Stool Softeners? How many do you take a day???

I have had freakin' constipation everyday since about a month out of surgery.. I weened myself off of the miralax and have gone to using stool softeners. If I take 3 a day....one in the morning and two at going to bed and also drink 2 glasses of Prune juice a day and a fiber one bar for breakfast every morning...it keeps me going.  Well I cut back to 1 stool softener in the morning and one at night.  Well yep...I am having trouble again.  I guess my question is do any of you take more than the recommended dose of 2 everyday???

At one time I was taking up to 7 a day. But stool softeners don't work on me. I am in a constant battle to . I have to take the miralax. On occasion I also have to take the Milk of Magnesia.

Tina

I started taking 2 mag oxide when I take my evening calcium, seems to have helped a bit.  As time has passed for me and I am able to eat more fiber it has eased up a bit, so there is hope.

Edited:  I am a dork I thought you were just a few months out and now I see your over a year. Personally I would go back to the miralax, it is not addictive.

From 2-5 months post-op I had regular issues with constipation. During those times I took Senekot, 2 pills twice a day until I had a stool. I've never had to take anything regularly, and I haven't taken anything in the past 2+ months.

Wendy

I am fairly new but the constipation thing is driving me crazy. I take two stool softeners each day. I put benefiber (2 heaping tablespoonfuls) in my morning protein shake and now I am putting mirilax into my shakes also.  It is miserable. I almost want to dump so I can clean out once and for all. It is a little disheartening to see it doesn't get better.

Why did you wean yourself off of the MiraLax?  Expense?  It's a stool softener much, much much stronger and more effective than Colace.  It doesn't cause "laxative dependence" and it only acts as a laxative when you take it in doses much higher than on the label.  Why not stick with it if you can afford it (that's its only drawback as far as I can see.)

/Steve

My husband struggles with severe constipation too from all the morphine he takes.  The doctor told us it doesn't matter how much of these fiber things you take if you don't drink LOTS of water.  It has to be water, not milk or juice.  After I started giving him water instead of the others it started to ease up a bit.  He still struggles but not as bad.

Generall speaking, if you're taking morphine chronically, it's not bad to take a stimulant laxative every so often.  (The alternative is often impaction and discomfort.)  Of course, if he doesn't require that, so much the better!  Also, MiraLax keeps more of the water you're giving him in the colon, rather than being extracted back into the body.

/Steve

Steve,

He is taking lots of stuff to help him, everyday.  It's unreal how much he takes and how much trouble he still has.  He takes 6 metamucil capsules 3 times a day.  He takes 4 xtra strength stool softeners a day (2 am /2 pm).  Plus, he eats grapes, oranges, peaches, pears everyday to try and help him go.  Since he bulked up on the water though it has helped.  Before that, even all this stuff listed above didn't work very well.  The poor guy was miserable and clogging the toilet every time he went.  Arghh!

But the issue is that opiates like morphine have a direct effect on intestinal motility and propulsion.  Basically, all the fiber and water in the world is only going to have a limited effect if the engine that's moving everything "forward" isn't working well.  A stimulant laxative (mild, like senna or Senokot or somewhat stronger like bisacodyl or Dulcolax laxative) can't really "normalize" gut motility in the face of regualr opiate intake, but it can get things moving so that he isn't in an constant state of discomfort and inconvenience.

Yes, it's a bad idea to take laxatives habitually if you don't need them, but someone taking morphine daily really isn't in that situation.

There has been some really interesting research on ways to block the constipating effects of morphine and other opiates, and products have FINALLY reached the market, though they're currently restricted to hospital use only (why, I'm not sure, because this is a mega market.)  N-methylnaltrexone (Relistor) is an opiate antagonist that doesn't enter the brain.  It blocks the constipating actions of morphine without having any effect on pain relief.  Right now, it's only available as an injection, but eventually it'll be made available as a tablet.

/Steve