Good Morning. Now, about your vitamins

Thank you for all the helpful info.  On my last visit with my PCP she put me on additional magnesium and told me to take the Calcium Citrate with the added magnesium.  That did not help at all...I could not tell the difference.  I'm going to try getting a generic softener.  You are right about the laxatives and enemas.  There has to be a solution to this.

I use Magnesium Oxide, 2 stool softners/day, and a glycerin suppository almost everyday.

If you can get some veggies and a small amount of nuts, for additional fiber, this is also helpful. Of course, water and exercise can also help. I wonder, if a couple of prunes would be helpful. I think, I'll try this.

Some people use Quest bars for protein and additional fiber. They can be found online.

Gail

I recently developed an anal fissure,unrelated to WLS or constipation. Mine is caused by a genetic deformity where the sphincter is too tight causing the stool,hard,soft or l;oose to create the fissure trying to force it's way out.

I was sent to a colo-rectal surgeon who gave me a compounded cream to dilate or open the sphincter and ,here come the part that might interest/help you...a diet/medication regimen to make sure i go regularly and with appropriate size/texture stool. Way TMI

Is that somethng you can share that anyone can use, or is it specific to your case?

I think it is a plan he uses for good colon health which in turn helps many rectal issues. I feel safe in recmmending it to anyone since oatmeal is widely available and so is Miralax  and benefiber.so I don't think it is specific to my case.

I will tell you I noticed a difference the day after I started the regimen. I knew I was going to have to poop[ and I was scared to death cause after the pooping,it felt like someone had ripped me a new anus from the fissure.

I was pooping and was justcringing cause I was so scared of the pain ,and lo and behold,it was easy,little straining and very little pain after.

So,I have to do it ...carbs or not,I have to eat that oatmeal,and I will every day for the rest of my life if necessarymthat fissure pain was THAT bad.

What is the recipe and how do you prepare it.  There was one on here several years ago with cereal, unsweetened prune juice and something else.  I just could not get it down.  Maybe your recipe will be good.  I love oatmeal and do eat it on occasion, but I would not mind eating it everyday if it solved my problems.

there is no recipe. it is just as I posted it.
Breakfast 1 cup oatmeal or as close to as you can eat,might have to make it two meals. fix it the way you like it and enjoy.
Then when I am fixing dinner I measure 8 ounces of what ever I am drinking,usually water with Mio drops in it.

Add two teaspoons of Benefiber to it. and drink. Thats it.

Only add the Miralax if you haven't pooped yet that day. one capful to the same 8 ounces of liquid with the benefiber.

You don't have to mix all that in the oatmeal,just fix it the way you like it. I use lots of raw cow milk butter and some Whey low powder. yummy.

Gosh I'm sorry...I missed where you wrote that...sorry you had to repost.  Okay I do part of it now.  I always put benefiber in my miralax because i have to mask the taste of miralax....there is supposed to be no taste but I swear i can taste it.  My husband works in a chemical plant and manufactures food grade propylene...among other things.  Everything I drink it he says I should just come to the plant.  I think that is why I "think" I can taste Miiralax.  So now the only thing I need to do is to start eating oatmeal each morning.  Thanks so much

NP and yes that is what to do in the morning. make sure you are only using 8 ounces to mix the benefiber and miralax in. the miralax makes things taste sweeter to me but tha is all.

GL and I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me.. keep me posted

Did you try taking the Miralax every day?  I know when I just took it a few times it did nothing for me.  I got my doctor to write a prescription and I take it every day now and my constipation is much more livable now.  Not gone but definitely much better.  That and the magnesium oxide.  I take 500 mg twice a day and I am thinking of upping it to three times a day.
I have been taking vitamins for over nine years now.  Unfortunately I didn't take enough for a long time.  I just didn't know better and I mistakenly thought that since I was able to eat so much and was gaining weight that I was also absorbing vitamins.  I was wrong.  Two multivitamins and a few calcium's aren't enough with malabsorption.  Last year I was diagnosed with osteoporosis.  I'm having another Dexa Scan next month and I am hoping to see some improvement.
I got very sick and fatigued.  To the point that I couldn't function.  My Ferritin was 7 and my D was nearly undetectable.  It has been a long road to recovery and I never want to go back there again.  I swallow enough pills to make me feel full.  I really wish I could just get a shot and not think about it, like my B12.  But my pill case is waiting for me every morning and I can honestly say that other then a few calcium over the last year and a half I haven't missed a dose.