Hello - I wrote a few weeks back about stopping miralax, which almost immediately stopped the burning pain I was having all day. I now do this -- dried apricots or prunes or a combo in the morning, at least 64 oz. water per day, 2 fiber gummies after dinner and 1 phillips tablet before bed. After a bm, I am applying A&D ointment, and at night, aloe from a capsule.
I am watching the carbs and the meat, and cutting back on sugar seems to help. Miralax had me going 2 -3 times per day. Now I am generally going just once. I would never say that I am fully cured or healed but at least for now, I am just about pain free. I was very reluctant to stop the miralax, but that made a huge difference for me. I think I was able to heal a little because I am no longer "going" all day. Hopefully, this will continue to work for me, and maybe someone else too.

Don't mean to be too personal but do you have constipation with yours. I am scared to death to eat prunes, apricots or more fiber filled food. It seems all foods cause me dirrhea and the higher the fiber the worse it gets.

yes, I definitely did have constipation -- I find the apricots are milder than the prunes -- in other words if I think I ate "badly" I will have all or some prunes. I do not do well with too much other types of fiber such as the whole grain cereals or breads -- they produce too much "bulk." Also, again this is just me, but without the miralax, I have much less diahrea.

Reading this has actually meant the penny has dropped. I was trying to work out what had changed over the last few days as I have moved from relatively easy BM to harder movements. I have been absolutely religious in eating bran for breakfast, then five types of fruit during the morning, then high fibre pulses and beans for dinner and veggi tea.
Firstly - every time I introduce meat, such as beef or pork - I have problems.
Also I used to eat fresh apricots, and haven't found them in the shop recently. Therefore swapped with other fruit.
This has happened over the last three days, and movements have been much harder! Ok now I will add them again.
Do you find dried apricots work just as well?

You possibly already know about this, but the penny dropped for me when I read about soluble fibre on one of these threads the other day. I hadn't realised there was a difference to what insoluble fibre and soluble fibre acheived in respect of bms. Once I researched that and then adjusted my diet accordingly it made a world of difference.

Hi Steve -- yes, actually, I was talking about dried apricots. Have actually not tried the fresh -- I have 5 or 6 dried pieces - think they are halves - after breakfast as my morning snack. Actually have added some walnuts as this does not seem to bother me. As I said, I would never use the work cured, but the combo that I mentioned above seems to have made a huge difference.
Kat -- yes! Soluable fiber -- the gummies are all this -- but alone 2 gummies was not enough, and 3 made me very gassy -- gummies and 1 phillips at night and the dried fruit in the am -- omg. I am much happier than I have been in months!

After months on stool softeners and then Miralax, I realized it was causing me to have so many bowel moveme ts and all the wiping was causing irritation. As I decreased it nightly down to almost nothing, I realized I was getting more and more sensitive to it. A Godsend with the fissure and post surgery, but over time it kind of did a number on my digestive tract that has taken a while to resolve. Wouldn't
ever say not to take it but maybe I would have started to wean off more quickly but I was scared too!

Have to completely agree with Kat about the soluble/ insoluble fibre thing. That makes a huge difference!.....
Beans are absolutely the best thing for me (I eat tons of baked beans as well as others) as I have my best and softest BM's after consuming these!!! I find fruit in all forms helps too. Fresh (IMO) is best but snacking on dried apricots/ prunes are also good. Another great find for me was tinned fruit because it is so much softer. Buy it in its natural juices rather than syrup and this works wonders on the bowels!! Gently cooked veggies of any description are also essential! I'm also careful not to overdo the fibre and ensure I have a big glass of water after every meal to wash it all down OK. I also use Olive Oil as a stool softener, cook with lots of it and take a big tablespoon before going to bed. It's completely safe, acts as a great stool softener for that first morning BM and healthy too!
Good luck to all in finding what works for you :D

I forgot to add Flaxmeal (ground linseeds/ flax) These are a great source of soluble fibre and you can mix the ground seeds with anything, to up your fibre in a friendly way. Really healthy stuff, high in Omega 3 too :D

Hi ever the optimist, can I ask you where you buy the flax meal from?

OMB x