they can back you up sometimes.
- lactaid --- any dairy issues?


Also in general -- is she allergic to certain foods? That might be a place to also consider.

Velvett might be able to provide more insight there.

 

[LCBUTLER]

I have asked her to see a doc..but she has not yet. She is slightly lactose intolerant. She takes flax and fish oil. She does not eat lots of veggies but some.

Her diet consists mosly of lean meats, and fiberous carbs like green beans.

I was thinking some MCT oil might help.

 

[Sassy69]

The lactose intolerance might be affecting her if she doesn't use lactaid or something - I never was lactose intolerant until I started competition dieting - a few times I just lost it & had to do a cheat -- and literally even a couple lumps of feta cheese in a salad locked me up for 1/2 a day.

Otherwise the food allergy thing might be something to consider.


Check this thread --
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=502339&highlight=food+allergy

 

[musclemom]

I have a friend that has bad constipation. Sometimes she will go 3 weeks without a BM. Then she will load up on stool softners and have the big D for two days.

She eats a pretty clean diet. Is thier anything that can help.

Thanks

LC

What Sassy said, I'm telling you, what your friend is suffering from is NOT run of the mill constipation.

Okay, way more info than anyone wants to know about shit but ... there is a difference between constipation and low/slow motility.

Constipation is the urge to go, but it's EXTREMELY difficult/painful to go, the stool is very dry, etc.

Low motility is NO urge to go, despite it having been several days/weeks since you've gone.

Generally speaking, constipation is caused by a lousy diet and over dependence on laxatives. It IS possible to become dependent on laxatives. But if she's going three weeks before she uses the laxatives, that doesn't make sense, usually laxative dependence happens when you're using them day after day.

Low motility can be caused by food intolerances/allergies, a G.I. doctor might argue with me, but I've run into a LOT of people who have had this problem, myself included, it was how my gluten allergy manifested and in fact it's not an unusual first symptom of gluten/wheat intolerance.

Your friend needs to deal with this problem, this is not healthy. A sick
GI tract is the source of immune problems, toxicity problems ... your GI tract is actually responsible for a lot more than processing food.

 

[LCBUTLER]

Thank you so much for the information.

So she really needs to see a Dr. She says that she sometimes gets an urge to go...but she calls it a false alarm. Here is what is weird. I got her a box of those muscle sandwich bars. for 6 days in a row she ate one of those and pooped each day....she thought it was because of the bars...but now she has not gone 5 days with nothing. Her diet is consistent enough that it is easy to think why the bars helped. But now we are back to 5 days with no BM.

She always seems to poop better like right before her period too, but she gets really really bad PMS about 4 to 5 days before she starts...any of this helpful?

Very Thankful...

LC

 

[musclemom]

Thank you so much for the information.

So she really needs to see a Dr. She says that she sometimes gets an urge to go...but she calls it a false alarm. Here is what is weird. I got her a box of those muscle sandwich bars. for 6 days in a row she ate one of those and pooped each day....she thought it was because of the bars...but now she has not gone 5 days with nothing. Her diet is consistent enough that it is easy to think why the bars helped. But now we are back to 5 days with no BM.

She always seems to poop better like right before her period too, but she gets really really bad PMS about 4 to 5 days before she starts...any of this helpful?

Very Thankful...

LC

The only way the knowledge about the bars would be useful would be knowing how ELSE her diet changed while she was eating those, e.g., what did she NOT eat because she ate those, or was the only difference that she added those? Tell her to break down and buy some more bars, add the bars back and see if the innerds get back on track. The main ingredient seems to be peanuts, maybe she just needs to up her fiber a little? There's lots of things that can make getting enough fiber a lot easier ... your friends problem may be just insufficient fiber/water.

And a lot of women have goofed up bowels right before their periods, hormones do funny things.

Bad PMS can be from a bad diet, lack of vitamins or minerals, systemic candida, too much sugar and refined carbs ... long distance hypothetical diagnosis is awful tough. I realize you're trying to be a good friend but honey, either your friend needs to deal with this issue directly (she's welcome to bounce some ideas off me) or she needs to talk to a GI doc.

 

[Sassy69]

I'd also suggest that keep a food diary --- it would be useful to post up a typical day's meal plan here - I'd even suggest putting it into a food counts program, e.g. www.fitday.com -- gives you all the quantifiable details as well - total cals, macronutrient split - % protein, fat & carb. I'm not sayign she needs to log it every day if she eats pretty much the same, but lay it out once in a meal plan to look at it & see REALLY what she is eating - if you can post it here, something might stick out & give some further ideas. Its really hard to know what "she eats good / clean" means and often people don't "eyeball" the portion sizes of their food or realize that the little things that they think are negligible can actually have an impact -- just doing due diligence to look at the issue -- if she's had that problem for a long time - the easiest place to look is her "lifestyle" because your body reflects your lifestyle - how you eat, what you eat, when you eat, your activities, etc.

She can start researching things like gluten allergies, etc. on the web as well.

 

[jenscats5]

What the other ladies said basically........but IMO she should see a Dr. right away as this problem can cause some very very serious issues later in life......

 

[LCBUTLER]

Thank you all for your input. I truly appreciate it. I will talk more with her about your suggestions. One other interesting thing to note with her is that she has some back alignment problems (I dont mean to make her out to be some wierdo with a bunch of problems she really is the most awesome person ever)...but anyway she was seeing a chiropractor who was having her do some traction to get her back adjusted properly...everyday that she would do the traction she would have a BM....sometimes it would happen before she left the Dr.s office....This person is a good Dr. too...I have seen the same on and have always had great luck...however it did not make me poop better.

Thanks again so much.

LC