Hi all,

I've been reading a few posts for a week or so. It feels a bit better to see people helping each other.

A quick history of my condition:

I'm 29 years old - South Asian. I have never eaten much vegetables or fruits until recently. I've been including vegetables and fruits now in my diet for the past 2 years, quite good intake in the past 1 year. I was very active in sports until college days. I became very sedentary once I started working, being awake late in the night and having meals at erratic times etc.

I also had severe work related anxiety for a year until April 2023. I switched job and that stress slowly started fading away. I had a nasty stomach bug last July - I had to vomit around 5 times a day. Was on an antibiotic course post the infection for 3 days. 20 days later I started getting very hard bowel movements. MRI, colonoscopy, magnesium, calcium, thyroid are normal. The issue is there till today (recurring once in every 2 weeks or so resulting in re tear of my fissure) which takes a week or so to heal again. I'm getting tired of this cycle and the doctors are also unable to suggest anything other than fiber, water intake and exercise.

I was briefly on laxative (Lactulose) for a month around last October but that did not help much. My gastroenterologist put me on rifaximin this february for 15 days and resistant maltodextrin for a month. During this time I did not have even a single incidence of hard stool. Once I stopped the fiber supplement I started having issues.

I'm taking enough fiber already through diet - more fruits and vegetables everyday but still have hard stool issues at times - Mainly the initial tip. Don't know what the solution is for this.

I've been exercising considerably lately - swimming a KM every alternate day and going to the gym on the other days - Where I do strength training along with cardio. Water intake - Approximately 2.5 to 3 litres per day. BMI - 29.4

Would love to hear from you guys about your experiences of having the same issue, how I can naturally prevent hard stool from coming up as this is occupying my life and I'm stressed everyday about the next day's bowel movements. Also is there a link between my stress and hard stools? I poop everyday - I have not skipped even one day as long as I can remember. It is mainly the initial portion of the stool that is hard and the rest are normal. Thanks in advance for your help.

Peg3350 stool softener will prevent the hard tip. However, weaning off it is difficult. Something a few stalwarts on here have discussed so be wary of it.