Constipation and Diet

My husband was diagnosed back in February & he was told to go to a lower fibre diet & to eat smaller portions but more frequently throughout the day. He has been given fortisip drinks because he was struggling to eat enough to prevent him losing weight. He has also been on a laxative for most of his treatment due to his bowels not working properly but they have taken him off it as he has just had surgery for a blockage in his small intestine. 

He hasn't felt hungry for months but eats to try & stay strong. 

The low fibre means the intestines don't need to work as hard to break down the food but I know what you mean it being opposite to what you think as fibre is what keeps your bowels moving. We started with a strict low fibre diet but they did say he could reintroduce things into his diet slowly. There are specific foods which causing him more problems like porridge but we don't need to peel the skin off potatoes. 

He also suffers from flatulence as well as burping more than is normal. When he is burping more he seems to be more uncomfortable as I think it is a sign that things are struggling to go the other way.

I hope this helps, sorry you & your mum are going through this.  

Thank you for you reply. My mum is also suffering from vomiting, which we are thinking is probably when she eats the “wrong” foods. This then creates a cycle of not eating etc which is hard to watch. 

I think low fiber is the way to go also from what I have read, and slowly reintroduce. Hard to get the calories though without something like fortisip. She has been eating porridge which is interesting that your husband also seem to not be able to tolerate it well. I read something interesting at memorial Sloan regarding sugar, basically they said it doesn’t matter as long as it is calories when the person is struggling to eat. 

Thanks again, going to look more into trying to get a varied food plan together for my mum, based on low fiber options. I personally feel that with my mum, this could make a large difference. She has no energy right now, which I can only think is food related. Sorry to hear about your husband, but the more I read, I think this is something we can fight more than the initial prognosis seem to state. 

My husband has spent a lot of time eating chocolate bars, crisps & biscuits!! I agree any calories are good. He has had a few discussions with a dietician organised by his specialist nurse. Perhaps you should ask about that to give you some pointers? 

is your mum taking fortisip? 

hope you can get answers soon to help. 

Thanks for the help. Yep we are finding our way what to eat and not eat. 

she isn’t taking fortnsip, but we have her on whey powder mixed with milk and a nut butter and fruit and sugar to get up to around 450 calories in one cup. She really likes that. 

she is also starting to eat cake and pastries so that is good also. it’s a bit of a minefield as foods that don’t agree really set things off for a day or so. But so far the low fiber is working better. She tolerates oats and bananas, but a lot of foods like potatoes don’t even interest her. 

I figure if we can at least get close to the daily calorie amount we are doing well.

Hopefully we will get a nutritionist soon also, which will help massively I think. 

Yep answers would be great, we are currently in that horrible undiagnosed place, so finger and everything crossed.