pelle1313's Cancer Blog
February 6, 2010
Need any advice, that might work.
Views: 315
My father was diagnosed with rectal cancer in 2000, he had surgery to remove the tumor and reconstruct his colon/rectum. Since then the poor man has had the worst constipation problems. He has gone to numerous doctors who have put him on everything from myralax to cod liver oil. Nothing seems to work. He basically doesn’t go for a week and then takes some laxatives to go to the bathroom. I was wondering if anyone had the same problem and found something that worked? Thank you.
Thanks for your support - 
I had many constipation problems with my various procedures and surgeries for ovarian cancer. What worked for me was not miralax or colace but senokot/senna. Two pills 3x/day once the bowels are moving kept things going quite well. I should also say that I made sure I ate plenty of dietary fiber (not metamucil but actual food: high-fiber cereal, bread, plenty of veggies and salad), drank a ton of water (2L/day at least) and got at least some exercise. My guess is that if your dad does all of the dietary and supplement stuff but gets no exercise it won’t get better. Even twenty minutes of gentle walking a day, even up and down the hallway or stairs, makes a HUGE difference. If he’s not moving, his bowels won’t either.
Using stuff like Milk of Magnesia or enemas or harsher stuff to move his bowels also dehydrate him, which is very dangerous for cancer patients and can slow the bowels down again. Aim for maintaining a daily or every-other-day pattern vs. once-a-week extremes.
Ask the oncologist, too – he probably isn’t the only one with this problem! Constipation sucks.
Sarah
(The Carcinista)
Thank you so so very much. My family just doesn’t know what to do, and he’s not getting any younger, it’s just going to get worse. I will tell him all of your suggestions! Thank you again so much!