# Milk of Magnesia makes my feet hurt?



## Matt b (Feb 27, 2011)

Whenever my constipation starts I usually try to stop it right at the beginning with one dose (2 tablespoons) of milk of magnesia before I go to bed. I have also been consuming a lot more water when I do take the mom. I have found it works a lot lot better if you drink a lot of water.When it is real bad I might have to take the mom for three days straight. The last couple of months I haven't had to so this. With only taking one dose every few days I have noticed a lot of the physical problems I was having almost went away. Like the pains in my sides. My feet hurting while I slept.Well earlier this week I couldn't go and it took three days on mom to get things going. First time in a couple of months i have had to take the mom for more than one night. After that I had mild side pain and I could feel my feet hurt a little while I slept. It didn't get too bad yet though. In the past I have had crippling pain in my feet while sleeping.Those three doses had me going for a few days straight after. Maybe four days without mom and then last night I needed another dose of mom. Well last night I slept like #### and my feet hurt like crazy! It felt like my feet were broken. When I woke up and started walking the foot pain almost went away but I didn't have a bm this morning. Right now my feet feel sore and I have mild left colon pain.It looks like I need another dose of mom tonight but I am really scared of what it is doing to me. I have narrowed a lot of my problems down to taking too much mom. I don't know what its doing but I'm thinking its some kind of electrolyte disturbance.I figured maybe low potassium. Yet don't you have to have bowel movements to get low potassium from mom? Last night my feet hurt just from taking it with no bowel movement. I did have 3-4 days of bm's from milk of magnesia.Also milk of magnesia makes me sleepy too. About 30 minutes after I take it I am out. My kidneys are supposed to be functioning normal from the blood work I ha e had done and all doctors have told me it is safe to take mom just about daily unless you have kidney problems. I am about 90% sure that these problems are caused my the mom though.This all sucks because milk of magnesia is the only thing that works for me. My goal now is to get past this stage of constipation and then get on Miralax. It doesn't work as well at all but it does help and doesn't seem to cause me any physical problems.Anybody else here have problems similar to this when taking milk of magnesia? Anybody know what might be going on with me? Would it be dangerous for me to take the milk of magnesia again tonight?


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## Matt b (Feb 27, 2011)

If I were having some form of electrolyte issue would it be safer for me to take a fleet enema tonight as opposed to another dose of milk of magnesia. Or could an enema be dangerous?The more I read about what the masnesium could be doing to me the more I do not want to take another dose tonight. Yet I also don't want a blockage from hard stools.I could also just take two exlax tonight instead of the milk of magnesia. Yet my problem is very hard stools right now and I don't know if exlax would help with that.


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## Sean (Feb 8, 1999)

Milk of Magnesia has never given me those kinds of issues. Are you sure that the foot pain is linked to the MOM and not some other cause? That said, I might skip the MOM for like a week, to see if the foot pain improves. Instead of ex-lax, I might take Dulcolax. It is stronger for me, and usually works even when I have hard stool in me. Just make sure you take enough (I take 3 tablets) and drink a ton of water with it. Make sure you can stay home the next morning. LOLAn enema might be the best approach. The Fleet enema is a saline laxative, so you want to be careful if you think you are having electrolyte issues. I would recommend a plain tap water enema, or tap water with a little soap in it. Those always work if you take in enough volume and there is nothing better to break up hard stool and make it easy to pass. Take in at least a liter of body temperature water and try to hold it for at least five minutes before going to the toilet. You will need to get a hot water bottle apparatus that has a hose adapter on it. The bottle holdds about 2 liters of fluid. You fill the hot water bottle and hang it above you. The water flows down through the hose and into your rectum by gravity. Those have always worked very well for me. Just don't use them too often. Most pharmacies have the hot water bottle/enema bag in the feminine hygiene section. Private me if you have any questions. Sean


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## Matt b (Feb 27, 2011)

I definitely cannot guerentee that my feet and side pain issues are caused by the mom but it would be one big coincidence if it wasn't.It seems every time I take mom for more than one day I have some kind of issue. The feet pain thing has only happened when I have taken mom more than one time. From reading about it and talking to friends everyone is saying it is a potassium issue. Which mom can cause. The bowel movements that mom cause supposedly depletes the body a lot of it's potassium. Just a few hours ago a began to get pretty bad pains in my lower abdomen and my legs and feet have felt sore all day. It hasn't been that long since I have had a bm. I have only gone two days right now without a bm. Same as last week. I went two days and on the third day of taking mom I had a bm and I had bm's for the next few days without the mom.I used to let myself go days at a time without having a bm before I would do something about it. Lately once I go one day without a bm I take something for it. Usually mom. Have never had daily bowel movements before my whole life but I feel much better this way. The only problem is I find I get much more uncomfortable from not having a bm now that I have started going daily. Last year I could go a week without a bm and not even notice. Now after two days my stomach hurts.I take medicine that makes my stools extremely hard so I wonder if that has something to do with the pain I am feeling. Sometimes even if I am not constipated I get constipated like pains. I guess hard stool in my intestines can cause pain also?I think I am just going to take the exlax tonight.I am going to drink a LOT of water with it though. If that doesn't work then I will try a fleet enema in the morning. I'm just too scared to take another dose of mom right now.


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## Matt P (Jun 21, 2011)

Matt b said:


> I definitely cannot guerentee that my feet and side pain issues are caused by the mom but it would be one big coincidence if it wasn't.


My money is on dehydration - because it sounds like you're getting cramp. I know you said you're drinking more water, but in June I had agonising foot pain and leg pain for a week - went to the doctor and osteopath, seemed to get a bit better with manipulation but I was also VERY constipated at the time and made worse due to the pain medication side effects (and pain of sitting). The following week after taking lots of lactulose I ended up in hospital for 4 days on a drip with dehydration and a severe impaction. I was on a drip for 72 hours plus the water I was drinking - they said I was severely dehydrated which amazed me as I drank so much water! Anyway, I just found an interesting snippet online for causes of foot cramps:Overuse of the foot[*]Poor circulation[*]Dehydration[*]Holding the foot in a position for a long time[*]Lack of minerals in the body such as potassium, calcium, and magnesium etcLo and behold dehydration is there - and it's not a lack of magnesium you have is it?! I actually gave up on mom a few years back as I found I was getting too thirsty.Matt


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