General Physically sick (constipation), when should i make him see a doctor?

[Never_falter2]

@LilLynx I feel very bad when he is eating crap... especially when he is not feeling well and still eating crap... makes me feel very bad. I think that a wife actually should do something about it, but what can I do? I cannot forcefeet him healthfood.
I can tell him I think his diet is not healthful but he already knows that

 

[Deleted member 29920]

I know, you cannot force him, it even took me getting very ill for me to change my own diet :(

 

[ms spock]

I bought one similar to these for my partner. The one that I got was $15. This has the reasons why squatting is useful. 5 Problems With Sitting On Your Toilet | Squatty Potty® Maybe of interest or not as the case may be. But every little bit assists in situations like these.

Having bowel cancer ruled out is pretty important though.

However anxiety and depression can cause major intestinal upsets.

 

[ms spock]

I feel very bad when he is eating crap... especially when he is not feeling well and still eating crap... makes me feel very bad. I think that a wife actually should do something about it, but what can I do? I cannot forcefeet him healthfood.

Can you show yourself some Self Compassion, like in a Self Compassion Break?

 

[ms spock]

If he will drink prune juice that can go a small way to assisting in alleviating constipation.

 

[ms spock]

Can you look at David Burns' top 10 distorted thoughts? If you looked at your thinking through that prism it might be of assistance?

10 primary cognitive distortions (negative thinking styles)

Name that distorted cognition (thought/perception)

 

[+littlebird]

Actually he might be fine taking extra magnesium pills to ease his constipation, if he takes them the right way.

I'm on a medication that causes severe constipation. I could eat masses of fiber and it would do almost nothing. Lots of liquids, prunes, etc. Laxatives gave me horrible cramps, plus you can't use them often.

Before bed I take a calcium/magnesium supplement for sleep. Once I accidently took them twice. No constipation the next day! And no cramps at all.

Turns out one of the reasons many are deficient in Magnesium is that the intestines don't absorb it well. Taking magnesium supplements to correct the deficiency often doesn't work. You end up with diarrhea because you took more at one time than can be absorbed. All that extra magnesium just gets flushed out of your system and down the toilet.

You can deliberately take more than you can absorb as a laxative. From what I was told, you can't be poisoned by this because the whole point is you are NOT absorbing it. There is a chance, esp. if it causes diarrhea, it may lessen the absorption of other medicine, so take them at different times. And you do need to keep well hydrated, since the magnesium uses extra fluids to loosen things up.

So I bought the cheapest magnesium supplement I could find (the cheap ones are the least absorbable) and take it before bed every day. If I miss a day, back to constipation city. It took some experimenting to find out how much to take. It's around 1000 mg for me. I do have to vary the dose a bit. For example, if I ate a huge bowl of chili or black bean soup, I'll take a bit less.

This is just my own personal experience, but it's worked great for me for years. Good luck finding something that will help your husband.

 

[Never_falter2]

@Disco Dancing Queen I come from a culture in which „self compassion“ is a verbal slander so I am not sure if this translates very well into my culture.

@+littlebird: sorry for the question, but is this something you discussed with a doctor? I think it is possible to overdose on almost everything. Did a quick google search and it seems magnesium overdose can lead to kidney failure.

 

[Hojay]

Totally second that on the "self compassion" front @Never_falter. It's hard to even get a good Germ to admit they're in pain.

I think we can give good advice on here all day long, but at the end of the day, you're worried he's got something more serious going on, so getting him to a doc seems inevitable. Here's an idea: a lot of bowel issues can be caused by food intolerance or sensitivity. Lactose intolerance, for example, can cause some serious hard-to-manage symptoms. Could that be a way to coax him to see a doctor? Something along the lines of, "Hey hun, I was thinking, maybe you're actually "allergic" [misnomer, but better word to use for someone who sees "intolerance" as a weakness] to milk or something. How about we make you an appointment to get you checked out for that? That way we know which ingredients to at least substitute for something else."

It may sound like an "easy" solution to him, not having to change his habits all that much (lactose free milk = no big deal,) but will actually get him into a doctor's office. And any good doctor who hears how constipated he has been will make him get checked for more serious causes than lactose intolerance as well...[Knowing German doctors though, he'd have to be VERY upfront with how bad it really is.]

Just an idea.

 

[shatter eyes]

Medications.....

Sometimes i try so hard to go..i feel like i will burst eyes out and break my teeth.

GP prescribed Movantik. Helps a bit.

What helped me most was drinking kefir, liquid magnesium, and flax fiber.

I learned about the leaky gut theory also which affects IBS like symptoms. Sometimes IBS is misdiagnosed. A hyper nervous system also can mimic IBS.

Serotonin syndrome is similar from meds and supplements like 5HTP.

 

[+littlebird]

Thanks for the concern, I do appreciate it. Questions are fine!

My Doctor tests my blood for vitamin/mineral/protein levels regularly, and I'm good. The whole thing works safely for me because that extra magnesium is all ending up going down the toilet instead of being absorbed. : )

You are very correct about the danger of overdose. Here in the states, just about every medical problem possible has been blamed on magnesium deficiency. It's a frequent topic in some of my Mom's health magazines. Lots of people to run out and overdose with terrible consequences.

Don't get me wrong -- I do believe deficiencies cause real health problems. But vitamin overdose can be very dangerous, too.

My mom has IBS, mostly the non-constipation type. It's a frustrating condition. I hope you can find some way to make him more comfortable!

 

[Cyberluddite]

It's also ridiculously easy to overdose on vitamins and nutrients from food. You'd be surprised how many "safe" things aren't as safe as they're said to be.

I mean, they are safe... as long as you don't rely heavily on them. For example, I'm a sucker for bananas... but the B vitamins (like niacin, B2 and B12) redline my metabolism to where I have to constantly eat or face low blood sugar.

Thankfully, B vitamins aren't bioaccumulative. Neither is D3 (vitamin D), which has similar effects. But it's a bit easier for the body to recover from overdosing on food than from vitamin supplements.

When faced with a health issue, just ask yourself... what would Hippocrates do?