I understand what you are going through. I have anemia which I take 6 tablets of iron a day. Talk about constipation. My doctor has had me use milk of magnesia but as a supplement everyday. At night I take a dose of MOM and it keeps me regular. Because it is a natural substance your system will not becaome dependant on it. Use it everyday and the days you have water stools just skip a day. If you are tired of MOM then try Colace they are small stool softeners most people with several problems have to take about 4 at night. But experiment with the products to find the dose for your system remember we malabsorb all things now till the 18 months are over than the body readjusts to the surgery. Amy 304/217/180

I'll post this with the risk of sounding like an alcoholic, post-surgical rebel. I'm really not, but I suppose I break the rules now and then. I certainly don't recommend drinking (especially if your surgeon doesn't) but this has been my experience thus-far: I drink in social gatherings about once every 1-2 months (more recently lately because of all the summer parties and weddings!!!), but so far I haven't experienced any ill-effects whatsoever. 3 months post-op I had a grateful dead (had NO idea it was loaded with sugar) and a diet coke with rum... no dumping, no hangover although I did get totally wasted. 2 months post-op I had 2 large white Russians, again, no dumping or hangovers. I have been staying away from Margaritas (they have about 50 grams of sugar in a serving!!!!) and haven't wanted to drink most mixed drinks after discovering just how much sugar & calories really is in them... but Beer, Wine, Martinis and sugar free juice or soda mixed with hard liquor all seem to agree with me, although just one and i'm done for the night. I get drunk so quickly, but the buzz also goes away quickly, too.

Susan; Congrats on a great WOW! Blessings, Jennifer 253 / 162 / 137

Hi Terri Keep trying to up the water...I put a tablespoon of benefiber in my protein shake every morning to help with the constipation. Since I started it's been helping. When it's been really bad I've started sipping about a 1/4 cup of flat diet pepsi....only time I have soda...for some reason that's pretty much an immediate help and I've never gotten the whole way through the 1/4 cup of it. Sounds weird, but at a bad enough stage I was willing to try anything. chelle

A doc told me that the true cause of constipation is lack of fluids (not drinking enough), so what you have to do is really work on drinking more water. Cut out all other forms of drinks (coffee, tea, juice, etc and step up the water until you are regular again. With all the softeners and meds you are taking, by adding more fluids you should fix this problem in a short time. Good luck.