Cait- citracal and benefiber-danger?

Okay, I'm on the bowel issue again. I read in a magazine an ad for Citracal. Sounded good, so I asked my husband to pick it up today. I'm reading the label and it says that you need to be sure to take this with sufficien****er as it can swell in your throat and block your esophagus! Well, I certainly don't want to take that. I don't fear it swelling in my esophagus, but I do fear it swelling in my stomach and making my stomach stretch. So then I get to wondering about the Benefiber I have been taken. I know it's basically guar gum or something like that and that it does need sufficient fluid taken with it also. So Cait, my gastroenterologist friend, do you have any insight on whether using these products could stretch our stomachs. Anyone else with any knowledge can contribute too. Barbara-BQ-bowel queen

Same thing I did last week! Scared me when I read that too. I haven't taken one yet! I'll be waiting to find out the answer to this one. Mary

Cait--Help us. I am only two weeks out and just had a BM(petit) this morning. is that normal. I feel in my mind I need to to do more Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Helen(across the waters)FRANCE

Barbara, Benefiber is highly processed (ie very finely powdered) so it dissolves fast. I think the disclaimers on the bottle are largely due to the fact that there are too many lawyers out there. This is a**-covering, pure and simple. I use Benefiber every day and recommend it to lots of my patients. The "esophagus exploding" myth is nutty. I'm not too concerned about stretching my stomach from Benefiber either. The amount that my spoonful of Benefiber could expand is small compared to my food intake, even post-op. Back when I was pregnant I used Metamucil and would mix it up and let it sit overnight. Even after the fiber was fully "imbibed" with water, it was only slightly thickened, and Benefiber would be even less. Nothing to worry about. Alternatively, you could use half as much twice a day and end up at the same point. I use Viactive for calcium (even tho I know it's not the "good" type of calcium.) I'm guessing there must be some Citrical formulation that your DH got that has fiber in it too. Otherwise, I can't figure out where that type of warning would come from on a Citrical bottle. Citrical is a calcium supplement, and calcium is notoriously constipating. So is iron, so is a high protein, low carb diet. Put it all together, no wonder we can't s***! I would also (again) put in a good word for diet and excercise. We can eat some fruits and veggies. Prunes are old-fashioned but effective. And excercise is essential for pooping.(Hope that technical term was OK to use!) If all else fails, you could ask your doc for an Rx for Miralax. This is a white powder which is basically a glorified stool softener. It gets dissolved in liquid and drunk every day. You can throw it in with the Benefiber (they actually work together very well.) It is sort of tasteless, tho not completely, so it works best in something that does have a flavor, like juice or Crystalight. It is extremely safe and I can give it to my frailest patients. It is totally non-addictive and it is safe to fiddle around with the dose, a little more or a little less depending on how things are "going". So let me know how things are "going". ;) Cait

Thanks for all the input Cait, I wrote Critrical, but I meant Citrucel. Want to give us your wisdom on that one too. I have thought about adding the Miralax. I really thought the 2 Senna caps/day would do the trick but they are doing absolutely nothing. I'm wondering if they are being properly dissolved in my stomach or not. I know we have a lot less stomach acid and/or could the capsule pass through to my intestines. I always take them at night. I have my last cup of ice tea that I must drink to get in my fluid. I slowly drink this and then with my last sip I swallow the 2 senna tabs. The thing is that Smooth Moves tea does work for me and the active ingredient in that is senna. I purposely got the capsules rather than the tabs thinking that the tabs might potentially irritate the stomach, but now I'm thinking that was a mistake. The tabs and capsules are much cheaper than the tea plus I find it easier to swallow the pills than to drink the whole cup of tea (I only like black or orange pekoe tea). I know that the iron supplement is definitely contributing to my problem. I'm figuring that if all is well with my blood work at my 3 month check that I will be able to discontinue it. I do get exercise, but I know when I did the Atkins diet with all that protein before I also had this same problem. Well, I think I'll go eat some baked beans for breakfast now that I've finished my big cup of tea and waited over 15 minutes. Thanks again. I'll be sure to keep everyone informed of how things are "going". Barbara

Helen, I forgot to address your question. A small poop may be OK, but it depends. I certainly don't poop as much (volume) as pre-op because I'm not eating as much. But if it seems very hard, difficult to pass, or you are skipping days then there might be a problem. A fiber supplement (like Benefiber, above) is good along with other things. That said, I think it was about 2 weeks post-op before my bowels got back into their ususal "routine". I was first constipated, then I think I had loose stool for a few days, then back and forth. You are still quite early. I would just concentrate on eating properly and maybe trying to get a little more fiber and excercise into the day! Bonne chance! Cait

Thank you Cait I have stacked up on prunes and my mother-in-law put them in water and broil them a few minutes and cover them and let them set. I will et a couple of them and see how they work for me. Here the medications are different and I really don't want to be depenent on them for actions. Thank you you are God sent.

I never tried any of that stuff for fear of either stretching out my stomach or it getting stuck in my throat. I use my Smooth Moves tea and it works great, I use it about 1-2 X a week and I love it because I KNOW I will go the next day. AMY

Amy, There is a draw back to "Smooth Moves" and any other "tea" (often sold as dieter's tea, very popular with my Hispanic patients) which is that it contains a stimulant laxative. Generally this is senna and/or cascara. It will reliably make you go in the morning, but the cost is that it is quite addictive. Eventually your colon gets "hooked" on it and then you can't go without it and will even need more of it just to get the same results. As a rule all stimulant laxatives have this potential problem. They are OK for very occasional use (like once or twice a month) but not more than that. The same goes for senna pills as well as Ex-lax, Correctol, Feenamint, etc. whose active ingredient is bisacoydl. The senna and cascara-based laxatives are especially pernicious because they are often sold in health food stores with a prominent label saying "All Natural". Yeah, they're all natural because senna and cascara both come from plants, but they're addictive anyway. Cait