# Will fiber supplements last throughout the day?



## Persistance (Jul 11, 1999)

I have just read that if you take oatmeal, say, it will only bind what is already in the stomach.Is this so with fiber supplements, too?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Probably. There is some mixing of stuff from one meal to the next, but not a whole lot (most of what comes together in a meal stays together).Now there is some mixing so a lot of people can take fiber once a day and there is enough fiber in the diet throughout the day that the extra helps. But if you are specifically trying to do something like bind bile with the oatbran kinda thing (or psyllium fiber product) it probably would help to have some fiber at various times in the day to spread the fiber out in the whole GI tract. Most people do get some fiber besides the oatmeal or the fiber supplements, but if you get no other fiber you may need to look at spreading stuff around a bit.Most plant based whole foods have some fiber in them. You can refine that out of a lot of foods.K.


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## Persistance (Jul 11, 1999)

So there is nothing to stop this onslaught of D in the morning before I even eat. The last thing I have every night is a predigested supplement "Elemental" (around 6 PM) which is supposed to minimize diarrhea. Throughout the day, it has 750 mg. of Calcium (250 each drink). I also have been drinking that at 9 AM every morning, then get up in two hours and have my oatmeal and later in the day have a banana or half a banana, or rice or applesauce on a cracker (in between 2 more drinks, which equal 1175 calories). Last night (at around 4 PM) I cheated a bit though, and ate some penne pasta and pieces of chicken the AIDS project brought me. I have stopped Imodium because it was stopping me up, but this is ridiculous. And drinking Pedialyte or similar stuff only makes it worse. It is becoming very frustrating. I don't seem to have as much of a problem during the day. I take it Calcium only works for that meal, too. I don't understand what the benefit of taking it before bed is, then.Mainly I worry about dehydration. I hear water will not do it .


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

The colon is going to be most active first thing in the morning, so the diarrhea in the morning thing may be hard to get past.Usually with dehydration and diarrhea we are talking the every hour on the hour kind of diarrhea more than the IBSy kind of a few loose stools a day kind of thing. If you have diarrhea in the morning and are OK most of the day water should do you just fine. If you think you need electrolytes put a very very small pinch of salt in the water and a very very small pinch of sugar in the water and use that instead of the premixed stuff (so you don't have flavors or colors or any other weird stuff)Can you get the liquid version of Imodium, take a like one or two drops at bedtime like with and eyedroper for baby medication (then add one drop more every couple of days) to see if that works for you.It might slow down the morning thing. If you take the imodium AFTER you get up then that won't help very much and may just stop you up too much.I don't know if this is reaction to the treatments you are getting as well.You can't just put a scoop of fiber powder with the Elemental? see if that helps so you get some with each meal?K.


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## Persistance (Jul 11, 1999)

Well, it's more than a few loose stools. I keep getting up and getting up and it can get pretty watery, and it comes out with a noise and scares me. Then this morning, because I had tried to limit my intake of water with my pills at bedtime, my mouth felt dry and I got more scared, and felt rather hot and sweaty (not now). But right, not as much during the day. Maybe I need to not make my first "meal" that liquid supplement, and make it food. Ugh. I started rice cereal because the doc told me it was more binding than oatmeal(?), but I don't like the way it makes me feel. Or maybe it is the Pedialyte.I will look into that liquid Imodium -- that's the second time I have been heard that.Really? You mean you can make your own electrolyte solution with a very small pinch of salt and a very small pinch of sugar in water? . Wow, that would be a boon. (???) And I may not have to torture myself with the rushing out to replace the Pedialyte. You're so right -- the Pedialyte is inconvenient, hard to handle, expensive -- AND it has flavors and colors which, who knows what they may be doing. Funny you picked up on that, because I was wondering if the citric acid in the grape-flavored one was agreeing with me.Yeah, this is a reaction to the treatments I am getting, too -- that's what I believe. Even though the doctor says "hardly" anyone else reacts to such a small dose of daily oral Cytoxan, the side effects list nausea and lack of appetite, among other things and I have read women with this complaints. Then I compounded it by not eating anything for a month except drinks and now I am trying to get "back."Now the putting the scoop of fiber into the drink...where did I read that have read that fiber can pull vitamins away from food or some dang thing....does that sound right? Or maybe not at the same time as taking vitamins or something? (oh, so sorry for so many questions).


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## Persistance (Jul 11, 1999)

PS. This is so wierd. The "Customer service reps" at Benefiber seem to know nothing about their products. It is soluble fiber and they insist it will not help diarrhea, since there have been no studies saying so. They say it won't help the consistency of the stools, only how much you go. But all the literature (and doctors) says the opposite.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/6889/electrolyte.htm has an exact recipe (lite salt has some potassium in it so this one mixes some of both http://www.ccpediatrics.com/medical/homemade.htm has a couple you can use that don't have the lite salt, just regular saltHere is one they did a study with http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.f...7&dopt=Abstract I would tend to if anything tend to less stuff in it rather than more, unless you are clear you are past the point where water will help.K.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

On the fiber question...on some level fiber with meals does hang onto some nutrients, but I do not think a couple of grams of extra fiber is a problem. I think it is more a problem in very high fiber diets.But that is my impression of it (no hard studies off the top of my head).K.


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## Persistance (Jul 11, 1999)

Thank you so much for your research and help (we _like_ common sense and "impressions" from knowledgeable people).Those homemade recipes will be such a boon for me. I tried one last night -- but you know what puzzled me? In two of them, they give the same measurements for (8) tsp. of sugar (!) to 1/2 tsp salt, and in one recipe, it is for a liter of liquid (NCBI Pub Med), and in another (Homemade Rehydration Solution), you use it in a quart...I made the one with the quart because I don't have a liter container, but it's strange (particularly since one warns "If you don't use exact measurements, it could be dangerous for your baby!").


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## Persistance (Jul 11, 1999)

I think I do have a liter jar. I'll try that, as I just read what you just said about "less stuff." That's a whole lotta sugar!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I think the measurements for infants are more delicate than for adults (and I think the problem is adding too much salt, so I would tend to under the salt rather than over it).And for most things a quart and a liter are close enough that the final concentration is only off by a very small fraction.I think they tend to be high in the sugar as sucrose usually is well absorbed (so won't increase diarrhea) and putting it in there in a goodly amount probably helps with the keeping some energy going into the body, especially if that is the only thing you are having and sometimes with diarrheal illnesses it is the only thing you can consume for awhile.K.


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## Persistance (Jul 11, 1999)

Well, they do make me a bit thirsty, but it is good. Could you explain (or if not possible, thats OK) how putting salt and sugar in water gives it electrolytes? No lite salt in the house, or maybe it's on a shelf I haven't the strength to get to.My mother was real curious. And what about what you originally told me -- a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar (maybe 1/4 tsp each in a glass?) Do you think that is still valid?


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