Constipation from meds

I am so sorry. I eat a pear every day...the pulp in the pear has a lot of fiber. I also eat an apple every day. I eat a high fiber cereal each day. I know this is not the greatest sugar wise, but, Cracklin Oat works great as does Raisin Brain and of course good old oatmeal. I put a few raisins, nuts and an apple on top of my oatmeal. A handful of dates is good as well. I can't take the fiber in a lot of the OTC products as they are more of an irritant than a help. Beans are a good source of fiber. Trying to get the daily recommendation of fruits & vegetables in is hard. Also, drink plenty of water a dehydration can cause constipation. I also take a good brand of Magnesium 200 mg daily. When all else fails, I take Milk of Magnesia and that works great. Some folks drink a cup of warm water in the morning and that helps them or coffee. Praying for "relief" for you. It's miserable being like that. Blessings & Hugs....

Lots of plant based foods all my life of eight decades seems to have had saved me with this problem -- plus perhaps bc I had never to use any meds and rare visits to doctors. So I truly hope the First line of Treatment is diet with lots of water (2 to 3 cups first thing in the morning for me) basically healthy diet plate from any reputable source like Mayo, Harvard heath, or CDC /Govt sites. Yes physical activity and sound sleep often bc the body is rightly tired -- with stress mngmt.

Thank you!

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.

@mshrink66 fluid and body movement are what you need. Drinking enough fluid to enable your stool to smoothly move down the GI canal along with up-right body movement like walking, running, etc. If the meds you feel are clogging things up by slowing down your peristalsis you need to increase the grease to smooth out the pathway. The other things available OTC and by doctor prescription require fluid to make them function so why not increase the fluid first and the movement and see what happens. I’ve been on narcotics since 1988 and other meds that dry me up too. I’ve never had an issue with constipation due to my long standing fluid intake. I hope you find lasting relief.

Questions for original poster. How have you used these meds? For instance, how long for each? Have you used opioids? Do you get up and move at all? What fluids do you drink? It's always interesting how different people give their personal experiences. I find their openness very helpful. I'd like to thank all the posters for so much knowledge. It's quite a club, the chronic pain club.

Take magnesium tablets with coffee or miralax!! Works!!

Movantik is for constipation caused by opiate pain killers. Relistor is another drug in this category but very expensive.

Motegrity is a stimulant for the intestines, also an Rx, also expensive. My results with it are meh.

I too have chronic constipation due to meds.
I drink 64 oz of water everyday. Take a stimulant laxative everyday as well as Trulance., as I cannot take linzess or amatiza they act to strongly. This has been going on for years. And still I go days w/o going. It's very frustrating. All I can really say is that fluids are key.

Oops. Made an error in my post. It's METAMUCIL that makes the constipation worse, not Miralax.