Can't go number 2

[mpschrader]

Hi all,
I'm 5 days post op and have been home for 2 days.  My hip feels great but I'm painfully constipated.  My nurses said to expect this but didn't tell me how long to wait before taking a laxative.  How long should I wait? (I haven't gone since surgery morning.)
Thanks
Mark

[obxpelican]

Mark,

If you're taking pain meds then I can see why you would be that badly constipated, always take stool softener when you take pain meds.  Sometimes the meds they use to put you under can cause conflicts too.

When that happens to me, fruit juices is a great natural remedy, drink 2 glasses for the first round and keep a cold glass of fruit juice around the rest of the day, grapefruit is good, you can sweeten it.  You need to get some liquids in your system.

Chuck

[Gav]

It will happen believe me!

It took me until about 6 days after surgery, and it was hard work then.

Gav

[moe]

I went through the same thing, go for the laxative. It takes a while to get regular again. Good luck

[mpschrader]

Thanks everybody,
I've decided against the ex lax for now.  I'm just going to pound juice until it happens. Hopefully the magic moment happens at home.
Mark
p.s. Chuck, since you appear to be a Steelers fan, I'm forced to ignore any future advice you give (Go Browns!)

[obxpelican]

Thanks everybody,
I've decided against the ex lax for now.  I'm just going to pound juice until it happens. Hopefully the magic moment happens at home.
Mark
p.s. Chuck, since you appear to be a Steelers fan, I'm forced to ignore any future advice you give (Go Browns!)

LOL

Mark,

No worries, we have room for all surface hippys,  even hippys who are fans of the lowly Browns who have not beaten the mighty Steelers since water was invented.    ;D

Good luck on #2, keep up the juices, it works!  Raisins, pineapple work great too anything natural will not cause you other stomach issues like cramps.  Stay hydrated.  I am not a fan of ex-lax.



Chuck

[Clydascope]

Metamucil was my savior!

[kb134]

Mark,
Congradulations man! As you have already heard, it is going to be hard work when you go ... Your stool is very hard and dry at this point - liquids are good, but you may need an extra push to help get things moving ...
Laugh at my story ...
I was so swollen after my right hip resurfacing - the swelling was largely due to my reaction to the Spinal that I was given ... I could not sit on the special raised toilet seat - you know, when you go for number 2, you usually hit on number one as well. So I tried to place the special pee-jug right and it was getting very frustrating ... I mean frustrating. I got angry. It seemed so stupid in the heat of the moment, not going for however many days and then, BOOM! like a button being pushed!
I tell you, and please laugh, I got so angry I was laughing, and I walked with my walker out the back door to my private back yard, found a spot, and without a care in the world, as naturally as if I was one with nature, though not squatting but trying to!, it happened. The wind was blowing in the trees, and thank God, it was not raining. The pain - oh it hurt ... dry, hard, one huge mass of an accumulation of days ... like giving birth - well, not really, but sort of. And the bliss of passing an almost impossible stool ... i felt like I lost 50 pounds in the 5 minutes of slow-motion agony spent in the quasi-wilderness ... It was a concern up to that point, but the feeling of relative normality that followed had me think that, yes, all things do work out in the end.
http://www.herbal-supplements-guide.com/senna-natural-laxative.html
if you are pounding juice, do not forget the pulp! extra pulp!
And, if all else fails, Olive Oil, from the bottom up.
Best of luck!
and ... the relief

[mpschrader]

Ouch,  Finally!!  Great story KB134, I thought of you every time I peed on myself.

[obxpelican]

Hey.... so it "worked out" in the "end" ????

LOL


Chuck