I've suffered from constipation my entire life. I remember being given prunes as a pre-school child. I've tried different remedies off and on. Sometimes they work, then stop working. Sometimes they give me a lot of uncomfortable gas.

Prunes work as part of the solution, but not always. I can eat 5 or 6 prunes 2 or 3 times a day and it will take 2-3 days to have a bowel movement. I was told to use docusate sodium (Colace) and Senokot after abdominal surgery. I didn't feel it helped much and I worried about taking docusate sodium because of the sodium, so eventually I stopped that. Then my doctor told me to try Miralax. I explained that Miralax often made my constipation worse, giving me hard, dry stools that were difficult to pass. She suggested I take Miralax with it. That worked wonders for a while, but I don't like taking a laxative long-term. I also don't like the idea of Miralax because it's made from polyethylene glycol. However, the combination works.

I was told to drink lots of water at least 10 years ago, but the more I drank, the more I peed. I was told that when I drank enough and was fully hydrated, that would stop. This didn't make sense to me; I thought the opposite would be true. But I tried it and drank until my pee was clear and my lips were chapped. It wasn't helping my constipation at all, so I cut back.

I eat a large (2 quart?) bowl of salad at almost every lunch and I have oatmeal with nuts and prunes for breakfast. The only thing I don't do consistently is exercise, but even when I am walking a lot, I don't notice a difference.

I might try Metamucil and a natural laxative together. The trick is taking it so it doesn't interfere with another medication. I have to take a blood thinner twice a day, 12 hours apart, and the night dose is just before bedtime, so I can't take it at night. I don't know if it's really less effective taking it during the day, but that's when I have to take it. Actually, I just looked up Miralax and it can be effective when taken in the morning. So now I just have to schedule it (or another laxative) around my morning medications.