# Bloating and weight gain from Miralax?



## lunagirl (May 13, 2010)

Hi, I started taking Miralax 9 days ago, usually 1 capful, sometimes 2 per day and it's not working! I still have to use a suppository and then I just get some watery stools but still feel backed up. I feel so hopeless- I was hoping it would work on me. Nothing works. I takle dulcolax, cascara, senna, aloe, magnesium, stool softners (in different combos not all at once) and my constipation is just getting worse. I eat healthy and drink lots of water. Now my abdomen is bloated and I am up 3lbs. Could this be because of the miralax?


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## skoshland (Apr 21, 2010)

It sounds to me that you are hitting your bowel with just about everything that you can. I have to suggest to you that you try to treat you mind along with the laxatives. This will help. IBS is a mind body disease. You should treat both. I have found that those of us that suffer from IBS tend to fixate on our bowel sensationsand functions. It would benefit you to take your mind completely off all bowel functions. If you can ignore the bowel as much as possible. This will actually reduce the sensations that you experience from the bowel. Your emotional state will affect your bowel and how you respond to situations and sensations of the bowel will further affect your condition.


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## Diana63 (Oct 20, 2009)

skoshland-how do you take your mind of your bowels completely?would be interesting to know as it may help someone else on here.


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## wildbabycatzz (May 14, 2010)

After my colonoscopy, the doc said - "hey, this Miralax cleaned you out good. Just take it every day and you'll be fine" My spouse said - oh, the doc knows this will work so try it. Nnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooo,







I'd been down that road before. Yes, Miralax will clean me out but I'm still bloated. That's the part no one (spouse, doc) gets , they think its just a matter of a BM. That is not the case, at least not for me. I will keep trying different things. Most recently, flax seed capsules. 2 in the morning, 2 at night. Bloating and no BM - scratch that remedy off the list.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Sometimes bloating has not one thing at all in any way to do with what is inside the colon.Have you tried panceratin? (digestive enzyme and that specific one, not papaya or anything else). That can sometimes deal with bloating.Also if you have pain/discomfor, treating the pain may help more than trying to be 100% totally empty all the time. sometimes the abdominal wall relaxes out to take the pressure off.For the OP: You may have more water in the stools when taking miralax than you have when all the stool is hard and dry and dehydrated. That could account for some water weight. (like a couple of pounds, water is heavy).


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## skoshland (Apr 21, 2010)

Diana63 said:


> skoshland-how do you take your mind of your bowels completely?would be interesting to know as it may help someone else on here.


Hi Diana63 Ok let me answer this with why you want to do this first. Consider what pain is. Pain requires that you be aware of it first. So the pain of your bowel must reach your consciousness. If you focus on that pain it will become greater, right? And if you ignore the pain and focus on something else the pain is less. It is like the guy in the movie that has a bullet in his head that he does not feel until after he beats up all the bad guys. Pain can be ignored. In fact you can and should just ignore just about everything about your stomach and bowel, every gurgle, burp and contraction, pleasant or unpleasant. People with IBS are oversensitive to their bowel so the best thing is to ignore the bowel and reduce your conscious awareness of the bowel. Further, do not think about the bowel or anything related to it including the shape size whatever of the bm. People with IBS increase their anxiety related to the bowel functions. The anxiety worsens the ibs. By ignoring the pain and the bowel you are de-linking the minds sensation of pain and also the response of the mind that further worsens the bowel dysfunction. Now how do you ignore that pain? Well first of all do not think about anything related to the bowel at all,ever. I am sure that you have plenty of other things that you can focus on to distract your attention from the bowel. You can focus on your ears, nose even your toes. this is about 50% of the healing for IBS. You have to treat the bowel, live healthy and display a positive attitude. You need to re-train your mind body. You can beat this.


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