Alone, in bad health, and depressed on Christmas eve.

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This topic has 41 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 11 months ago by Eliana.

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January 2, 2018 at 4:42 am #184659

Anonymous
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Dear Eliana:

Since you mentioned a particular drug in your last post, I looked it up and found its official website (you can google and find it yourself, if you’d like). These are quotes from the official website regarding what anyone with chronic constipation can do, without the use of drugs (a good reminder for anyone reading this):

“Make dietary changes:

Adding high-fiber foods, such as fruits, vegetables, beans, and bran flakes into your diet may create softer stools that are easier to pass.

Fried and fatty foods, along with alcohol and caffeinated beverages such as coffee and soda, may worsen IBS-C (Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Constipation) symptoms and should be avoided.

Eating large meals can also trigger IBS-C symptoms. Eating smaller portions may help.

Staying hydrated may help with the symptoms of IBS-C. It is important to drink 6-8 glasses of water per day.”

You wrote earlier that you drank a lot of coffee yesterday. I didn’t know myself that caffeine can make symptoms worse for someone suffering from IBS-C.

Also, you wrote earlier that you eat once per day. Maybe you eat a large meal once a day? A large meal, it reads, can also trigger the symptoms of IBS-C.

One more thing: having chronic constipation and anxiety are linked. People do feel anxious when constipated. In addition, excess gas and pain cause anxiety. When anxious, when panicking, we make poor choices (dietary and otherwise).

It is very important, most important to do everything you can to calm yourself when you start to panic. Say to yourself perhaps, when bloated and constipated: I felt this way many, many times before and survived it. This is very uncomfortable, but it is not dangerous.

anita

January 2, 2018 at 6:08 am #184677
Eliana
Participant
Hi Anita,

Thank you for writing and your kindness. It means alot to me. I hope you had a very Happy New Year. Yes, you are right, Fiber does help people with occasional or mild constipation, but it only makes things worse for people with severe chronic constipation. I have tried every kind of fiber. I don’t drink soda, as it irritates my stomach, and only drink coffee when taking a laxative because if not, it won’t budge. I don’t drink coffee every day. I eat no fried or fatty foods. But sometimes, the stools can to too soft, and I have trouble passing them as well. I don’t eat large meals. Just 2 meals a day with some fruit, but have given up on Fiber. At first it helped somewhat, but it was just giving me small, incomplete bowel movements. I have colonic inertia..meaning I am no longer able to go on my own without the aid of something. I am sure that the Gastroenterologist is going to suggest that my Colon be removed, as my intestines are just not working. I drink 6-9 glasses of water a day, have tried strawberries, every kind of fruit, prunes (which do help, but are just as harsh as a stimulant laxative). Olive oil, Coconut oil, extra fiber bread, ground flaxseed, every kind of fiber supplement, lemon in hot water, but I am exhausted from it all. My case manager only gets an hour with me to take me to store as I have no transportation, and by the time we buy all the fiber, we have run out of time, and I still have food to buy. I have even tried Probiotic yogurt, which seemed to help at first, but again, very small bowel movements and feeling incomplete. What is one to do? It has to come out, so unfortunately, our last choice is laxatives, enemas or medication, such as Amitza, Linzess or Trulance (neither are laxatives) and hope for the best as our last resort. Thank you again for your reply and have a wonderful week.
- This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by Eliana.
January 2, 2018 at 7:46 am #184691

Anonymous
Guest

Dear Eliana:

You are welcome and thank you for your good wishes for me.

You wrote: “I am sure that the Gastroenterologist is going to suggest that my colon be removed, as my intestines are just not working”, but your intestines are working some and are not entirely dysfunctional. You wrote that you do experience “very small bowel movements”- some is something, not nothing.

There is a concept called fecal loading or fecal impaction. Wikipedia has an entry on fecal impaction, you may want to read it. It is not only hard stools that is involved in such loading, but soft as well.

No bowel movement is complete, by the way. This is why when doing a colonoscopy it takes so many movements to completely empty the colon. Don’t give up on your intestines, Eliana. They are still working. Be very patient with your intestines, with your body.

anita

January 3, 2018 at 5:20 am #184823

VJ
Participant

Hi Eliana,

Sorry for the late reply.

I read your post the same day it was posted. I then also looked up after reading about drinking 5 cups of coffee and found things like this in the dont’s for constipation – “Caffeine is a stimulant so it can cause you to have a bowel movement. But it can also cause dehydration, which can have the opposite effect and lead to constipation”. Perhaps you may already be aware of this or may be you are taking a laxative coffee or perhaps is something to keep a watch on.

Inspite of the issues you are facing it is good to see you that you have come to this site to help others.
When you work towards resolving others problems, you diminish your own. Isn’t it.

Yes, you are going through certain troubling and unfortunate situations regarding your health and finances.
Try your best to separate out your life from your life-situation. Try to create a distance from the life inside you with the health conditions of your body. Be more in the soul conscious stage than in the body conscious stage. Take life moment by moment.

Bring deep Acceptance and Surrender to your situation.

Take a look at the below beautiful video on Acceptance and Surrender.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az8c1pyVRkc

Regards,

VJ

January 3, 2018 at 3:36 pm #184929

Eliana
Participant

Hi VJ,

Thank you for your reply. I will take a look at the “You Tube Video” thank you for sending it. I only drink coffee, the day of the Laxative, I do know it’s dehydrating, but I make sure to drink plenty of water all day along with drinks with electrolytes. The coffee helps the Laxative. Otherwise I can’t flush. I know many people who have coffee 7 days a week..huge lattess, ventis, etc..mornings or they drink it all day. Fortunately, I don’t drink it every day, I only drink water. As I’m typing this, I just had two talk glasses of water while playing Gin Rummy Online, so I am trying. I don’t know what else to do. Yes, still coming on here to help others, trying to keep up..it’s getting busy. Have an early Doctor’s appointment tomorrow, could only get in two short responses. Have an awesome evening.

January 4, 2018 at 5:46 pm #185105

Eliana
Participant

Thank you Anita, your reply made me feel alot better.

January 5, 2018 at 4:17 am #185165

Anonymous
Guest

You are welcome, Eliana. Intestinal issues are very, very common. You are not alone in this. Post again anytime.

anita

January 5, 2018 at 11:11 am #185237

Eliana
Participant

An update, had to take another laxative today, but feeling very neauseas and even more bound up. Called my case manager to see if she would take me to emergency room. Said she could not and “that I have been to emergency room more times in a month than someone has been to hospital in their lifetime”. She said for me to take a cab if I have to but have me a hard time because I have not taken the Linzess yet. I told her, I was too afraid to lose my housing, if I had cramping. She said to get a Doctor’s note from Gastroenterologist to be able to miss groups due to trying different medications to help me, cramping, nausea, etc. I told her that they are starting to crack down on “Doctor’s notes from residents to get out of groups. Said they already denied one from my Doctor for severe back pain. Saying I could get a “pillow” to sit in chairs in groups. Chairs are hard metal chairs. Bathroom breaks are not allowed during groups. Case manager than advised me that me contact person contacted her about another resident here, and she brought my name up to my case manager, saying she was concerned because of my frequent trips to the ER, and if the medical bills I might be racking up. (I have already applied for H/CAP assistance). For these bills. I asked if anything about my housing was mentioned, and my case mgr said no, that they just are concerned about my weight loss and want me to get better. I wish I knew how.

January 5, 2018 at 11:25 am #185241

Eliana
Participant

Hi VJ

Not sure, if you will read this, but will post any way.

My mind is going in a thousand directions. I can’t focus or relax. I keep thinking about all the worst case scenarios. About having to go on the Linzess, possibility of losing my housing, Upcoming colonoscopy, possible surgery, trip to ER, yet again, medical bills. Tried listening to You Tube video again, but this time, the music on the background seemed loud for some reason, could hardly hear speakers voice. Will try listening later. I know it helped alot last week. Thanks for listening, have a great day.

January 5, 2018 at 11:34 am #185249

Eliana
Participant

Forgot to mention, I was only able to click on the last link you provided by Ekhart Tolle on “surrender” (with the kitten and nature) but not the first three. I will see if I can do a search on more of him.

January 8, 2018 at 5:02 am #185565

VJ
Participant

Hello Eliana,

Haha…yes on some speakers and headphones the music takes over the foreground and becomes louder than the content.

I searched for a link and found the below one that contains a write-up of what is read by Eckhart in the above audio book (taken from ‘Chapter 6: Acceptance & Surrender’ of the book ‘Stillness Speaks’)

Source: http://www.commonground.ca/OLD/iss//0406155/eckhart_tolle.shtml

“My mind is going in a thousand directions. “

That is what you may not want to be doing….allowing the scattering of mind in different directions. If that happens bring back its attention and focus in the “here & now”.

“I keep thinking about all the worst case scenarios”

This is what the mind tricks and does to us and we need to be aware of it and not get fooled by it.

Don’t take your mind, or the thoughts it creates, too seriously. Just look at it as if your mind is trying to trick you and creating a story out of your situation.

“Worrying or overthinking is like creating a mental story of a situation even before the actual event has happened and then using the same story to scare ourselves”

There is a difference between “I lost my job. I’m now devastated. I’m now broken. How am I going to pay my bills. How will I take care of my family. My wife may even think of separation. How do I take my kids to a vacation”

and

“Okay, I have lost my job. Accepted. What is it that I can do NOW? Perhaps call an ex-employer where there are still chances for me to get back to the job. Or maybe call up a friend to check if he has something for me. Or start applying for newer opportunities. Or learn something new in my area of work. Or do something else that I have been waiting to do since a very long time”

Once you have realized that your mind is creating stories, then take surrendered action towards your situation. Take some kind of positive action. Some kind of positive action is always better than no action at all. Do anything that you can do to bring about a change in your situation without allowing the mind to create stories about the future. What can you do NOW is all what you need to see. The future will take care of itself because that is another NOW at that time and you are going to take surrendered positive action in that NOW. Isn’t it.

Read the above link that I have sent and you will bring about a change in perception about your situation.

Also, like you said, keep looking out for more content from Eckhart Tolle. There are tons of them on YouTube.

After going through them, you are guaranteed to feel peaceful about your situation and also be able take positive action towards the betterment of your situation.

Best Wishes,

VJ

January 8, 2018 at 5:25 am #185569

Eliana
Participant

Thank you VJ,

Your posts and replies always inspire me, and I always look forward to them. You and Anita are the best. I’m very lucky. I try to be positive, but people bring me down. My case manager, my contact person here, the ER department, even most of residents here, no one seems to understand, and I feel I suffer in silence. No one wants to understand this condition. 42 million Americans have it. Doctor’s dismiss you. It is a serious illness, yet No one will talk about it, which I guess I can ubderstand, but it makes me feel very much alone. Residents around here talk about eating Pizza, cheeseburgers, donuts, pastries, and I get sad because I can barely eat. Maybe soup, a tuna fish Sandwich, if I’m lucky, chicken..that’s about it. I try to eat two meals a day, but when you can’t flush for a week or two, and so backed up, it’s hard to eat, have any kind of life, everything is hard. I am constantly depressed..especially my weight loss. It is frightening. The ER doctor wanted to give me an injection of “Relistor” last night, but I had to refuse, because I had group today. I only had two hours of sleep last night because of bad weather, frigid temperatures, and only one can driver for the night. Got home at 4am, and have group in just a few hours. Have not flushed in three days. The hospital did not give enema this time. I will listen to your video. Thank you for listening, and I will try to not get too hopeless. Thanks again for everything.
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