Anyone else have a Redundant / Tortuous Colon?

No one has said that I have a long or redundant colon. Yes, I am switching to soup, ten cups of water, and cautiously adding a little fiber. I am going to do my best to stay away from a bulky diet. It is hard to do that during the holidays. My wife is a really good cook as well. There is surprisingly little to no information about miralax and M of Mag causing acid stomach. Every once in a while, I run across someone who mentions they have had the same problem. I hope your diet works for you.

I hope that works for you. I will never take Miralax or MofM again. Granted, I have the hernia, but it was never as bad until I started the Miralax. If I eat a lot of fiber, I so easily get backed up but I have the redundant colon, not sure if you do or not. I eat a lot of soup, and stay hydrated but stay away from anything bulky.

I appreciate the input. The acid stomach started after taking miralax everyday. I was taking it for several weeks and so I stopped miralax and switched to milk of magnesia 15 ml every night. Eventually acid stomach got worse. Never had an a consistent acid stomach problem before this. Just once every once and awhile after eating spicy food. I am now going off daily milk of mag and miralax to see if the acid stomach problem goes away. I am now using ducolax SSoftener and soup and salad diet with soluble fiber supplements. Praying this works. It looks like I will just be able to use M of m and miralax every so often.

I finally bit the bullet and had an endoscopy performed. Revealed a hiatal hernia. Now I take Pantoprazole and that is the only med that has worked for me for the heartburn. I started taking a good Magnesium supplement at night which helps with the constipation.

This is a great thread. A lot of good information here. I also have found that taking milk of mag or miralax causes heartburn. They both work for me but I have gut pain and heartburn after taking either one everyday. I am not sure what to do at this point.

I was diagnosed a couple of years ago when having my colonoscopy. I have been following the Low Fodmap Diet and it has helped tremendously! It is the diet that people with IBS follow. Fiber does not help and can sometimes bring on my symptoms. I exercise and follow this diet and drink lots of water. My only question is what can they do the next time I need a colonoscopy?? I took a stool softener and drink a whole gallon of prep and it took hours for me to eliminate it. Luckily the surgeon could still do the procedure and that is when I found out about my redundant colon.

Some things that work for me that may work for you:

Avoid eating "heavy" foods at dinner (meat, fish, fat) and watch your intake of "dense" foods like heavy, dense bread.

Eat cooked veggies and fruit. I eat cooked parsnips and the few other things I can tolerate for their fiber content and low FODMAP status. (some say a long colon can trigger FODMAP issues). Also, ground chia seed is something to consider, as well as lactose-free milk products. I can handle raw kiwi (check out the study on how well it works for stubborn constipation) and papaya.

I have less nausea with the Intoleran brand dietary enzymes for food intolerances. A game changer.

Ten up and then ten down stomach massages expel bloat. Check the UK's National Health System (NHS) posting on constipation: https://www.torbayandsouthdevon.nhs.uk/uploads/25773.

Get your rest and sleep.

A huge problem for me was anxiety and sometimes sleep. I cope three ways now:

1) a micro-dose of melatonin (300 mcg pill cut in half) nightly. I am super sensitive to meds and supps. Others may need more, but start with less. Too much disturbs your circadian rhythm.

2) Hilma Gentle Bowel Support (2 a day) - I did not notice a stool improvement but it proved to be the missing link in ending my general 24/7 anxious state. A lot of research on magnesium and anxiety on the net.

3) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for anxiety, which is just a deep state of relaxation. I learned in a 7 week course with a therapist, but there must be some relaxation recordings to listen to. After 7 weeks of daily listening, you have retrained your brain. You only need the tapes for a refresher or because you want to listen.

And make work-life balance a priority. A rested, destressed you will be more productive too. It took me awhile to realize I just wasn't that important ---my ego kept me on the race track.

BTW, good to know about Lactulose.

And when I feel I need to explain my health situation, I do so by analogy. It is as if I had diabetes and managed it solely with food. I have to watch what I eat.

I have a redundant Torturous: COLON. I find that I can’t let my stomach get empty. That’s when the nausea starts so I do have to graze throughout the day which is very difficult for me because I’ve never done that before. This is a tricky disorder. I can’t eat too much or I get bloated. If I don’t eat enough I get bloated if I eat the wrong thing or at the wrong time I get pain. Every morning I wake up with pain scan my body have a few Sips of coffee and usually I can have a decent BM but not always. I have found Lactulose solution which was prescribed by my G.I. has helped tremendously in emptying out however, stress and anxiety are my biggest obstacles

I too have a redundant colon, and have managed it very well for years with a cap of Miralax every evening. The only problem is I just found out that I have stage 2 kidney disease. The Miralax bottle says don’t use it if you have kidney disease. I am so screwed!! Also, how do I know that the PEG didn’t actually CAUSE the damage to my kidneys? I haven’t stopped the Miralax yet. I need to whip up the courage to do so. It’s the only thing that ever worked!

Not true