# Increasing fiber and water seems to make matter worse



## kfcpri (Sep 21, 2013)

Hi all, I'm new here. Sorry in advance since English is not my native language.

I'm going to describe the problem in detail so you might not want to read on because it is gross.

So, I am just 29 years old I have just discovered a few weeks ago that I have serious constipation for my whole life.

What I mean is for my whole life my BM pattern is once per 4-5 days, and I thought that is normal.

When I have to go I would strain, and the stool is usually, let's say, 1 or 2 "banana"/"rod", followed by uh, non-solid matter.

I thought all these are normal because that's what happened my whole life, until I read somewhere that people BM once or even three times a day.

WTF? that's like 15 more frequent BM than me. I am in serious problem I thought.

So since the realization, I decided to have a much more healthy diet.

I used to drink just 3-4 cup of liquid a day, and my diet was mostly meat, milk/cream/cheese, fried stuff, coke, ramen...etc. Heart attack stuff.

Now it is like, 7-9 cups of water a day, a bit of bread or sandwiches for breakfast and lunch, and usually get salad for dinner. Super healthy stuff right?

That actually made matter worse. The BM frequency become once in 2-5 days.

The stool is more thick than before (and shorter, and has a more bumpy surface).

If it was a banana before, now it is a hand grenade. It is much more painful to make it pass the opening. There is even some blood in the paper.

Before, I had to strain to induce the process, but the passing is more easy. Now, each passing is a test on the limit of flexibility of the opening.

OTOH, my stomach is also more bloated than before, and I would easily feel full nowadays.

I just don't know what to do, why am I getting an opposite result? How do I get softer stool? If this continues, it will break, please help me.


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## kfcpri (Sep 21, 2013)

Please help me


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

A lot depends on how severe your constipation is and how your body reacts to things. No one thing is 100% good for absolutely everyone.

Generally with mild constipation when things are mostly working OK the fiber and water things helps, but if you are a bit more severe it can make things worse (just more bulk that doesn't move any better).

You can make sandwiches and salad with very little fiber. Have you put your previous diet and your new diet into a free online diet tracking program (most are for weight loss, but they often track grams of fiber) and see if you really got much of a difference?

Usually if adding fiber doesn't help, or seems to make things worse, the next step is going back to a lower fiber diet (if you are only supposed to have at most 3 days of fiber in there and you have 5 or more days that can get uncomfortable) and adding an osmotic agent (like miralax or magnesium supplements) to keep all the stool wet enough to move easily whenever your colon does move things along.

If you can keep the stool wet enough to pass easily then you can again play with fiber levels to see what amount is the right amount for your system.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

i'm on a low fiber diet because i have slow transit constipation among other problems.

i eat well cooked vegetables--no raw or stir fried vegetables (and i do miss these!) . for protein i eat eggs, chicken (mostly dark meat--breasts can be tough) ) and ground beef/ground sirloin---can't eat tougher meats or steak etc or stir fried meat--all those seem to bind me up more. i drink milk and eat yogurt (the kind with no added fiber). white bread can be good for a low fiber diet but not the high-fiber breads. also no "heavy" breads like hard rolls, bagels, etc. soups are good. low fiber cereals like rice crispies (not sure what you have available over there) and the healthy oils like olive oil are good too for digestion and for moving bm's along.

i drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. and also drink fruit juices--the healthier ones made from real fruit--not the sugary stuff.

and i do miss eating all the healthy stuff like raw vegetables, salads and fruit like apples etc.and whole grain breads. but when you have slow transit constipation, fiber is not your friend.

like Kathleen said, osmotic laxatives can help a lot too by helping to keep your stool soft.

good luck---wishing you all the best,


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## kfcpri (Sep 21, 2013)

The salad I mentioned has various raw vegetables, lettuce, beans, carrots, corns, cucumbers....etc.

I am now trying for a complete reversal. I will keep up the increased amount of liquid intake, but will drop the fiber and instead opt for fatty food in hope that they will lubricate the intestines.

Also thinking about eating food that would likely cause loose stool/diarrhea, such as food with lots of milk, or some south east asian spicy food, to counteract the hardness.

Will update again when I have some results.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

oh yes--eating spicy food is a good idea. I've heard and read that a lot of people find that spicy food helps them have a bm. i'd eat it but I have reflux and unfortunately can't tolerate anything even remotely spicy.

yes, you have to experiment and find out what works for you. good luck!


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## kfcpri (Sep 21, 2013)

It's been a while and I would say it is a success since I changed my habit.

Let me share the before and after:

Before:

Large amount of water

Bread, sandwiches, raw vegetables salads as lunch and dinner

-> Painfully hard stool

After:

Large amount of water

Food with lots of oil & fat: Such as chicken wings or legs, ham hock...etc. i.e. meat that are served with the skin.

Food with Milk: Milk with cornflakes, latte coffee...etc

Food that sounds like it would cause diarrhea : Japanese sushi, Chinese rice porridge, Singaporean Laksa...etc

-> Soft stool

It's just so strange.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

Hi--thanks for the update.

i'm glad the diet change has been a success for you. hopefully the softer stools are easier to pass and not as painful and also that you're having less bloating.

hopefully you're not getting too much of the "bad" (saturated) fat with the new diet. the healthy fats--found in olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, corn oil etc-- are good as well as the good fats found in nuts --almonds, peanuts, pecans, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts-- as well as in avocados, soy milk, tofu, fatty fish, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, to name a few.

those spicy foods you mentioned never caused diarrhea in me either --although i was hoping for it







. i know those type of foods do cause D in a lot of people.

yes, what we eat does make a difference in stool type.

hope you're feeling better. take care.


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