Hi all,
I've been having issues for the past few days with having a few maybe 3-5 very hard pellet, small pieces of stool followed by the kind of BM I want, soft, Bristol scale 3 to 4 which makes up the bulk of the stool. I am going every morning generally.
I am off grains and potatoes for past three weeks on (advice of PT therapist as have borderline underactive thyroid) and take 400mg Magnesium every day. Plenty of fruit and veg smoothie each morning plus meat and diary. Not on any stool softener at the moment.

Any ideas how I can get rid of these small hard poops? I think they are delaying ,my recovery as I feel they are scraping inside.
I think I drink enough 2 litres maybe per day. I don't over exercise, just pilates, walking, light gardening.
any ideas be great.

Suemac, are these hard pellets the first to come out? If this is so you may try to "check" internally before a BM (let's say, as soon as you wake up) and see if there are leftovers from previous day. The check needs to take place before you feel the urge to go, so while the rectum is supposedly empty.

Hi Abu, yes they are the first to come out every time. So what do I do? If these are the previous day's leftovers and I hadn't thought of it like that! Then what do I do to address these little horrors!! As I say the rest of stool is good and I'm happy with. So I can check in the morning to see if they are there but what would be your advice to stopping them occuring?

I have no solution to this. I experience the same occasionally. In the past, while the fissure was active I used to remove them manually, one by one, with lots of vaseline. This way I was free from scratching during the normal BM. I don't know whether they appear as an effect of incomplete emptying or if they drop in the rectum some time after a BM. Sorry Suemac, wish I could help you but maybe others found a solution.

This is going to be real TMI (what isn't), but I've been using a lubricated gloved finger to feel up there after a BM. If I do feel something then I put a very small amount of water in with a plastic syringe, just 1-2ml and that's sufficient for my poorly functioning muscles to push out what's left. I always put an ointment on before a BM so the syringe doesn't hurt, and I keep it very clean plus replacing it at intervals. It's not something I recommend doing everyday though because I suspect it could cause hemorrhoids by forcing muscles to contract strongly in response to the water. Plus my PT said it could make the muscles 'lazy'.

Thanks for the advice. It has improved as I sent up to 400mg magnesium. However I would prefer to go back to 300mg which I will try in a few days. Hopefully it will stop doing it!!

It boggles my mind that some people are able to get a finger in there when you've got a fissure.... Doc said he had to do a digital exam when I first came in and it was just the worst horrible pain.. could barely talk or breath (realized pretty quickly that's actually unnecessary for diagnosing AF... Was very pissed about that and will not be going to him anymore I don't think). Maybe I'm just squeamish.

I had to up my miralax dose slightly to avoid the occassional hard stool. I think a little extra of those osmotic laxatives is just something a lot of us need to keep things smooth. And of course drink lots and lots of water.

Thanks bloodybum! I have had some pelvic floor therapy recently with internal work and she is so gentle and reassuring that I have been fine. She has really found sore spots as well. However my fissure is healed but I have residual pain and soreness so maybe as it's healed it's not so bad. I am not comfortable with doing anything myself in case I do damage. I prefer an experienced person to do it.