Fortisips

Spider3 said:

My question is , does your poo consistency get better  or is it always like mud ,not sure if all the drugs are making it worse

Mine varied. My oncologist told me to take four laxido a day. That was too much. I stabilised on two. Didn’t dare stop while I was on morphine. 

I lived on fortisips as well, i could not manage any solids at all during treatment and for a month or so after treatment.

I was on oramorph, laxido and fentanyl .. to be honest i alternated between mind blowingly painful constipation and awful diarrhea with nothing in-between. 

The good news is that once i was off the pain meds the bowel movements went back to normal. I am sure this will be the case for you.

Thanks TrevW for your response 

Hi Spider. Be careful re stopping  the laxido, it’s all too easy to get compacted poo with being on opiates. It’s a fine balance I took one sachet a day and to be honest was ng tube fed and my poo was normal I was in co codomol and oramorph . Once treatment stops and you start to wean  iff the pain killers around 3 month for me l I was orally drinking ensure 3 weeks after treatment. Poo does return ti normal. 

Hazel 

Thanks Hazel ,will monitor it with 1 sachet a day ,

Hey spider, i would agree with hazel, my experience is that loose (or liquid) poo is nowhere near as bad as severe constipation. 

My bowels alternated between impacted constipation and very loose stools for quite some time. Although the constipation stopped as I began to recover my  bowels were still highly unpredictable for many months afterwards to the extent that I almost always had to stop for a poo whilst out for my daily walk (which was thankfully 90% in the countryside). I think it’s fair to say that the combination of treatment and drugs can play absolute havoc with one’s bowels. 

It does get better.  It was really unpleasent when I went onto pump feed bags of food, but as I returned to normal food so did the poo.  Just take the laxatives otherwise you will bung up.  I varied mine as to how I was feeling, but for me most days one would suffice.

Thanks MarkEL, I just wanted to know I wasn't unique in this !! 

• Thanks Peter