ALTERNATIVE TO LAXIDO

Hi Jester,

I take lots (like, 10-20) capsules of psyllium husk every day, and if I do that AND drink enough water, everything stays soft enough to keep moving. But I'm not on any painkillers stronger than Tylenol right now so not so many opportunities to get bound up.

I just find laxatives so harsh and painful, even the 'gentle' ones like Smooth Move tea.

Suz

I agree with ridebred, pysllium husk (I used the soft powder) I used to put a teaspoon in my porridge but quantity can be adjusted. Prunes and prune juice. You just have to experiment and find what suits you and do it slowly. 
Julie

Can I also add to my comment that I don’t think you need to worry too much about taking the laxido as you are quite early post treatment and it’s not like you are going to need them for ever. Have you had your three months check in with your oncologist who will usually examine you if you are not too sore. Once your inners have calmed down you could look at alternative methods. We all have taken things that can give side effects but our use of pain relief in the big scheme of things is relatively short. I worried myself silly taking morphine for three months thinking I would end up addicted. I was reassured by my oncologist that as I am taking them for pain research has shown that you do not get addicted as they monitor the low dosage you are on. I can think of a lot more every day things we put in our bodies that are harmful like alcohol and sugar and these things we don’t stop at around six months of taking them. 
Julie 

Hello Jester

I am sitting in bed drinking my half-glass of prune juice as I write - prune juice affects me the other way but I would rather that than constipation and it doesn't last long.  I have Laxido once a day as well.  I recognise that the body may become dependant if it used really long-term but It is imperative I keep my stools soft, otherwise I just can't go.

Trial and error I think!

Irene xx

Jaycee12, please tell me where you bought your blackstrap molasses?!  My daughter tried and couldn't get them, yesterday I tried at Waitrose, Holland and Barrett (who pointed me towards plain molasses) and Sainsbury - nothing.

Irene xx

Hi Jester , 

I’ve taken Movicol/Laxido for 3.5-4 years without any long-term issues. I suffered constipation throughout treatment & afterwards, I no longer take it as of last summer & have returned to normal, daily bowel movements. Both my surgeon & oncologist were happy for me to continue using the softeners for as long as I needed them, I used them mainly down to stenosis caused by the radiotherapy. Stool softeners are quite different to laxatives, laxatives work on the muscles & eventually will cause a lazy bowel & I was warned against using any kind of laxative whereas stool softeners literally do just that, they bulk out & soften your stools to make them easier to pass. 

Nicola 

Hi Irene, I got mine from grape tree. You can get it from Amazon too. I get the meridian organic one. Obviously if you look on Amazon they have others but make sure it’s organic and free of all those additives.

Julie

Hi Jester, agree with all the other posts. Senna is a natural laxative but I know regular use of something like this can cause issues as it stops your bowels functioning for themselves, damaging nerves and weakening muscles, so this is what the nurse may be referring to with simon.  As Nicky has mentioned there's differences between the laxatives and stool softeners, we should be aiming to soften.  

I recommend the psyllium husk too as it is a natural substance that can be added to diets for other reasons other than assisting with bowel movements. 

I think what can be overlooked at times is that copious amounts of water is required to be taken.  I like to drink water but even I found I was forcing myself to drink lots more to help the laxido / P.husks / cosmocol etc... This is a must.

I really focus on my diet now, found that chinese leaf is really digestible and I have it with kale, avocado, egg, hummus as examples of other soft foods.  Apart from prunes and p.husk, Kiwi is very good and apples with skin on assist do to the high soluble fibre & pectin. I'd add melon to the list as it's watery based.

Probiotics foods inc. yoghurts, kefir and sauerkraut help.  Silly as it may sound, I now also make sure I cut my food up into manageable pieces and chew properly before swallowing - I didn't have to think about this before but I feel all these little things help when we're desperate!

Aloe vera meant to help, but I haven't used it before for bowel issues.  Other than that, I use magnesium which really helps shift things, but again i'd say that's more of a laxative effect & I only increase my dose if I sense a struggle the next day. Only other thoughts are some specific teas to aid digestion after a meal, such as peppermint, or can find pre-made ones e.g. turmeric, ginger & fig mix, these could be used daily as not a large enough dose to cause issues.  I'm sure Simon's system will settle & re-balance again soon - if it were me I'd consider stripping a lot back to re-set everything and gradually re-introducing certain foods, whilst intaking lots of water! All the best Simon!

Hello Em, sorry for late reply - have had 2/3 awful days of pain, so went off & bought prunes, dried apricots, all sorts of stool softening things and just munched away at prunes & apricots & took 1 dessert spoon of syrup of figs when I went to bed. During the day with meals I took a Woods Bowel Care + which contains various things. MG what a mistake! All day yesterday I had the runs, probably went 10/12 times, my poor bum absolutely raw. Just wanted to howl. Took nothing at all last night & had to go twice in the night & by 8.30am today had been 3 times, so I gave in, took 2.5ml morphine. TG pooing has stopped and pain as well (I had taken 2 brufen). So clearly I need to exercise some caution - never imagined I would set off such a reaction. Thank you for all your helpful advice and thanks to everyone else too. I must put in some good news too though. I've made myself a "sit bath" with one of those small bins with a sort of locking top, I put this bin inside an old washing up bowl to save overflow, fill the bin with warm water and sit on it - what a glorious relief! The lovely warm water does the ladies bits too which are always tender and I feel so much better after I've done it, so a huge thank you to the people who mentioned a "sit bath" earlier on. Cheers everybody. Bee Xx

Oh dear Bee when I started to read your post and saw how much of the dried fruit you was eating together with the syrup of Figs I nearly fell off my chair! I am not surprised you spent the day on the toilet. As you say you are going to be a bit more cautious and what a very good idea. . It’s so tempting isn’t it but you just don’t realise how much is too much or not enough. Your poor bum, I can visualise it looking like a baboon on heat ha ha. We have all been there. The sitz baths are great aren’t they. I bought one from Amazon which simply collapses like those silicone washing up bowls you can get for camping. It sits on top of my toilet seat and when I am finished I simply tip the water down the toilet. Even though I am 20 months post treatment very sometimes I still use it first thing in the morning depending on what I have eaten the day before but it definitely gets used very little nowadays. I hope you get some relief today as the lady bits are quite sensitive for a while after treatment. I also bought some harem trousers that were lovely and loose for comfort and nothing that rubbed them parts to make them even more sore. X