Digestion Woes

This is NOT medical advice. This is life experience from those I trust and love who have been through similar situations. The point of these articles is to capture them for our own use and to share in case they help you on your journey.

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Let’s talk about an embarrassing subject. Let’s talk about poop. I’ve put off writing this for years because it’s a taboo subject; but, finally the number of people I’ve talked to about this has made it clear we need help and no one is talking about it.

It’s frustrating to go to doctor’s who have your entire medical history in front of you and and be told nothing truly helpful. You go in for your annual checkup and they look at your bloodwork year after year and say you’re fine, go home. ‘I feel like crap’ you say; but to no avail. I finally gave in and went to a holistic dr and they took one look at the bloodwork and said you must feel like crap and here’s why.

It’s frustrating when you go to this Dr and they tell you take such and such for your problems but not how to deal with the constipation the medicine causes. You go to the same doctor for constipation and they tell you nothing helpful and certainly not what the long term consequences will be for ignoring it. It’s frustrating when, with you whole medical history in front of you they could easily see all your conditions are caused by a problem with the hypothalamus or that can be fixed and what other diseases you’ll get if you ignore it.

This is NOT medical advice nor is intended to be. YOU are responsible for using your best judgement, doing other research and checking with your doctor. This is simply life experiences of various people gathered into one place. I am sick of being sick and seeing my friends sick and MD’s doing nothing but taking your money and making you worse.

Symptoms & Clues

Enough ranting, let’s focus back on the task at hand. Sometimes you know when your digestion is off and sometimes it’s a sneaky thing.

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Causes

There are many, many ways your digestion can get thrown off. Here are a few that we have discovered.

Teach your kids, especially your boys, if they push hard or frequently, they’ll get hemorrhoids. It took you days to get into this mess, give these remedies a few days to work.

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What Does it Mimic?

Let’s face it, we often think the worst. Especially when it comes to our kids. We think when their belly hurts, it’s an appendix. And, did you know constipation is one of the leading causes of appendicitis? Look up fecoliths to find out more. But what if it’s not yet appendcitis?

Bowel trouble can cause some serious belly pain. This pain might move around. This pain might come and go. Imagine a hard, impacted ball of poo moving through your belly and you can see why it would hurt; especially when it rounds a corner. Some might think it’s an infection or cancer or a problem with a hip joint. It could very well be a fecolith pressing on a nerve as it goes past near the hip or as it passes an inflamed or irritated spot in the intestine.

Hear me say, if you think you have appendicitis, go to the doctor!

Most teens are not going to tell you they’re constipated; but they will tell you they’re in pain. Yes, go to the doctor, but in the meantime, make sure they’re having soft bowel movements everyday. Then, pay attention to see if the pain goes away.

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In all of these remedies, be patient. Be nice to your body. If you’re starting with stool softeners, take one today and one tomorrow, along with the fruit and fiber. Give it a couple of days for the stool softeners to do their job before you expect results. If you start out with two pills, it may cause cramping & nausea.

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Remedies

• Magnesium – Don’t underestimate this little vitamin. You may simply be at this place in life because you are low in magnesium. Try taking even 50mg (adults) each night and watch for a difference. That is way below the daily RDA so you may need to increase that. Make sure to pay attention to how much magnesium is in other things that you are taking so you don’t overdo it.
• Pears in any form are excellent for causing bowel movements.
• 100% Pear Juice– It’s found in the baby section of the grocery store for this exact reason.
• Canned Pears – Sorry to tell you this, but corn syrup is a laxative; so yes, get the ones with corn syrup.
• Fruit like blueberries. They are an excellent source of fiber.
• Fiber is required; but, if you dump a bunch a fiber into a smoothie you’re going to simply cause bulk that has no where to go. This will make your problem worse and may cause cramping. You must soften what’s already in the intestine before you start on the fiber. If you can’t get your kids to eat vegetables and fruit then at least get fiber gummies.
• On the other hand, if you get the contents of the intestine too soft, it can’t be squeezed by the peristalsis action. You need a balance of softening and then fiber. Blueberries are excellent for both needs.
• Fiber: Strawberries, Blueberries, Oatmeal, Raisin Bran, Organic Psyllium even fiber gummies.
• Water: Are you drinking enough water? Not tea, not soda, not coffee, but water. Use a simple calculation to find out. I can’t stress this enough. Next to oxygen (breathing well), water is the basis for all health. It flushes toxins and is the carrier for the good stuff.
• I’ve heard fresh Papaya is highly helpful. Some people are allergic to papaya; so, if it causes more constipation, then stop, obviously.
• Dried apricots. – for some people, dried apricots cause a bm within hours. Be warned, though, if you are are already backed up, dried apricots may cause extreme stinkiness. Eat them when you’ll be alone the rest of the day/night.
• Chew your food more. Digestions starts in the mouth. Make your food a virtual smoothie before you swallow it.
• White Rice: I know someone that says white rice is the perfect balance for easy digestion and enough bulk to keep things moving.
• Hot drinks stimulate the bowel. See below.
• Stool Softeners – Colase, Miralax. These only work if you’re drinking enough water because it draws water into the colon.
  • Miralax, in children, is thought to cause problems later on. I can’t remember the problem but I do remember one of our children took Miralax for a long time and had that problem later, too. If your child is that constipated look for food allergies. Do NOT put this off.
  • Some people say to avoid these because it dries out the colon in the long term. Ideally, yes, you don’t want to be taking medicine to maintain your health, but we are talking about getting immediate relief while you work on your health.

• Positive Thinking – While you’re sitting there, tell your mind good things. Think that you can be healthy. Think that you will be successful. Stress and negative thinking damages the hypothalamus, which hearts many functions of the body.
• Have a Quiet Time every day. I, personally, make declarations of Scripture over my life, body and mind, invoking the power of God to align my life to His so that I can walk in full health and live life the way He wants, not the way this rushed crazy modern world demands. For you, that may look like stretching or gentle exercise.
• Routine – your body wants to go at the same time every day. Make it a habit to sit for at least ten minutes every day at the same time. Don’t bring your phone. Instead, bring a book or something relaxing.
• Eating stimulates to bowel to empty. Make sure you allot ten minutes of sitting on the toilet time after every meal, until you get back to where you want to be; especially sit after the meal that you normally will have time every single day to turn into a habit.
• Gentle Exercise: Movement is key to getting the bowels to work. Walk daily.
• While attempting to go, about once a minute push gently just to let the peristalsis (squeezing) action of the bowel know it’s show time.
• While attempting to go, it is helpful to have your feet raised a few inches. They make platforms for this or just bring in a short kitchen stool or child’s chair. I don’t remember why this helps, but know my grandmother used to know this so it must be old knowledge.
• Bowel impactions show up on x-ray. That could be helpful to see if it’s getting hung up in the same place every time but I really don’t know it that matters. You don’t need to know where it’s getting hung up unless you’re ready to have surgery to remove any adhesions.
• SLOW DOWN!
  • No one is exempt from the rush unless they choose to be..
  • Children who rush off to school in the morning often have problems. Many elementary kids won’t raise their hand to ask in front of everyone or there won’t be enough time to stand in line for the one classroom toilet between subjects.
  • Teens who want to stay up late and rush out of bed to school, then have after school activities and jobs and friends and homework have problems.
  • Moms who have littles banging on the door every few seconds, and a list a mile long that never gets done have problems.
  • People in the workforce who rush, rush, rush to get to work, run the errands and make a living have problems.
  • Do you see a problem here? It’s our rushed lifestyles. Meals from restaurants are high in fat and sodium. These are hard to digest. Meals eaten in the car on the way to school are hard to digest because they are rushed. We don’t chew them well and our minds are focused on the next thing. If you haven’t figured this out by now, there never has been and never will be enough time to do everything that needs doing. You MUST choose what you want out of life and put other things aside to get it. You’re not choosing between good and bad. The choices are between good and good.

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

• The old timers speak of a treatment that was guaranteed to work. Drink a mixture of hot prune juice and sprite. If this does not work for you, you are having some decent problems with digestion and really need to make this a priority.
• Smooth Move tea – Senna is a laxative. It is addicting. Use sparingly.
• Saline Enema or suppository.
• If you are to the point you are frequently going days without a bowel movement, I recommend you make a time of relaxation the first priority in the morning. Spend time with the Lord in worship. Do whatever is relaxing to your mind and clears your thinking. Drink your morning hot beverage and maybe a breakfast. Then go sit for your ten minutes.

This is not, nor is it intended to be medical advice. You are responsible to contact your doctor and make your wise choices.

Last Resort

• If all gas stops being passed this means the bowel is so impacted that not even air can get out. This is a big deal.
• Stimulant Laxatives – Laxatives are a late stage treatment because they are addictive to the bowel. Make every effort not to get this far. I think the box says you can take them several times a month but I won’t take them more than a few a year. Use stool softeners for at least a day before taking the laxative or you’ll likely be in pain.
• 2 oz of liquid magnesium citrate to draw water into the colon so that the plug can be softened. Don’t take supplements with magnesium the same day. Too much magnesium messes with your heart rhythm.
• The following is an emergent situation treatment only….. Hear me say this. You’ve only got a couple of times you can use this. By the second or third time you’ve done this your body is going to react strongly to it and it is likely going to hurt like acid burning hell in your rectum. Furthermore, if you have heart arrhythmia issues the second or third time you do this, it’s going to set off your arrhythmia in a scary way and I don’t recommend you continue. No, I don’t know why.
  • That said. Here is it. This came from an old-timer doctor. You take 8 ounces of liquid magnesium citrate. This medicine should cost a couple of dollars. Don’t pay online prices unless you’re too embarrassed to go buy it, Followed an hour later by 1-2 actual laxative pills. We call it turbo lax. It has worked every time and prevents the emergency room treatment described in the next section.
  • You should take the liquid mag citrate, mentioned below, today, as soon as you get off work, but at least four hours before bedtime and preferably in the morning when you don’t have to go anywhere.
  • I recommend that after you do this treatment you be really nice to your bowels for a couple of days while they recover. Like: No tea/sodas/alcohol, very little fats or meats that are hard to digest. Perhaps a soft diet like after people have bowel surgery, and lots of probiotics and things that are good for you – vegetables, fruits, natural fibers and lots of water.

Emergency Room Treatment

• They’re going to put a hose up your rectum and flush it out as well as dig out the plug with their finger up the rectum. I’ve never done this but am writing this article to help you avoid such. But, if you’re that far along, don’t ignore it because a torn intestine can kill you.

Conclusion

I pray you find the health you are longing for. It really isn’t that hard finding your triggers once you start paying attention. Although, it might be harder avoiding them. You can do this!

This is NOT medical advice. This is life experience from those I trust and love who have been through similar situations. The point of these articles is to capture them for our own use and to share in case they help you on your journey.