I am scheduled for surgery in a couple of weeks, and I've recently been given antibiotic when I called my crs and was worried about infection because I saw a spot that looked weird on a skin tag. She called in two antibiotics and I have been on them for a few days and they have caused really loose Bms. I noticed on a paper that the doctor wrote that I would be given flagyl after my surgery and this is one of the antibiotics I'm taking now, not sure if I'll be getting the other one I'm taking.
I need some advice on what I can do to control the loose Bm's if this happens after surgery? Right now I'm not having many problems even though my stomach churns a bit in the early part of the day. The bm's are like water and I've applied vaseline before bm's and there's no burning. Really my bm's have been easy and pleasant for a change. I cut back on my stool softeners and have been eating probiotic yogurt and bread for the first time in months and that settled my stomach a little today.
I'm thinking that with this reaction to the antibiotics, there's no danger in constipation with the vicodin but I'm fearful of what this may do to fresh cuts after surgery. I wouldn't think it would be easy to apply a barrier like vaseline on my rear right after surgery? Is that ok? I guess the stool softeners may not be needed if this happens? I don't take fiber supplements so should I eat really high fiber diet with vegs and fruit if I have this problem after surgery with the bm's or should I lean more towards breads ,oatmeal and hight fiber cereals? I wouldn't think veg's and fruit would help a loose bm?

Hey Dawn-
Sounds like the same way I reacted to Flagyl.
The only thing that helped me was taking the Metamucil or Citrucel to help "gel" the stool. For me it was a complete nightmare having these loose stools after surgery. I would wake at 5 am with my stomach churning and running to the bathroom to go. My CRS said to take a little bit of imodium or Pepto to "Slow down the system." I never did this since I was scared it might slow things down to much. They also told me to crank the fiber up even more. As mentioned, I ate a lot of yogurt trying to replace the flora. Hard to know if this helps since it may just get killed right away..... With the combo of the fiber supplement and diet I got the stools not as loose. But I still had to go 3-5 times while on the Flagyl no matter what I so that was not fun.
I never tried the vaseline route. But I did this about two weeks ago for my last surgery before I gave myself two enemas for bowel prep. It helped immensely. So it may be possible to gently apply after surgery to protect the area.
One nice thing is you can experiment now and hopefully find something that helps in terms of diet,supplements, etc. Also, you can bring this up with your CRS now and see what she says. Be worth trying what she recommends now before you have surgery since that is not the time to be experimenting.

Hey Paul,
I've been going about three times in the morning and it is pure liquid. I know she will say take more fiber supplements.
I hate them though. I had such a bad experience with metamucil and it scared me away from even experimenting.
I'm not taking my colace tonight and see if that helps. I surely don't need that while taking this.
When I read it was flagyl I remembered reading yours and others reaction to it and I mentioned to the jerk at the desk that I heard it caused diarrea and he said he had never heard that before?!
The vaseline is helping right now, but I don't know how easy it will be to apply with the surgery...I can't even imagine touching that area then.
I am so freaking scared!!
With stools like this I could see being incontinent after surgery because I can barely hold it now.

Paul , do you think regular food that doesn't really have high fiber or isn't sharp, spicy, fried or whatever may hurt a fissure could help make the bms more solid? Like maybe rice or more starchy foods like potatoes and bread?
I ate a sandwich today with turkey and cheese for the first time in months and even though I know cheese is not part of the anal fissure diet, I couldn't see it hurting as loose as the bms have been...On a lighter note: it was the best sandwich I've ever had. I also had some diet dr.pepper(caffeine) which I gave up months ago. I did drink my regular gallon of water though.

Hi Dawn-
I think Fissy mentioned white rice helped her with loose stools. I never eat white rice though. That is what is tough - everybody is different. There are a lot of foods that I eat that are considered no-no on a fissure diet. But they never cause me issues. That is what makes suffering with fissures the most frustrating is trying to constantly tune the diet. I would love to just eat healthy not thinking about how this is going to go through my system.
Also, with fiber. You may want to try to eat more soluble fiber. This helps gel the stool since it will absorb water. Insoluble is just roughage. I eat a bowl of steel cut oats every morning. Oatmeal has a lot of soluble fiber. I make a large batch at night(they require about 30-40 minutes to prepare) and put them in containers for morning. Steel cut oats are much more tasty and nutritious than the normal oats. I buy them in bulk - 50lb bag. This is my standard breakfast for the last 5 years.
Also, I use Citrucel for a fiber supplement. I haven't had it make monster stools like Metamucil can. I would also recommend starting with a small dose and working up to get the desired result. I only take a half of a dose at night. But my stools are always on the loose side so this help form them.
I have never given up cheese. I just gave up eating a LOT of cheese - ie pizza :(. I can eat a slice on a sandwich without issue.
I hope you find something that helps.

Thanks so much Paul. You have really been helpful

I too had problems with Flagyl after the surgery, I was having lots of little malformed stools throughout the day and at night which caused severe pain and burning, that's one antibiotic I'm glad to see the back of, after a while I decided to start on Fybogel to help bulk up the stools which helped a lot since watery stools irritate the surgical site like hell, after finishing the Flagyl I stopped taking the Fybogel and integrated some more normal foods into my diet to make sure I had decent sized stools.

Thanks Steve,
I agree it's a rough antibiotic. I only go about 3x's a day at the most with it. Today wasn't as loose as yesterday but still not what it should be.I've never seen fybogel. Are you from the US?
Do you normally not take fiber supplements? I hate them but I guess I will have to give citrucel a shot if push comes to shove. I'm still wondering if the vicodin will make them a little firmer as well.
Anyway I see your mood:) Does that mean things are looking up for you? I sure hope so!
Thanks.

Whilst on Flagyl I went about 8-9 times a day/night, the pain after was horrible, they are nasty antibiotics but have to be to stop infection down there.
Fybogel (Ispaghula Husk) http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100001120.html
I'm from the UK dawn, but you should be able to get Fybogel in the US maybe it's under a different name?
I'm feeling much better today, it's been a long haul though, I'm now 7 weeks post-op and things are definitely improving, slowly, but they are!

I'm so glad to hear your getting better!!
I guess you would have been happy with my 3x's a day on the antibiotics. Maybe I shouldn't be complaining...
I think I will buy some of the supplements and if I need to I will start with 1/2 a dose and see...