Wow, I am so sorry to hear. I have to take laxatives every two days in order to go. Sometimes, it doesn't work and sometimes it works too well. Last night, I wasn't sure if I had taken my Senna Leaves tab and I took another one and today, I had to stay close to the bathroom. I have been to the bathroom at least 4 times. But I have never had the problems you are talking about. Man, oh man, low blood pressure and vomiting. Never had that. If I am constipated, I can lose my appetite because I feel full. I do feel a little nauseous but not enough to be vomiting.

After the third day of no movement, that is when I start to eat less. i drink more water. But 6 days without a movement? That is about my limit. That is when i start thinking seriously about an enema. I use an enema about once of less a year. I only use warm water. It takes several times because usually the stools are so hard. Sorry, if it is graphic, but this is the real world.

Colace just makes my stools too loose. Once I got a handle on my movements, I stopped taking colace because it just made them too loose. I eat a lot of fiber. Oatmeal and raisins every morning. Vegetables and fruit ever day. I also take 2 tablespoons of Lactulose every night at bedtime. Lactulose is a liquid that is prescribed by my neuro doc that helps in the motility of movement. It tends to give me gas because I am lactose intolerant so I only take it at bedtime rather than in the morning. Otherwise, I get gas during the day at the most inopportune times. With all the fiber i take, I take one tab of Senna leaves (gotten at the health food store) and one X-Lax every other night and they usually do the trick.

now, with your problem, I would try the enema. You can get those one time disposable types at the drug stores. Also, mineral oil works but it is harsh. But it sounds like you need something harsh.

If I were you, I would just try to limit myself to fruit, liquid, yogurt so you don't get more bound up. When I am at your stage, I tend to mostly drink liquid. Also, join that DS site for those of us with bowel and bladder issues,
http://www.dailystrength.org/groups/ms-related-bladderbowel-issues.

You have my sympathies. Try an enema. That is my best advice. Hope something works for you soon.

I take magnesium which works really well.

If I get desperate I use a herbal laxative,

My doctor advised me against anything with senna in it.

It's an awful effect of having Ms. My sympathies!

Orsova, why would your doctor advise against Senna? that is the main component in most laxatives. Stuff like Senokot and X-lax all have Senna leaves. Senna leaves is the natural herb that they all come from.

Most doctors don't want us to be addicted to laxatives. But if nothing else works and you are constipated for your entire adult life, you have to do something. I do it all because I have to. I have no choice. I limit my meat intake and sugar intake because they have no fiber.

I take magnesium every morning and notice no effect from it. I don't get any effect from it.

The doctor was mainly concerned about dependency - that I would rely on senna based products. Also that it can affect the liver - which rebif can also do. I have regular blood tests to check my liver.

I also do aqua aerobics regularly which has strengthened my core muscles and this has also had a benefit.

Of course, no one will ever say that an improvement in any condition may be due to something you take, because the very nature of Ms is that symptoms can go away for no reason.

And.. what works for me may not work for you - so trial and error is sometimes the only way!

I recently started seeing a physiatrist who specia lizes in spasticity. Since the bowel is a muscle it is affected by elasticity and/or the medications used to control it. I am on 80mg baclofen daily.

At my last appointment I mentioned constipation and the fact that I had no "urge" to go even after several weeks. I drink a lot of fluids and have a healthy diet.

What he said to me was really encouraging actually. He said that he is able to help people have a "regular bowel routine" even if they are completely paralyzed as in a spinal cord injury!

So, he has me taking a stool softener twice a day and laxative (senna) once a day. I take the senna at night so everything "happens" in the a.m. :-) if you like p.m. then take it in the morning. Also, I use the really cheap Equate brand.

Yes, I will be dependent but I am also dependent on the baclofen now too.

Hope that helps!

Carolinagirl, i hope you get a handle on this. if nothing works, plse call your doc again.
i have to drink a full glass of water with the senna every time. grape juice also helps me. best of luck to you.

I think that Dr should be shot. That is no way an overdose by any standards.
One thing I would ask is other than the bad pain & what you describe all of which is concerning - please don't get me wrong, you have all my sympathies. Did he at least do x-rays/ct scan or anything to check?
Was your stomach/abdomen hard or extended -blown uo? If not then is it now?
Reason I ask this is other than the reasons that others stated if you have a blown up stomach you might have a bowel obstruction. I had this 2 times & 1st time didn't have a clue as was taking movicol every night & going a little each day. Apparently while I was in there they could see my stomach growing (& I had just thought was getting fat tummy) was a major bowel obstruction & I was upgraded from more tests in morning to surgery asap. That kept getting moved fwd & I was operated 1st cab off rank & very lucky not to have bag.
After that watched by gastroenterologist & when started to have issues again straight over to hospital & tests done, results looked at & surgery next day (very rare but I had driven or they would have admitted me), had another bowel obstruction. Nothing to do with ms they thought.
Now watch carefully by go & take movicol as needs.

In your case I think the Dr may have been too quick in dx. Can you get a 2nd opinion? That's what I would be doing in the mean time as well as lots of water, no caffeine, take whatever you can to try to get it to go & if one doesn't work, try another.

Please let us know how it goes & what you have to do etc.

I take 250 mg magnesium twice a day. I started taking it to improve my walking, which it did, but it's so much easier to have a bowel movement since I started taking it. Stools are much softer and I rarely get constipated. Magnesium is what makes all the Phillips products work.

So sorry you have had these problems but glad you got to the ER in time for them to help you.

Here are a few ideas to discuss with your doctor.
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Constipation can be caused by:

A.) decrease your intake of IgG foods and talk to doc about products like Metagenics Bowel products or cheaper Sanar Naturals Colon Cleanser 2002]
B.) bad micro-organism overgrowth (bad bacteria or fungus) -more assoc with diarrhea
C) Deficiencies ie water, fiber or Magnesium (can also cause anxiety and muscle twitches) - if you have chocolate craving this can be indicative of magnesium deficiency.
D.) Decrease innervation of the GI
E.) Medications that can be contributing to constipation ie pain medications. However, I have heard marijuana does not have this effect.

So you could talk to your doctor again about IgG food allergy test (ie Life Extension lab has one for 95 foods you can do at home) and eliminate problem foods, avoid toxins and look into probiotics.

Get a magnesium, potassium, calcium and Vitamin D3 (tells gut to absorb calcium) check done by the doctor and ask for the results. If you are deficient, or the bottom 1/3 of population, you may want to increase your numbers to a healthier part of the normal range. You need these 3 minerals to be able to innervate the nerves. If they are low they can be further decreasing your innervation to your GI. You already may have damaged myelin on the nerves innervating your GI. You don't need anything else slowing this action on top of it.

If all else fails you can look into coffee enemas. See 'The Gerson Therapy" pages 162-169 for more information. It might also decrease pain too, in addition to helping you evacuate your bowels.

Hope you can work with your doctor to find something that helps

Diarrhea can be caused by:
A.) un-diagnosed food allergies (get IgG food allergy test done to rule this out ie Celiacs Disease can mimic MS symptoms but if you take gluten out of the diet it can reduce symptoms)
B.) reactions of GI to toxins/chemicals (asparatame, food dyes, genetically modified organisms aka GMOs some of which are made to kill insects via disturbing GI with toxins then we eat it, etc)
C.) bad micro-organism overgrowth (bad bacteria or fungus)
Do you have a white tongue or chronic bad breath ? This can be indicative of FUNGAL problems.

Possible ideas are to get tested for IgG Antibodies that cause chronic allergies (ie Food Safe Allergy test done by Life Extension for 95 foods). This test found my daughter's allergies when doctors could not when they only tested IgE acute allergies (most docs ONLY test IgE and IGG can also cause problems). Doctors can also test for Candida and C-diff. Unfortunately the MAJORITY of bacteria in the gut can NOT be tested for to find out if you have them. FORTUNATELY you can discuss the below options and research with a doctor.

Antimicrobial supplements: ask doc about refrigerated probiotics, olive leaf, oregano oil, turmeric, fish oil, garlic, cold pressed virgin coconut oil, papaya seeds, papaya, etc together to get rid of the bad microbes. Try to take probiotics after antibiotic use.

Drugs~ Antifungals such as: Diflucan, Flocanazole or Antibiotics

==========================================================
Research:
A.) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/art...
Probiotics in the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea and Clostridium difficile infection
B.) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/art...
Potential Uses of Probiotics in Clinical Practice
C.) http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/da...
scroll down on this sheet to see diarrhea is one of the toxic affects of Asparatame. "According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame," MS is one of the "chronic illnesses which may be caused or worsened by the chronic, long-term ingestion of aspartame. (Mission Possible 1994, Stoddard 1995)*:" " *Note: In some cases such as MS, the severe symptoms mimic the illness or exacerbate the illness, but do not cause the disease."
D.) http://nogmo.streamshare.com/posts/...
Article: Eating This Could Turn Your Gut Into a Living Pesticide Factory
Bt Toxins that are only supposed to be found in insects after eating certain GMO foods, and kill them by disrupting their GI system, have been found in humans.

I second what AusSue said. The doctor should have never sent you home.
Please keep us posted on your resolution since we all have this issue and there for the grace of God go I. We are all different. What works for one does't wk for another. So your resolution could help someone else. Best, Esther

How are you? I'd go to the ER if I were you