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!