After an episode of epic constipation...TMI

...just wanted to let y'all know that magnesium citrate works wonders. Sure it produces nasty diarrhea to clean you out, but i welcomed it after how uncomfortably constipated I was! I was seriously impacted with stool with only minimal results from 2 enemas, milk of mag, dulcolax suppository. pretty much the only stuff I could get out was what I pulled out myself.....awful.

now to figure out a routine for taking my iron and stool softeners to prevent this from happening again.

If you just add 500 to 1000 mg magnesium tablets to your vitamin regime, you won't have to worry about it.  The upside to taking extra magnesium is it's great if you have leg cramps and it is water soluble, so you will pee out what you don't need ( you can't get toxic from too much magnesium)  Start slow with a smaller amount, so you don't end up with diarrhea.

I take 1000 mg of magnesium oxide, two doses of Benefiber and I drink 120 ounces of fluid, daily.  Works for me.  I think you can get magnesium citrate in pill form, but it's more expensive.

As Rocky recommended! Stay on top of of it. I had a bowel impaction 10 days out and a really bad anal fissure resulted (WAY TMI!). It became soooo excruciatingly painful during months 5-6 that I had to have surgery a month ago. The pain was so horrific that I had an ER visit, at least 8 gastro and colorectal surgeon visits before giving in on the surgery. No amount of narcotics help that kind of pain. I'm glad I had the surgery and it's resolved, but I would not want to see anything like that happen to anyone else when it's preventable!!

You may find Miralax would be useful for preventing constipation and helping to keep things "moving" along.  The high protein levels without complex carbs such as green veggies will often plug us up.  

I find using the Miralax twice weekly (using it on say, Saturday and Tuesday) helps.  YMMV.

Everyone has to find what works best for themselves.  Good luck.