# Can't sleep until I have had bowel movement - anyone else experienced this?



## dlrpsteve (Dec 29, 2007)

Basically I have been having nights where I can't sleep until I've had a bowel movement, or two, or even sometimes three! When I go to bed I don't particularly feel like I need a bowel movement when I go to bed but then I can't sleep and low and behold, sometime later maybe 1, 2, 3 or even 4am I have a bowel movement, then I am able to catch a few hours sleep. Sometimes I need 2 or 3 bowel movements throughout the night and I can't sleep until the last one. I don't feel and pain or discomfort, it's like my body is saying 'you shall not sleep as you will be having a bowel movement at 2am'!This used to happen occasionally but at the moment this is happening every other night, and on the nights in between I'm sleeping fine.I've been to the docs a 3 times over the past 4 weeks:1st time - he gave me some powder for constipation to disolve and drink in the evening. The idea is that it would take 12 hours to work and that after a while I would get in a routine of having bowel movements in the morning. This didn't work and I'm not sure I needed anything for constipation as when the bowel movements happened they were quite easy, not like the hard work they've been in the past!2nd time - this was 2 weeks ago and another doctor gave me a 14 day course of non-addictive sleeping tablets. These seemed to do the job for a couple of days but soon the old pattern was creeping back in and these past 6 days have been back to the sleep every other day pattern.3rd time - this was this morning and a 3rd doctor said it sounded more stress/anxiety related and with IBS this was possibly causing it. He gave me a self-help panflet and said to come back in 2 weeks if things weren't improving and he'd refer for some cognitive behavioral therapy.I was just wondering if any of this sounded at all familiar to anyone and what you have done to help this?thanks


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## ilovechocolate (Aug 23, 2009)

Hey there,I cant say ive had this exactly but I do find that i tend to go once before i get into bed. Its like a rountine. I clean my teeth, wash and then need to go. If i cant or dont go then i am in more pain in the morning. I think some of it is an unconscious body poop clock almost. I have never found that i cant sleep unless i poo UNLESS the pain is so bad that its too hard to sleep. It may be that u have also got into a rountine where psychologically maybe u feel ''better'' after poohing and feeling better makes ur mind feel at rest which enables u to sleep better? It may be worth trying to go earlier in the evening say an hr or two before bed? Or it may be worth making yourself go to bed if u dont feel a desperate need to go, and maybe having a lavender smell in the bedroom (i hear lavender is good to make u sleep??) or putting on the tv or sumthing that may make u feel just as relaxed?? Not sure if that will help but maybe worth trying. I do hope u find some relief and i agree it makes no sense for them to put u on constipated pills--that sounds like not sumthing that u are suffering from,Goodluck in finding some relief,x


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## dlrpsteve (Dec 29, 2007)

Thanks for you reply Just thinking, but first doc gave me Movicol and twice now after using it for a week I've started to get this increased bowel movement pattern. I'm not sure I needed movicol as having BMs didn't seem to be a problem really - I wonder if this latest problem could be from using the movicol? Only thing is would it really be still affecting me 7 days later?


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## stawrmer (Mar 11, 2017)

I know this is an old post. But this is exactly my issue too! A few times a week, I'll lay in bed restlessly for hours (1-3 hours, sometimes 4-6 hours), unable to sleep. No indication that a BM is coming during these hours. Then suddenly I feel the need to have a bowel movement, and within 10 minutes of having the bowel movement I have an enormous urge to sleep, and I sleep like a baby. I've been having this issue for nearly 2 years now.

I've been trying all manner of laxative/fiber intake combinations, to try and figure out a way to "move" my bowel movements to mid-afternoon so they don't affect my sleep, but I can't quite figure it out.

Would appreciate any suggestions!


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