Horrible constipation

The combination of higher protein than I was ever used to, and low fat caused me horrible constipation issues the first 5 months after surgery. I had finally given up and started taking Miralax, which worked. Then I switched to a ketogenic diet and went from low fat to healthy full fats, and have not had a problem since.

what healthy full fats do you consume?

Avocado, full fat cottage cheese, non-processed cheese (no American or Velveeta), full fat sour cream, ghee or butter (no margarine), olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, full fat yogurt (if you can find it), full fat cream cheese, heavy whipping cream or half and half. Nuts are good sources of fat if you like them (I hate nuts so they will never be on my list lol) except for peanuts and cashews, which I do like but they have a lot of carbs. No sugar added peanut butter, almond butter, etc (ingredients only nuts and salt), are good.

when I get really constipated - I attack it both ways: miralax one end and enema the other I often use just warm water enema 0- maybe with a little of Epsom salt (I make sure i used warm water -filtered and boiled -the chilled to just slightly warmer than body temperature). That helps to get the worse stuff out - without damaging my "end". I use good quality oil (coconut) as lubricant.

If I travel - I may use suppository if I absolutely need it. More than 2 days of "no BM" can create a really bad reaction for me.

All of the preventive may not help if you are not drinking enough water. when i get constipated - I try to increase my water for at least 2 -3 days and make sure I really have my gut moving without adding more solid waste to it. Often - when we know we are constipated - we may have much more waste inside us that we think we do. I had a ct-scan confirming that I was at one time "full of it". And that with daily BM. Apparently not a complete BM, even daily one, can eventually create a back up issues.

I saw a few of the posts saying low fat will cause it, but a bigger cause is lack of fiber. If you track your fiber I bet it is very low. Most adults need 25 grams, but if I drop under 35 it is a problem. The fiber additives, in general, seemed to work for me. Instead, leafy greens and such did. I was not uber low carb as a result during me weight loss phase, but neither high carb. Very early out I used Colace, a lot, until I could balance out the diet a bit more.

Adding fiber didn't help me, it actually made it worse in my case. I was very diligent about ensuring I was getting the right amount of fiber, but still had issues. Only adding healthy fats helped me :)

Some people do well with the fat. Hala is the same- fiber made it worse for her as well. For many, fiber works great. Everyone has to figure out what their system needs-

Im 2.5 months out and had to use suppositories when I got home from hospital to sort everything out. I then moved to Benefibre in water. It helped a bit but I find that taking a Metamucil capsule once a day and drinking lots of fluids keeps me pretty regular

I take something stronger if I havent gone for 2 or so days as I end up very uncomfortable

I think its trial and error with what works for your body

Are you still taking pain meds? Because those cause constipation. Other than that I can only suggest colace (what you are probably already taking?) and drink allot of water.

A few things come to mind that might be causing this:

• Pain killers (I'm constipated by the second dose)
• Not enough hydration (64oz is bare minimum you should have)
• Not enough fat in diet (fat greases the pipes)
• Iron (if you're taking a supplement, try eliminating it)