Hey nim,
Maybe you could give movicol/ miralax a try as a stool softener. It works pretty good for most of us. I started after my surgery and wish I would have tried it sooner.

nim, I would definitely ditch the Lactulose for something a little stronger (and of more use) if you're constipated then give Movicol a whirl, most people on here think it's the holy grail of stool softeners since it's so effective.

o.k, is it prescription only or can I buy it from the chemists? Tried my first brown rice tonight as a diet thingy, umm, a bit yuk lol Perhaps I cooked it wrong,it was hard and gritty, don't look forward to it coming out :(

You can either buy it from the Chemist or get it on prescription

Hello Nimitor...Just read your post for the first time and as you can see...you are not alone. I guess that helps somewhat, but, I too have been feeling like I can't take this much longer. I have had some positive results only to lapse into pain again. I've had a colonoscopy, eat only foods with fiber in them, & take miralax; yet, out of the blue, I'll have a hard stool and am back to square one. I had a blood test and am hypothyroid so my doc put me on meds for that, but they can take months to take affect. Some mornings I just want to die, but then I'll have a good day or two and life feels closer to normal again.
When I have a bad day like this morning, I'll back off the food and only have a salad and something whole grain and maybe some fruit. It has been one long experiment for me and I know now that the same thing does not work for everyone. I also found dairy to be clogging and try to add the whole grains into my daily diet. Fruits and veggies are the majority of my calories though. Good Luck...

hi nimitor,
brown rice is delicious.
it definitely does not need to come out hard and gritty.
i suggest boiling it with some bouillon cube (vegetable) or using vegetable stock rather than just water. it should come out nice and soft and delicious.
even if you are using a rice cooker, use the vegetable stock or a 50/50 of veggie stock and water, to cook the brown rice.
**
as a treat, altho takes getting use to the taste, you can season the brown rice with one of the following:
(1) garlic gomasio or just seaweed gomasio
(2) teka
(3) garnish with tiny strips of nori
(4) spray on some Bragg's Amino Acids (sorta like soy sauce but more natural)
if you love tofu, then you can boil some tofu and cut into cubes and then serve hot with some soy sauce or Bragg's Amino Acids on the side. add some ginger to the sauce so it can absorb some of the ginger flavor.
enjoy!

Hi Nim,
have you tried whole grain bulgur? This is also good, takes less time to cook and has a more neutral taste than brown rice. I think it is pretty good as far as fiber content goes. I also add bouillon when I cook it, to give more taste, as well as stir fry some onion, carrot and celery first to cook it with.
You can always add a few lentils too, if you want to get even more fiber (though this depends on how your body handles the lentils... for me, I can only eat a certain amount). I cook lentils in bouillon too, to give more flavor.

yay bumbutt!!! LOVE me lentils!!!!
and the whole grain bulgur.
and couscous and quinoa. and barley. and whole oats for breakfast. oh, and can't forget the polenta!
yummy.

Luckily, I was a vegetarian in my previous life (before I moved to Sweden), though not macrobiotic. I love couscous and quinoa and barley too! They don't sell barley here and I bring it with me from the US sometimes. I'm eating whole oats (and all-bran) for breakfast. But I have to try the polenta...! Maybe I'll post my lentil soup recipe on the diet page... it's simple, but it was darn good (at least according to my starved pallette).
How about hummus? Yummus.