Constipation

[Chris123]

Hey everybody,

I have been in a wheelchair (a T3 paraplegic) for nearly two years now and recently I have had a lot of bowl trouble.

I basically find it hard to pass excrement and have been suffering from constipation.

I was just wondering if anybody could could offer up any tips or medication for relief as it is becoming quite a pain (in more ways than one  )

I look forward to hearing from you all

Many thanks.

[Gary Anderson]

Thought I had already replied to this. I use brank flakes, liquorice allsorts, prunes

[Luc]

I am a C5/C6 quad and brand new to this forum, but I can very well relate to this problem. During the first 12 years after my injury I pretty much kept eating the way I used to eat before my accident. That meant lots of meat, bread, pasta, and cheese, mixed with a good amount of vegetables though. And yes, I did get constipated easily. For a while, I only did a bowel program every three days because things just weren't moving. Sometimes I didn't have one for five days and often I had to resort to laxative teas to get it going. My skin also got oily easily and I would get pimpels on my back frequently.
Then I gradually started to cut out more and more of the meat, bread, pasta, and cheese out of my diet and my bowel movements started to improve. These days I am pretty much completely on a vegan diet and I am much healthier and have a lot more energy than I used to. I have regular daily bowel movements now and my skin issues have disappeared.
I truly think that there is a direct relationship between what you eat and how well your bowels move.