I did learn that Metamucil is a good source of fibre and must be used with lots of water, if not enough liquids are consumed it can have the opposite effect. If the doctor prescribed it perhaps that’s the effect they want for your dad to slow down his bowel movements, I hope it helps you and also as a senior person I am truly touched by your caring for your father, all the best wishes for you and your dad.

I lost my entire colon due to cancer surgery, which means my feces is always runny (I have no colon to remove the liquid), difficult to control and frequent (8-9) times a day - including overnight events.

Per Mayo Clinic, I was directed to make a barely drinkable slurry of Metamucil (psyllium fiber) and drink it. The psyllium fibers absorbs excess water, helps make the stool more semi-solid and also easier to control. I do a heaping teaspoon in 2 ounces of water 4 times a day. 2 hours after breakfast, 1 hour after lunch, 2 hours after evening meal and in the middle of the night when I wake up for a bathroom run. The delays are to enable absorption of medications which this can impact. If you mix it with too little water, you can even eat it with a spoon much like applesauce although I don't recommend that.

So the normal use of MM is to drink it with lots of water to loosen stools, but it also tightens stools if used in a larger quantity with minimal water.

Some practical notes - some of which would apply to other readers.

1) amount and frequency will vary so some experimentation with quantity and frequency is necessary and can take some time to figure out.

2) Some of the non MM fiber supplements that have psyllium fiber also have granulated sugar which can aggravate diarrhea, I found these unhelpful. There are also some with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame to which some (like me) are allergic and there's a Metamucil product with Stevia. I use that one, but is more expensive. So read the label.

3) All of the ones I've used have maltodextrin, which is a carbohydrate. There probably are some psyllium fiber products that don't have it - so shop around if you're trying to cut carbs.

4) I have found that doing this consistently works best. When I'm unable to mix a powder in water, I take some (7-8) MM capsules at the water fountain - much easier to manage than carrying the powder form and mixing it.

Hope that helps!

Costco sells it's own brand of psyllium husk with no sugar. There are other brands sold on Amazon also with no sugar. As @rjjacobsen has said, the trick is to take it with little water and, my doctor said, not drink more than 1.5 L of liquids in 24 hours.

I worry about the water, and man it's expensive. Sugar doesn't really bother dad, so what I did was buy him these fiber gummies. I would buy the pills but he can't swallow them and I worried about water with the powder (and it's sometimes hard to get dad to drink what he considers "bad tasting"). They recommend 3 gummiers per day and I gave him 4 this afternoon. He's had a restful night, so maybe I'm on to something. If it changes I will try something else.

I do have a separate post on here regarding nocternal incontinence, I really have no issues during the day, only when asleep, I usually wake too late. I have been taking metamucil w/sugar for years along with loperamide ( anywhere from 2 - 8 tabs/day). This has worked for many years along with azathioprine & antibiotics for any inflammation, in August I began Tremfya, I have not noticed much difference, tho I was hoping it would help out somewhat with the incontinence.
For those of you that use the psyllium whole husk fiber, I am interested in how much and how often you take this daily? Also how you consume it? Do you mix with small amount of water, use applesauce, oatmeal, peanut butter toast? I have seen some of these listed in ways to consume. I am just looking for some ways to get more than an hour or 2 of sleep at a time. Last night I woke up 5 times in a 6 hour period, I have been wearing incontinence underwear to bed for the past 2+ years, with pads inserted so that I don't have to dispose of the underwear each time, I can just replace the pad/liner. As all of you know sleep is very important to all of us, and the lack of it just really sucks, and staying up later than normal in order to be to control my bowel movements is not the answere either. Thanks for any comments and my best to all of you struggling with the same issues.