Dawn - I looked up some info on Movicol here, and this is what it said "It works by holding water in the stool to soften the stool and increases the number of bowel movements. It is known as an osmotic-type laxative." - so that's why it's listed as a laxative...
Hopefully, the dose is low enough to not be harmful (1 package), and I would think that the amount of time you've taken it is ok. But eventually, one day, I imagine we will all want to take the crutch away...?
Evie - I've hopped over a day - in fact I've hopped over as many as 4 days... but it all went ok. I think the best thing to do is just relax - but drink lots of water, maybe up the movicol dose slightly if it goes longer than a day (at least that's what I did - after 2 days of no action). Are you using a stool softener?

thanks bumbutt, i still have not had b.m but yes iam taking fybagel along with the fibre diet but, i feel ok knowing others have skipped a day also it is good to know, never thought the day would come when i would be obsessed with my bowels 24/7 lol ! i,ll get back to you on this issue, thanks for the support. xx

yippee! had b.m at last no blood and very little pain, i think it,s thanks to good old fybagel! and my diet of fibre but, i was getting quite worried for a little while so panic over folks i feel as though ive won the lottery lol xx

Thanks BB and AS,
I'm definitely going to try and taper off slowly when I decide the time is right. My original plan was to wait until I was 6 months post-op, not sure though. I'm scared to death I'm going to mess something up when I stop
Evie, I seen you had a scare today. Glad things worked out! :)

Dawn, you had such a bad time, I understand that you are being cautious! It seems others here have taken miralax for an extended time. I think you know what is best for your body.
I think when I eventually taper off of the miralax, then I'll have to be extra careful with my diet, and really make sure it's tuned right. Maybe all it means is eating soup for one meal every day! I know I'm also usually (before this) not very good at drinking water. I think I should go get a Camelback
By the way, you probably know about it, but there is a Movicol/Miralax post under the References section, with other people's thoughts about weening off or staying on M.
Evie - Yay!

Just wanted to write down my latest experiences with butt spasms...
Going into month 4, I no longer have any pain with a BM. Instead, I have a dull ache which builds slowly over a five hour time period afterwards. I usually lay down for a few hours after being to the bathroom (and then head to work for the afternoon). A new development over the past 3 days has been a return of some spasms (but now only last for less than a minute but occur any time during the day rather than right afterwards), return of more zingers during the day (they had gotten down to onle one a day for quite a while), and I have even felt this non-painful spasm others have mentioned which feels a lot like when your eye is twitching involuntarily. Standing for more than 20 minutes still causes spasms/zingers afterwards.
Like I said - I'm not sure whether I'm slowly healing or on hold. In case I am healing, I thought it was useful to write down my experiences for future AFers to read!
PS - Sometimes you have to wonder if there is a direct connection between the brain and your butt. Today I had to revert back to use of the heating pad due to spasms. Not sure whether it's the up and down nature of this thing, or whether it's the walk I took yesterday to the grocery store.

Ok, so I made it to the CRS, finally! I thought I would write what happened here, in connection to the symptoms that I've had along the way....
I was supposed to do two enemas before the sigmoidoscopy this morning, but I just couldn't manage. When I got to the doctors this morning, I told them I didn't do the enemas, but since I had had a BM last night and this morning, they said it was ok. They gave me a little morphine before the procedure - my first time ever getting that! It must have been just a little though, as I was only a little dizzy, and the procedure was still a bit painful, although it only took about 10 minutes total. Guess what image came to me while I was trying to endure this?? Cherylk's avatar of the beach!! So, thanks cheryl for taking me to the beach at that time!
Anyway, the doctor said that it was a small fissure in the usual position that was causing the problem (the hemmies are gone). There is a skin tag present too. The sphincter was tight, but not super-tight. He prefers a conservative approach, and wants me to go back on rectogesic (I had stopped after using it for 6 weeks, in January) and prescribed 5% lidocaine too. He pretty much ended the conversation there. I asked "if I'm not improved in, say, two months, then what?". He kind of shrugged his shoulders, as if there were no alternatives than just living with it! Then I asked about botox, and he said, yeah, that's a possibility. He then mentioned "cutting the sphincter" which he thought was best to avoid since "it can cause injury to the muscle".
So, all in all, I'm glad to have gotten the information and glad to know what is going on. Also to get my foot in the door of the health care system. Knowing what I know from this website, I wasn't terribly impressed with the CRS (who drew a picture of my fissure on a nearby napkin) - however, I didn't discuss too much with him since I'm willing to take the conservative approach because I have been doing better, and give it a whirl to try to heal this. At least that's what I'm thinking now.
Thanks everybody for all I've learned here - it was sooo useful today -- and for all your support!

Bumbutt wrote:Ok, so I made it to the CRS, finally! I thought I would write what happened here, in connection to the symptoms that I've had along the way....
I was supposed to do two enemas before the sigmoidoscopy this morning, but I just couldn't manage. When I got to the doctors this morning, I told them I didn't do the enemas, but since I had had a BM last night and this morning, they said it was ok. They gave me a little morphine before the procedure - my first time ever getting that! It must have been just a little though, as I was only a little dizzy, and the procedure was still a bit painful, although it only took about 10 minutes total. Guess what image came to me while I was trying to endure this?? Cherylk's avatar of the beach!! So, thanks cheryl for taking me to the beach at that time!

Thanks everybody for all I've learned here - it was sooo useful today -- and for all your support!

Glad I could be of help with an image. I also imaged lying on the beach in Australia when I was enclosed in an MRI tube a few years ago. I've had 2 flex sigs, and both were uncomfortable. I wish I had been given morphine!

Since I want to use this to kind of journal my progress (or lack of it, whichever it is!), I wanted to post an update.
Over the past week, I would say that the post-BM aching has gone down to about 2-3 hours. I am still working from home in the AM, which means I can just go lay on my stomach for a couple hours after a BM. I have no pain during the BM.
However, I've had two days with two BMs in the morning, and then the ache has lasted about 8 hours. So this makes me think that I am just managing to keep things under control. That little fissure is otherwise easily irritated!
Oh yes, and an occassional weak zinger if I am standing around a lot (like for an hour or so). I also still get the "pain-less" muscle twitches everyday too.

BB,
Sending healing energy across the pond!!