Hi,
My husband has one week of radiation treatment to go. He finished chemo yesterday. He is taking Oxycodine for his sore mouth and tongue. He is in treatment for tongue based cancer, which thankfully is gone! We have tried ALL laxatives, prune juice, everything! Fleet enemas seem to work, but last time he had an issue that I wont get into, Any suggestions??

Hubby has not had a bowel movement in a week. Please dont suggest a laxative or suppository, non have worked! We just bought magnesium citrate pills. Any other ideas?
Thank you!
MB

Merri, glad that your husband only has a week to go. That's a terrific milestone and the end is in sight.

I too had his problem and tried seemingly everything. None of it did the trick until my oncology nurse suggested: rubber gloves. I realize it's an unpleasant thought but it was the only thing that worked.

Keep us posted. I'm sending all my good thoughts for his relief and quick recovery.

Your husband must feel horrible, poor guy!!!

I seem to remember adding pineapple juice thru my feeding tube. Also blueberries seem to work wonders with constipation. Keep trying different things and hopefully he will get some relief soon.

Merri,

I think most of us who have been in your husband's situation have had this problem. It certainly isn't a pleasant experience and does cause considerable discomfort.

During treatment my doctors recommended taking Colace and Senokot-S a few times a day. This seemed to work most of the time for me, along with plenty of water. Other OTC products (fiber supplements, etc) did nothing.

My primary care physician recommended a herbal tea called Smooth Move. This also contained senna (which is in Senokot-S) and worked most of the time.

Certain foods tend to trigger a bowel movement and this can vary from person to person. For me greasy foods and coffee work wonders! I actually find that a breakfast from the "golden arches" fast-food chain does the trick

Yogurt with probiotics (active cultures) also helps. I would add yogurt to my smoothies, which were my primary source of nutrition during treatment.

Good luck!

In addition to the above, adequate hydration and light exercise such as walking may help. There is a new prescription injection for opiod induced constipation, OIC, called Relistor, but I have no experience with it.

Good luck

Not to gross anyone out, but a glove and lubricant, like KY jelly. Also the fiber capsules if he can swallow them.

I was told to take as much Myralax as needed. Once several years ago I got so backed up it became such a challenge that they had me on sena, an enema, and like Neicy said, lubricant and rubber glove treatment! A tearful adventure on top of being really sick from chemo and rads! All my best to you.

One other suggestion I failed to mention in my previous post. Try this: you put a hot towel on your abdomen for a few minutes. It brings the blood to the area and softens your tummy up a bit. Then you sit up and do a massage to your abdomen, first the left, then the right moving from like your waist to your mid lower abdomen using the heal of your palm on your hand. You have to press in a bit, it is sort of a manual way to move things through your intestines. Do one side, then the other steadily. If you do that for about five minutes at a time, it should help. I did not learn that from a doctor, though. I learned it from my Mom and she knew everything. Denise

I deal with severe consipation due to pain medication and have tried everything I have heard about. I do know the pain and misery of being over a week out. As David and Neicy stated I had to finally resort to the ky jelly and glove process. Not anything I even want to talk about but oh my, how much better I felt after having to use this route. My brother is a quadriplegic and has been in a wheelchair for 42 years. He is a service connected vet. He has had to do this type of bowel care every other night for 42 years. They teach the spinal cord injury patients this in the hospital and I did have to take classes as his caregiver through the only problem he has dealt with is very large hemmiroids by using this procedure. I guess we gotta do what we gotta do !