I take Metamucil and drink at least 70 ounces of water a day (sometimes 80 or 90)... I take Miralax sometimes too. But if I take it too often I get diarrhea, but if I go too long without it then i'm back to constipation. Its so frustrating to balance!

Sometimes I get hard stool from being stressed at work because I think I lose track of time and go hours without drinking anything and then no amount of water I drink that evening can make up for it because the damage is already done (water absorbed out of the intestines) and hastily drinking 30 oz at 9pm in order to "catch up" will just make me have to pee a lot.

I've tried a water reminder app on my phone but I cant really be on my phone at work. I've also thought of getting a fitbit or some sort of watch to vibrate every hour but those are expensive

It looks like you are doing good, but need to be religious with your eating and drinking habits. Just take a bottle of water, you can get a colorful one so it gets your attention and carry it everywhere at work. I am sure tjat whatever you do you will be allowed to have a bottle with you at all time. Put a large sticker on it that says Drink Me.

I do really well for a long time but I cant seem to stick to it flawlessly for long enough for 100% healing. that's why i think it's time to finally try creams even though the idea of it freaks me out.

So you think it's more possible that it's really closing in between recurrences? Or that it isn't?

I think it's possible to heal with ointments since you heal for long periods without symptoms. For me, nitro have me splitting headaches for a week and it lowered my blood pressure, I felt dizzy, but many people don't. That one they usually ask you to put inside, which I did with a q tip. For diltiazem I had no side effects and the doc told me to put only on the outside.