Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion Helpful Tips Things to help the GI tract?

OK, chronic constipation is a thing for many of us.

Maybe it was just time, maybe these things helped this morning, after 2 days of nothing…..

1. a new probiotic:

http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/ultimate-10-probiotic-13-billion-100-capsules/vs-2164#.U7GePBYtqQw

2. fiber one bar: oats and chocolate: actually just ½ as the sugar ain't good for the diabetes.

http://www.fiberone.com/products/chewy-bars/oats-and-chocolate

3. prunes:

again, a lot of sugar (3 grams per prune) so just one at a time, if diabetic.
can get up to 3 or 4 in me a day this way.

4. lots and lots of water / tea / etc so when one finally goes, its not really hard.

5. Upped the magnesium.


6. Upped the vitamin C.

Thought I'd be doing psyllium today (that's my final secret weapon), but didn't have to……

Had Humira on Friday; usually that will help for ½-1 week, but this time it didn't? Or maybe took a few days to?

Too, been eating cabbage (coleslaw, sauerkraut) and other cruciferous veggies (broccoli) and beans, things that usually help, with only limited success.

And probiotic foods: sauerkraut, yogurt

Maybe I need to start eating seaweed salad; seaweed is another thing that usually helps. Haven't had it recently.


What, that is not medicine helps you? share your secrets here.

I realised recently that if I eat seaweed as my 'pasta' for tea, early afternoon the next day I need to go several times in an hour or so window. Took me a while to realise it was the arame seaweed.

the store had no seaweed, but doing all the other stuff, plus one thing that I hadn't made a connection to, but think there may be something to it:

since I've been complaining to the chiro about constipation, he's been working on the thoracic - lumbar junction where the GI nerves are. All he really did was press and "smooth out" that area.

I hadn't gone Saturday or Sunday. An hour after he worked on me Monday I went and the next day, pretty normal. Nothing yesterday or this morning. But again he worked on me a little while ago and again, success.

At this point, don't know if its coincidence (time to go) or if there really is something to it. But it doesn't hurt, so…..

When I had acupuncture, it did nothing for my joints / arthritis, but I think it too helped my bowels. Hard to say since the bowels fluctuate so much.

Anyway, things like chiro or acupuncture are other things to add to the maybe list.

I use those Fiber-One bars. Tasty. My evening snack after work is one of those and a couple of pre-biotic chewable tabs for another 3 gms of fiber. If it doesn't do the trick one night, I'll go with Metamucil the next night. Usually, it keeps me more or less regular. I hate using laxatives and stool softeners just make things sticky (sorry for TMI). And lots of water.

Does the probiotic make a difference for constipation? And going to look up difference in 'pre'- vs 'pro'-biotic.

I do think the probiotics help, but for me its like throwing everything at it and that helps, but just barely sometimes and well other times.

I'm still playing around with trying different probiotics.

Thanks for the tips. Since I started the NSD around 3 months ago, I never experience constipation, I was thinking I would, but it's business as usual. I suppose that is a good thing

I have some serious issues with constipation. Both the cyclosporine and oxycodone bind me up. At least the oxy has noxolene with it and it helps . I never take laxatives or stool softeners. I have been seeing a gi doc regularly since 1998 when I had colon cancer. They believe the holy grail of laxatives is common old Epsom salts. Non habit forming ,gentle ,added bonus of extra magnesium and very safe. Their suggestion is to dissolve a flat teaspoon in warm water and drink it. No way, it bounces straight back up. I keep a supply of veggie gel caps and when I am in need I fill a gel cap and take it at bedtime. The only proviso is to drink plenty of water. Works for me and is a time honoured remedy. So is caster oil but I cant come at that dreadful stuff. Ron.

I did find that magnesium supplements helped some…and i do tend to double up when the constipation gets chronic…..maybe more is in order.

magnesium really helps me too ( mg bisglycinate ) and or Natural Calm
What kind of mg do you use ?
The other thing that helps is more potassium - being hypokalemic actually causes constipation since it affects water transit in and out of the cells and then also the levels of absorption in the colon. Also noticed that my bowels normalized a lot since starting LDN too ....maybe my gut is finally healing ?!

Interesting, I'll have to try that.