Hey all,
Long time no type for me...
Was wondering if anyone could give me some good advice before I go back to the doctors.
I have been taken stool softeners for about four months now (dulcosate sodium from dulcoease) at a reasonably high dosage - about 6 capsules a day. I took them because of two ops and a fissure.
Well the fissure almost healed, but I think that because my stool was too soft and wet it wasnt able to heal completely - I had read that if you have soft stools that it makes the skin soft and prevents it from finally healing. It made sense for me, because I healed really quickly at one point, but the last stage just didnt heal up - I always had a little blood on the tissue. When I bled I really didnt feel much pain at all - in fact all the pain has really gone.
So I decided to reduce my dose, I started at doing one less capsule a week 6 to 5 was easy, but I was still very runny, so too quickly I think I went from 5 to 4. I had then two morning of very painful BMs. I needed to go, it was in the lower part of my bowel, but I had to strain, and it felt so hard. No surprise then, I bled like mad on those two days. So as a result I have gone back up to 5 again (and have the pain that has come back again).
Generally each day, I think I have enough fiber. I have a bowel of bran with seeds in the morning (about 11grms), I have an apple, pear, apricots, oranges in the am. Then I have sandwich on brown bread, about 4grms, two different whole grain snack bars (total about 5grms) and then for dinner usually a veggi dish. I think all in all I must be getting at least 25 - 30 grms of fiber a day. On top of this I drink at least 2 litres of water.
In an effort to compensate for the softeners I have started taking psyllium husks (ground 1 tsp in the am one in the pm) which has added loads of bulk to my stool - almost too much. But I have read that this is a natural stool softener - I am hoping that if I take this, reducing the softeners will not be such a problem (?)
I am going to see the doctor and hope that they can dive me some advice, but not sure if there is anything that others can advise. I really want to be off the softeners as soon as possible (particularly as they are a stimulant laxative, and I have heard so many bad things about this). Also to be truthful, I dont have 100% confidence in the doctors, sometimes is just about seeing as many patients as they can in their allotted time. So when you try to have a conversation, you can almost see them watching the clock.
Help!