Stools too soft or too hard...balance?

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Stools too soft or too hard...balance?

Postby jman11 » 18 Dec 2009, 10:27

So I've been upping my intake of fiber and this morning I woke up with a hard front end with a soft back end stool (wierd I know) followed shortly by a stool that was WAY too soft and was more irritating than a hard stool. Ooh how I hate that burn. Anyways, how can I achieve a balance of soft yet bulky stools? I went out and bought some metamucil clear & natural which containes 5 grams of soluble fiber per serving thinking that soluble fiber adds bulk, but hell I don't know what to do at this point. Feeling lost, lonely, hopeless....please help.
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Re: Stools too soft or too hard...balance?

Postby Del » 18 Dec 2009, 10:47

Not an expert, only a newbie but I have found that too much fibre with not enough water can lead to a hard front end.
Also sometimes there is no rhyme nor reason to these things, to coin a phrase 's*** happens'
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Re: Stools too soft or too hard...balance?

Postby jman11 » 18 Dec 2009, 11:04

I've been consuming about a gallon or more of water a day pretty consistently.....damn this fissure!
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Re: Stools too soft or too hard...balance?

Postby suzyljank » 19 Dec 2009, 07:01

Hi, it's really a process of trial and error. For me metamucil was the enemy because it made the stool too large. I tried lots of things but now I use miralax and benefiber and eat shredded wheat.. I came upon that formula for me and for whatever reason it helps most of the time. The hardest thing for me it remembering to drink enough liquids throughout the day. Even when you get your stools the way you want them, stress or illness can throw them off again. Try different things until you come across the formula that works for you. It may take a while but don't give up. If you are having a harder than normal bm try lubricating with ky jelly or a little vaseline before you go. It really does help. Suzy
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Re: Stools too soft or too hard...balance?

Postby cherylk » 19 Dec 2009, 07:22

Good advice, Suzy, and I second what she says about mirlax and benefiber--I use both also. The foods we each daily affect our BM's also, so it is a tricky balance, to say the least. :roll:
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Re: Stools too soft or too hard...balance?

Postby jman11 » 19 Dec 2009, 08:20

Here is what I've been doing, it seems to work sometimes but I'm still trying to work out some kinks.
Breakfast: 2-3 packets of oatmeal
Lunch: PBJ or turkey on whole grain bread, triscuits, apple/banana
Snack: Triscuits/Fruit
Dinner: Whole grain pasta or whole grain brown rice w/ vegetables
Water: 1 gallon or more a day, not often less
I may snack several times a day as 3 meals is often too little to keep me feeling full. This works sometimes and fails others in producing soft/bulky bm's. I am going to give miralax a try, however I am not wanting to gain a dependence on the stuff, I figured as long as I got enough fiber/water I'd be good but that doesn't seem to be the case.
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Re: Stools too soft or too hard...balance?

Postby Nebelwerfer_ » 23 Dec 2009, 19:39

the softer the better... in my own opinion
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Re: Stools too soft or too hard...balance?

Postby NeuropathicGuy » 24 Dec 2009, 13:29

I'd agree with all of the above jman, fiber alone without sufficient water and/or stool softeners can actually do more harm than good. When I first got my fissure, I went crazy on fiber cereals, granola bars, and veggies, and by itself that just made me poop a lot ... lots of hard, painful poops, that is. After I started drinking tons of water, things were a tiny bit better, but bowel movements were still agonizing. It was only after I started taking Miralax and drinking tons of water that things got somewhat under control over the course of a few weeks to a month or so. Now half a year later I've still got the fissure but it at least doesn't cause me terrible pain day in and day out anymore. Not perfect but definitely an improvement relatively speaking.
And I'm with Nebelwerfer 100% -- I wouldn't worry about making things too soft. If you want to err on one side, that's the side to lean toward. I did colonoscopy bowel prep with an active fissure and basically pooped liquidy stools and water for half a day and that didn't really bother my fissure at all.
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