Things you learn from Cancer
How to Manage Your Poo 101
Most of us never have to think about bad poo much unless you have been on a bit a drinking binge or got some bad chicken, but cancer and drugs make poo management into a science.
You start with a bad back and too many advil....slows the flow a bit, but not too bad. Throw in some T3s with codiine and suddenly you are straining. Toss some Oxicodine in and such and the doctors are saying "before you start this you should get some stool softener". Stool softener? WTF is that?
Before we go too deeply into this dark and dirty area, let me lay out a situation. You have been taking pain pills and are all backed up. Now you start a chemo that the first warning is "diarrhea is a common side effect" and the doctor says you need to purchase imodium before going home as with this chemo you can not be dehydrated.
Humm??? 4 days of food stuck rock hard in lower intestines causing intense gas and pressure but not movement. Add above, explosive diarhea causing drug and then throw a bowel stopping drug on top if needed. Sounds dangerous. Something has to give. Has anyone seen the "Meaning of Life - waffer thin mint"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Bs1...eature=related advance to 5:15 or so for results.
So what makes your poop move anyway. Did you know your intestines are always doing a little wave action to push things along called peristalsis. Tiny little wave action that never stops...but we all know. Waves don't move rocks very fast. And rocks grind and hurt.
SO....how do we fix this. WATER... Drink more. No, not tequila. Water. Also get the poo to hold more water. Take stuff that holds water and stimultes the intestines(fibre). Simple. Avoid crappy food. If when you put it in your mouth, it quickily becomes a poo like texture(chips, processed crap, etc) it likely will not help. Unfortuantely dairy does not help either.
SO, How have I managed? Surprisingly you adjust quickly. Pain is a good teacher. Look two days ahead. Chemo coming ...start cutting out the fibre, chemo ending, add in fibre with glass of metimucil every second day, drink more. It really didn't take long to adapt to a constantly thought ahead diet and I have had few problems since early on until.........I started this anti-fungal pill every Friday that liquefiies everything and messes everything up. Tomorrow we try again. Hopefully 3rd time lucky.