Many years ago, pre-infertility, pre-Mystery, heck, pre-everything, I spent a summer backpacking in Southeast Asia. A few weeks after I arrived, all bowel functions ceased. This was a huge shock, as, well, I don't mean to brag, but I've always been rather productive in that department. A day passed, then two, then four, then a week, and nothing. I kept eating, figuring that eventually I could push the obstruction through, but to no avail. I just blew up like a balloon. A great big balloon full of, well, you know.
At the time, I was in a small remote village, and from the waist up was having a glorious time. There was no pharmacy, and no doctor, so seeking medical attention would have required a several-hour bus trip. I kept putting it off, assuming that the problem would eventually sort itself out.
Ten days into the ordeal, I felt forced to take desperate measures. Now if you have ever been in that situation, you can probably imagine the sort of unspeakable act that I'm talking about. If not, then there is no way that I am going to be the one to pollute your mind with such thoughts. Let's just say that it wasn't pretty.
And it didn't help. I was the world's worst consumer of toilet paper for a shockingly long time. Then, all of a sudden, I started feeling a gurgling in my bowels. Being rather inclined toward digestive distress, I was familiar with this feeling as a precursor of explosive diarrhea. And I started to wonder which would win, the diarrhea or the constipation. I pictured an epic battle going on in my belly, resulting the victory of the one and the annihilation of the other, or alternatively, in a massive explosion. In the end, the diarrhea won, as it always does. Thanks to a convenient giardia infection, that was my last experience with constipation. Until now that is.
While we all wish for an uneventful pregnancy, last week was a little TOO uneventful. Uncomfortably uneventful. There were no "events" whatsoever. So, once again, I find myself full of, well, you know.
8 comments:
yikes! i hope things...umm...move along soon? things are definitely not normal for me in that department either, but it seems to work itself out within a day or so. my doctor told me to eat fig newtons.
The prunes help, but really works for me is ground flax seed...my acupuncturist recommended it.
It's kind of a pain, you have to buy the seeds and then ground them up (in a coffee grinder) before eating them on yogurt, oatmeal, etc. but I promise after a few days they will do the trick.
And they're a lot better than a pesky intestinal bug
:-)
That sounds very annoying, painful too. I hope it passes soon.
I had this experience too during the second trimester. Awful. I tried all the natural remedies (whole grain, decaf, fruits, salad...) but nothing worked until I used milk of magnesia. I read on the site of the Mayo clinic it was OK. And I had some Metamucil too. Oh and All Bran works wonders. If it can make you feel better, know that this won't last forever. I went to the other extreme for a while. Not pleasant either!
It's very annoying when this happens despite eating lots of fruit and veg, drinking lots of water etc. If it helps, I've found my pregnancy-related constipation only seems to last a short time before being resolved. But you can try the fibre-based laxatives, they can work wonders (not the senna-based ones, though). Good luck!
Oh dear. Not sure if you can find blueberries in Korea. Prunes and prune juice. And Benefibre!
hey Sara, here's what some recommended to me once. It's call the Bomb for well you know reasons! 1/2 prune juice 1/2 apple juice. for me, I did the magnesia thingy once then I made sure I had tons of fiber stuff and it went away. Oh also your vitamins can either help or cause this problem. I take the prenatal elite ones that have fiber with a softener so, less of a problem. Good luck! Funny story too.
Interesting to know.
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