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newly diagnosed as of 08/03/07--on mesalamine--can't poop

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Crohn's Disease
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malakai
Regular Member
Joined : Aug 2007
Posts : 278
Posted 8/20/2007 12:33 PM (GMT -7)
anyone have suggestions on what I can do to make myself use the toilet on a regular basis without having to use an enema or other type of laxative? or is this what I am in for until I am in remission? I am on a low residual diet and swing between having diarreah and being constipated. I haven't gone to the bathroom in 4 days and I'm miserable.

am 35--female. Never had any symptoms. Then on 07/24 wound up in the ER with a 104.7 temp and an incredible stabbing pain on my R side quadrant. (appendix was removed when I was 19 so that wasn't it) After 4 days, multiple tests and finally a colonoscopy and the results of the biopsy, and finding out that both my grandfather on my father's side and my father had Crohn's they determined that was it. Have lost 20# since then (that was as of Sat--don't know if I lost more) Was 180# and was "thick" but really don't feel comfortable losing weight this way. Plus when will it plateau? Am getting used to not eating much but am worried about getting nutrients in the food I am eating--plus I'm tired all the time. Does ensure work? Went and talked to a dietitian at my hospital. Useless. So I would appreciate any suggestions, insight that you can give me. =0)

p.s. how do you deal with people freaking out about the size of the portions you eat? Hell I would love to eat more than a cup of food at a time --or the food i used to eat. I just can't. Want to snap at them and am almost at that point.
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nazeha
Regular Member
Joined : Aug 2007
Posts : 41
Posted 8/20/2007 12:44 PM (GMT -7)
Sorry to hear about your situation. You never had symptoms before you wound up in the hospital? Strange..
As far as dealing w/people freaking out about the size of the portions you eat...it sucks. There really isn't a great way to deal with it. If I feel up to it, I'll explain my whole situation. It sucks because I feel like they think I'm lying and that I'm just on some sick diet or something. I just tell people I eat a lot more throughout the day, just a lot smaller portions because that's the only way my body can deal w/food.
This whole CD thing sucks. That's pretty much what it comes down to. But you know, we can get through it. We all have a lot to be thankful for. God gave us obstacles in life and I believe it only makes us stronger.
I hope things get better for you!
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Mac_Gyver
Regular Member
Joined : Aug 2007
Posts : 349
Posted 8/20/2007 12:51 PM (GMT -7)
Sorry to hear abot the recent DX. I tried ensure but found the tste a little bit un appealing. Myself I have carnation instant breakfast in the morning, so far fingers crossed I can tolerate dairy. I dropped 120lbs in a year but I have found that tthe carnation instant breaksfast has helped me stop with alot of the weight loss. helps make up for some lost calories

Be prepared at family evets to have everyone ask "did you eat something yet? You need to eat something" and " how are you feeling?"
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karendee
Veteran Member
Joined : Mar 2007
Posts : 1642
Posted 8/20/2007 12:58 PM (GMT -7)
Welcome to the group, so sorry about the diagnosis. I know it took me some time. people always try to get me to eat something I should not or can't. I am getting better at dealing with it now. Karen
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Nanners
Elite Member
Joined : Apr 2005
Posts : 14999
Posted 8/20/2007 1:18 PM (GMT -7)
To your first question. When constipated have you tried stool softners? Before I had my first resection I was always constipated and had to take stool softners daily or else I didn't go. Hope that helps.

P.S. Welcome to HealingWell!!
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killerzoey
Regular Member
Joined : Jul 2007
Posts : 161
Posted 8/20/2007 1:19 PM (GMT -7)
Hi

I do have a few suggestions as I am constipated as well.

Try drinking strained beet juice cut with strained carrot juice (1/2 and 1/2). Or steam some beats and keep them handy. Eat 1/4 or so with each meal. They are wonderful cleansers and keep things moving.

As an added bonus they say you can track your food's transit time by seeing how long a serving of beets takes to make your stool turn red. But I haven't noticed this.

I also take Magnesiuim Citrate supplements, which are reputed to keep things moving. I am experimenting with how much. I take them in the morning, apart from my calcium as one inhibits the other's absorption, I believe I learned once.

I occasionally resort to an enema but between the beets and the Magnesium I am having to less and less.

Please check with your doctor first on either of these, but I feel they are both fairly benign.

By the way, My GI doc recommended liquid Magnesium Citrate from the pharmacy, too, though I haven't used because I'm on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and they include fruit flavoring additives that aren't legal on this diet. But I would imagine taking a lot of Mag.Cit. supplement may accomplish the same thing.

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis and wish you the best.
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dragonfly137927
Veteran Member
Joined : Sep 2006
Posts : 2527
Posted 8/20/2007 1:24 PM (GMT -7)
My opinion first opinion would be contact your GI. The first item they may want to try is colace (this is a stool softener) or maybe milk of magnesia (that caused me severe pain so they switched me to miralax). They do make colace that also have a laxative in them so if that is what your GI suggests make sure you buy the right one.
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Sad Mom!
Regular Member
Joined : Aug 2007
Posts : 58
Posted 8/20/2007 1:58 PM (GMT -7)
Hi, sorry to hear about your dx. Just 1 suggestion are you drinking 8-10 big glasses a day? The medication can sometime cause constipation. Try to see if you increase your water intake if things get better. As far as the part of having people freaking out about your portion sizes, try telling them that your doctor recommends that you have several small meal in a day instead of 3 large ones, in order for you to absorb the nutrients from your food. When people hear that it's doctor order, they seem to be satisfied with the answer. In the meantime, I hope you feel better soon and that you know that we are here for you if you need us. I am also new at this forum but I find the people simply amazing.

Good luck!
Sad Mom!
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bmgcd06
New Member
Joined : Aug 2007
Posts : 10
Posted 8/20/2007 2:11 PM (GMT -7)

For me personally, I added a soluble fibre back into my diet.  I drink milk most nights when I take my pharmacy of pills and I add 1 "serving" to my drink at night, although with the new "clear powders" you could probably add it to anything and it won't make it taste gross.   Soluble fibre for me is tolerable and makes a noticable difference to my regularity and I have dramatic swings both ways.....

I am a just over a year from my diagnosis, resulting from emergency fistula surgery and this first year has been about figuring out what my disease means to me.  I am VERY diligent with my GI about asking questions, trying new things, healing myself and what I love about my doc is that his goal is to get me off as much medicine as possible rather than telling me I have to sustain on meds for the rest of my life.  I completely understand the point that you are at in your new life with Crohn's and I didn't take this step until about 3 months ago, so for me personally this has been the experimentation year.  Don't envy you, but completely understand.  Best wishes.

BMG

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malakai
Regular Member
Joined : Aug 2007
Posts : 278
Posted 8/20/2007 2:39 PM (GMT -7)
thank you all for responding. I was so miserable I just forced myself to sleep and prayed that you guys would give me some hints and not think I was trying to be obnoxious because of the title. And it was like all these angels wrote and shared with me. =0)

I made an appt with the GI doc and will try eat some of the things suggested in the meantime.

thank you again!
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malakai
Regular Member
Joined : Aug 2007
Posts : 278
Posted 8/20/2007 2:41 PM (GMT -7)
one more thing...

Yes I tried colace 1 pill for 4 days now and it's not moving anything which is why I'm a bit worried and I also thought of the enema and the milk of magnesia but I keep hearing that if you use those, it screws up your natural colon movement.

I drink about 10 cups of lukewarm water a day... (my new drink of choice from my daily latte) and even tried walking on the treadmill (used to work before I got diagnosed)
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gachrons
Veteran Member
Joined : Mar 2007
Posts : 4527
Posted 8/20/2007 6:16 PM (GMT -7)
Hi Mal The ensure worked great for me although I found it to be an acquired taste the plus has extra calories it is great for when you miss a meal and building up the body. Welcome to HW we need all the Cder's we can get here the feeling of not being alone and help is great helps releave stress for me. I found with the low roughage very well cooked mashed carrots helped keep thongs going and I ate banana bread. I also drink 1 small glass of apple juice for breakfast. You can be sure that when you are feeling better you will eat. Keep us posted how things are going for you .lol gail
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Sinusallplugged
Regular Member
Joined : May 2005
Posts : 92
Posted 8/21/2007 11:47 PM (GMT -7)
I see you're from Seattle also. Where do you get treated? If you need a doctor referral I have a really great GI. I hope you feel better soon.
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FitzyK23
Veteran Member
Joined : May 2005
Posts : 4219
Posted 8/22/2007 5:43 AM (GMT -7)
I hardly ever have C but coffee gives me instant D. If I do have C I will have like a shot glass size of black coffee and I go in 5 minutes.
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njmom
Veteran Member
Joined : Apr 2006
Posts : 1885
Posted 8/22/2007 9:20 AM (GMT -7)

If you swing between D and C, then maybe yogurt might help.

If you are tired, maybe you are iron deficient, but check out the lab results to be sure - not just hemoglobin, but also ferritin (single most important test for iron, tests iron storage), serum iron, transferrin sat, TIBC. Few docs I've met even know how to test for iron. I literally spelled out ferritin for the person who drew blood, and he still failed to test for ferritin. My daughter's iron levels plunged in just two weeks on Pentasa, a mesalamine, even though she was taking 25 mg daily iron supplement. So now we're going to try doubling the iron supplement, to see whether the suspected effect of mesalamine on iron absorption can be overcome.

You can get copies of your lab tests and learn to read them with the help of www.labtestsonline.org. The web site also lets you know how to test for various vit and mineral deficiencies.

We found the current gastro to be clueless about iron and vit D (my daughter was deficient in both) so we went to an endocrinologist. However, because medicine is so specialized the endo, unlike a GI, wasn't a Crohn's expert so he didn't know how to modify vit D and iron treatements for such patients. I found medical journal articles that talked about the effects of vit D and iron supplementation on Crohn's patients. He used the articles to help treat my daughter. So at least he was willing to work with the patient. The gastro was too arrogant to read either article, so he keeps confusing her iron deficiency with the kind caused by Crohn's, not the regular kind many women have. 

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Matthew
Veteran Member
Joined : Oct 2004
Posts : 3932
Posted 8/22/2007 11:42 AM (GMT -7)
Hey Mal,
Welcome to HealingWell! Sorry I cannot be much help with the Big C since I'm more the Classic Big D Crohnie. However, I'd try a stool softner & maybe a little Exlax if I were in your shoes..

Sincerely,
Matthew
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dragonfly137927
Veteran Member
Joined : Sep 2006
Posts : 2527
Posted 8/22/2007 5:04 PM (GMT -7)
My GI had told me to use the MOM which was awful as far as pain goes. He then prescribed miralax (yes before it became otc) that worked well I also had increased the fiber that I consumed (this is all presurgery) I found that Kashi cereals as well as their bars helped to curb that sweet tooth and gave me protein and fiber that I needed. Hope all goes well

GL at the GI
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killerzoey
Regular Member
Joined : Jul 2007
Posts : 161
Posted 8/22/2007 5:23 PM (GMT -7)
I thought of one more thing.

I read that our bowels are kind of designed to churn in the a.m. and that it's good to power down a few tall glasses of lukewarm water as soon as you wake up.

Every time I think of trying this it produces a result, esp. if I've been eating my beets the day before tongue
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malakai
Regular Member
Joined : Aug 2007
Posts : 278
Posted 8/23/2007 11:52 AM (GMT -7)
for Sinusallplugged... I see Dr Wonsurawat at Group Health. He's a kick. Our hospital will be closing next june and I'll be out of a job so let me know who your GI doc is and I'll keep him for when I get diff insurance. =0)
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