Advice for constipation sufferers

I have just spent half the night comforting Sassy, who had very bad stomach pain, and the story all came out.

It is probably my fault, that she didn’t ask my advice about her constipation – I AM intolerant about her constant focus on her health, which is usually excellent by the way – but I am somewhat upset by some of the advice she has been given here.

Saltwater flush. I am amazed that people should be told to do this and not just as a one-off but regularly. Are you all unaware that dehydration from drinking seawater is the prime cause of death among illegal immigrants who arrive in boats? (I do not believe our neighbour understood what Sassy did – her French is almost non-existent. I believe she thought she had taken a saline laxative, such of magnesium hydroxide.)

Enemas. How can anyone talk about the importance of peristalsis and then tell someone its OK to do an enema every day? How is that going to help train the bowel to behave as it should?

Psyllium. I’m glad Sassy resisted that advice (though not for her reasons). Firstly, constipation has many causes, one of which can be a twisted bowel. Imagine the effect of expanded psyllium on that! Secondly, a hydrated colon is vital to getting peristalsis to occur naturally, and psyllium is a near 100% soluble fibre, capable of absorbing 40 times its own weight in water. That means it can easily absorb almost all the water in the colon, thus reducing peristalsis.

Water intake. Whilst it is generally true that drinking lots of water is beneficial, that is not always the case. People with kidney, or liver, disease often do not excrete water normally and may become overhydrated if they take in even average amounts of water.

Lecithin. Someone said “Lecithin is a kind of lipid, but it's been refined a bit so I don't think it has the same peristaltic action effect, not as much as liquid oils do.” Bile, which is nature’s laxative, contains salts, water and lecithin.

Retraining. I didn’t note the exact words, but someone indicated that, after the saltwater flush, Sassy now needed to retrain her bowels. Why should one single episode of constipation mean that someone’s bowels need retraining, when – until now – they have been producing a perfectly healthy daily stool within 10 minutes of a morning cup of tea? Where’s the logic?

I am absolutely sure that everyone here means well, but there is a fundamental lack of knowledge of both underlying medical causes and the effects of some of the “remedies” and a focus on the same “remedies” over & over, without so much as a thought about the cause of the constipation.

To end on a positive note, I will make some suggestions for those who have clearly been constipated for a long time and – since they haven’t described any obvious symptoms – are unlikely to have either impacted faeces or a twisted bowel. Try this for a week.

For breakfast, have stewed rhubarb, a marvellous liver stimulant that also increases gastric juices and thus aids peristalsis.

For lunch have a salad and a make sure you include dandelion leaves, which not only act as a mild laxative but are diuretic and stimulate urine elimination, excellent for those with liver or kidney problems. Adjust your water intake to the increased output of urine.

In the evening have a curry – ginger, turmeric & garlic are just three of the ingredients that have a beneficial effect on the digestive system.

Take lecithin. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother swore by it and she lived to a ripe old age!

If you feel you must take a laxative, use magnesium hydroxide. It brings water into the colon, instead of sucking it out and increased hydration stimulates peristalsis.

For the curious, I’m a biochemist.
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