Stool Hardener.. Really need help

[OGD]

I know many people are looking for stool softeners but I need the opposite.... Almost everytime I go to restroom, I realize that my stool is very luquid, and it makes me very uncomfortable and afraid of some kind of accident.. Anything that I can use? medicine? or any opinions about what I should eat? thanks

Age: 23, Male, T-6, Student

[Mike C]

Try eating granola type cereals in the morning. Make sure they are not loaded with suger. Get one mixed with dry fruit and add raisens. Don´t skip on your water intake whatever you do.

What are you eating?

"So I have stayed as I am, without regret, seperated from the normal human condition." Guy Sajer

[Jeff]

beos - The best way I've found is to take Fibercon. I take the Equate generic equivalent. This is a bulk-builder. It passes through the gut absorbing water. I couldn't live without it. My problem with high fiber foods is that they also contain softeners. Fibercon adds bulk only.

I also take loperamide regularly and/or consume dairy products.

Bananas, applesauce, rice and toast might also help you.

~See you at the SCIWire-used-to-be-paralyzed Reunion ~

[MikeC]

Beos, I started taking Fibercon and Imodium (loperamide) like Jeff said about a month ago (thanks to Jeff and others who recommended this). I was having at least 2 to 3 accidents a week prior to that. I haven't had an accident since then. My stool wasn't liquid but it was very soft. I get both the fibercon and imodium at Wal-Mart - the generic versions. I take 1 fibercon at breakfast and 1 at dinner. I take one or 2 imodiums in the morning after my bowel movement depending on how soft my stool was. Good luck - I know how uncomfortable you can feel if you think you may have an accident.

T12 Incomplete - Walking with Walker, Oct 2003

[SCI-Nurse]

Before you take anything to firm up your stool, you need to be sure you do not have a bowel infection like c. diff. See your physician and provide a fresh stool specimen for testing. C. ciff. can be made worse by taking Imodium or Fibercon.

Once you are tested and found not to have c.diff, or it is treated with a full course of drugs, then you can experiment with Fibercon (get the generic, it is much cheaper: calcium polycarbophil). Avoid regular use of Imodium if you can, but many do use it as well.

Banana chips (dehydrated) can also work for many, as can adding cheese, cultured yoghurt and black tea. Avoid foods high in fat or very spicy foods.

(KLD)

[OGD]

thanks a lot.. ( I love this forum, it makes life much easier..)

I will have an exam soon, but I was wondering if I need perscription for the medicines you have listed...
* and what is the problem with using Imodium..?
thanks

Age: 23, Male, T-6, Student

[Kaprikorn1]

Originally posted by SCI-Nurse:


Banana chips (dehydrated) can also work for many, as can adding cheese, cultured yoghurt and black tea. Avoid foods high in fat or very spicy foods.

(KLD)

Nurse...are you saying that bananas, yogurt and black tea are stool hardeners? These are a big part of my diet...could this be why I'm always constipated (along w/ my neurogenic bowel of course)?

Kap

"It's not easy being green"

[wheeliegirl]

Hi. I also use Metemucil and loperamide regularly. Sometimes, though, I will be fine, actually hard, dry, marble-like stools, then suddenly diarhea. Last night I thought I was finished with my BR (no gas or other signs of more stool), then, while getting into bed, I realized that I had gone again. I had no choice but to finish up there in bed, because if I tried to get to my chair and then the bathroom I would make a horrible mess. I got to the bathroom, then it all turned to diarhea just as I got on the commode.

It's the second time in a week that this has happened, and it happens more frequently than I am comfortable with. Any ideas?

[SCI-Nurse]

Using Imodium or Fibercon when you have an active c. diff. infection will only prolong the infection. Don't use these meds without getting tested for this. Get a stool specimen to your physician (or their lab) on Monday.

Fibercon and Imodium are available over the counter and do not require a prescription. The drugs required to treat a c. diff. infection do require a physician's prescription.

Bananas are not necessarily constipating, but of all the fruits they are the least likely to cause loose stools. Dried bananas on the other hand are often used in a powdered form added to tube feeding for those who get loose stools from tube feedings (a product called Kanana Banana). Tea (due to the tannin) is more constipating than coffee. Yoghurt is not necessarily constipating, but helps to replace lactobacillus bacteria that can contribute to loose stools if you don't have enough of them in your gut (ie, after taking antibiotics).

Everyone has to find out for themselves what causes them loose or hard stools. Keeping a food diary may be helpful for this.

(KLD)

[MikeC]

HSB, do you use suppositories? I had a similar problem with more coming out later when I used a suppository during my bowel routine - that is one of the reasons I don't use one anymore.

T12 Incomplete - Walking with Walker, Oct 2003