Posterior AF newbie here.
Like so many of you here, I'm on a quest for the perfect stool consistency so that I can finally have a pain-free, blood-free BM and allow my AF to heal. (It's been almost 4 weeks of tinkering with various combinations of stool softener, fiber amounts and types, hydration, and osmotic laxatives). I have a question about stool softeners and osmotic laxatives taken together and would greatly appreciate any advice or personal stories!
Until last night I had been taking 150mg of Colace before bed with 1/4-1/8 tsp of Miralax and consuming roughly 22-25g of fiber throughout the day (combination of insoluble and soluble, concentrating on soluble as best I can, and taking a little Benefiber (1/2-1 tbs) when I'm not getting the fiber through food). Although it softened my stool, it didn't seem to be enough to really do the trick. And I worried that I was eating a little too much fiber given my general food intake right now and bulking up my stool too much. The diameter of my stool is slightly too wide, I think, to pass painlessly and avoid re-injury of the posterior AF. I noticed from my food diary that on the days that I ate between 19 and 22g of fiber, it was slightly better the next morning BM-wise for pain and bleeding.
Last night I tried a new cocktail: 150mg of Colace, 1/8tsp of Miralax, and 200mg of Magnesium Citrate (tablet form). This morning I had my first pain-free and blood-free BM in a long while! While I was elated to recall the pain-free BM experience, the stool consistency was not ideal. It was runny like really wet mud-- like melting milkshake consistency.
So I think my next effort at fine-tuning my stool softening regimen is to omit the tiny bit of Miralax and keep the Colace 150mg _ 200mg of Magnesium Citrate combo.
My question is whether it is a bad idea to take both Colace and Magnesium Citrate. Should I try to either up my dose of Colace to 200mg and omit Magnesium Citrate or omit the Colace and up my dose of Magnesium Citrate to 400mg before bed.
