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Pre-surgery help: How to prevent constipation & sitz bath tips?
I'm new to this group. I am having vulvar cancer surgery next week, a partial radical vulvectomy. I am concerned about many things but here are a couple.
I tend to have constipation and I know pain meds can make it worse. Any suggestions that I can do now to keep it from getting bad or what helped you after surgery? Doc said no straining at all. I eat pretty healthy and don't eat
much sugar or fried foods.
Also, how do you take a sitz bath if you can't sit very well? I intend to just use the bathtub. Do you have a cushion donut to sit on?
I would appreciate any ideas and suggestions on how to get through the recovery. Im feeling pretty anxious about it all!
Thank you so much!
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Yes I will be receiving 25 treatments of radiation therapy and 6 rounds of chemotherapy with immune therapy. My next chemo is end of July.
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1 Reaction@tigger16 Yes, you will have a few weeks off from the effects of chemotherapy before your next infusion. That’s good and so I hope the weather is nice where you are so you can get outside and enjoy yourself.
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1 ReactionHello again. I take Clear Lax - Walmart's generic and lots cheaper - in the morning and Equate Stool Softener with 1 pill of 100 mg at night. Keeps me going! Also, if you don't already, have reading material in the bathroom. Helps me to relax and wait patiently for things to get going and keep going. Good luck, and so you have to go through this!
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1 ReactionI want to provide an update. I had the surgery Tuesday...a partial radical vulvectomy and lymph node removal. I was sent home same day with a catheter and a drain for the lymph node incision. I'm feeling pretty good so far... not too much pain but I'm taking oxycodone at night and alternating Tylenol & ibuprofen during the day. I didn't have a bm for 3 days! I was taking miralax, stool softeners, prune juice, ducolax, etc. Eventually took 2 dulcolax & 2 stool softeners yesterday. That definitely got things moving....and more! Goodness!
I think a regimen of miralax and stool softeners is a good idea, at least while on oxy.
Today, I got the catheter out! Such a relief! Now we wait for pathology to see if they got it all.
Thanks for reading my update. The support group is helpful to me!
Thank you for the updates. It is great news that your surgery is behind you, the catheter is out, and your bowels are moving. Once the drain is out you will feel less tethered. Hopefully, the pathology report will be worth celebrating. And may your recuperation continue on such a positive note.
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1 ReactionHere's my experience; for some reason, my only side effect of my immunotherapy is constipation. Odd because normally it's the opposite!! My Dr prescribed Lactulose..it's a liquid medication I've never heard of before, but it works like a charm. The stool softeners didn't work well enough for me, so now I take both. No more problems!!!
I read that ibuprofen can cause constipation, I only take Tylenol for that reason, and only if I need to. Restoalax is what take to get things moving. It takes a couple of days. My problem is that after bouts of constipation I get diarrhea. I tried Senacot first, followed the bottle's instruction (which say take 2) and suffered with GI pain and then explosive diarrhea. That's when I switched to Restoralx; it's gentler.
As for sitz baths, I never tried it, but when I had radiation to by vulva I used warm water in a squeeze bottle to gently cleanse the area. No soap! Anything I put on it stung terribly.
Hope this helps.