Hi Everyone,
Thank you for allowing me to join the group. I was just diagnosed last week with a severe case of CC. Started on Budesnide with immediate relief of symptoms, but now having some constipation. Trying to sort out dietary changes, starting with gluten and dairy. Stopped NSAIDS, & PPI's. I am scheduled for shoulder surgery in 2 weeks. I have waited a long time to repair my painful shoulder and don't want to cancel. I know that I will have to take narcotics for a week or two for postop pain and am very worried about the severe constipation that they can cause. Any suggestions?
Upcoming shoulder surgery
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Hi,
Welcome to our Internet family. Most members here use the first signs of constipation as a clear signal that it's time to step down their budesonide dosage to the next level. You definitely don't want to be taking too much budesonide when you start taking narcotic painkillers.
Please be aware that if your CC caused constipation (instead of massive diarrhea) when the disease was initially triggered, you definitely should not be taking budesonide in the first place. But I'm assuming by your description that you had diarrhea until you began to take the budesonide, so it's safe to use in that situation.
If you have had chronic constipation for most of your life prior to the onset of your CC symptoms (like me and a few others here) that's typically a symptom of chronic magnesium deficiency. In addition, magnesium deficiency and vitamin D deficiency are both side effects of CC, as a result of the malabsorption problem caused by the inflammation that perpetuates CC.
If constipation becomes a problem, certain forms of magnesium can be used to regulate stool consistency, or prevent constipation. Dosages above about 400 mg of magnesium citrate will have a slight laxative effect. Magnesium oxide is very poorly absorbed, so all but about 2 % of magnesium oxide remains in the intestines where it mixes with water to form magnesium hydroxide, otherwise known as milk of magnesia, a potent laxative. Or you can use a stool softener, such as Dulcolax or Miralax.
When I've had major surgery, I've tried to minimize the use of painkillers and just tough out the pain as long as it's not unbearable. Sometimes we luck out and the pain is not as bad as we anticipated. But of course sometimes it can be worse than we expected. And some of us are more sensitive to pain than others, or the pain is worse at certain times or it's affected by something else in our particular situation, so that sometimes restricting or avoiding painkillers may not be an option.
You seem to be off to a good start with treating your CC. It's unfortunate that the surgery is scheduled so soon because the antibiotics may resolve any concerns about constipation by triggering a full CC flare, despite the budesonide. It's also possible that the surgeon may insist that you stop using the budesonide during recovery from the surgery because corticosteroids retard healing. It's impossible to predict in advance exactly what may happen so you may just have to play it by ear and take it a day at a time. We just have to hope for the best anytime we have to take an antibiotic.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex
Welcome to our Internet family. Most members here use the first signs of constipation as a clear signal that it's time to step down their budesonide dosage to the next level. You definitely don't want to be taking too much budesonide when you start taking narcotic painkillers.
Please be aware that if your CC caused constipation (instead of massive diarrhea) when the disease was initially triggered, you definitely should not be taking budesonide in the first place. But I'm assuming by your description that you had diarrhea until you began to take the budesonide, so it's safe to use in that situation.
If you have had chronic constipation for most of your life prior to the onset of your CC symptoms (like me and a few others here) that's typically a symptom of chronic magnesium deficiency. In addition, magnesium deficiency and vitamin D deficiency are both side effects of CC, as a result of the malabsorption problem caused by the inflammation that perpetuates CC.
If constipation becomes a problem, certain forms of magnesium can be used to regulate stool consistency, or prevent constipation. Dosages above about 400 mg of magnesium citrate will have a slight laxative effect. Magnesium oxide is very poorly absorbed, so all but about 2 % of magnesium oxide remains in the intestines where it mixes with water to form magnesium hydroxide, otherwise known as milk of magnesia, a potent laxative. Or you can use a stool softener, such as Dulcolax or Miralax.
When I've had major surgery, I've tried to minimize the use of painkillers and just tough out the pain as long as it's not unbearable. Sometimes we luck out and the pain is not as bad as we anticipated. But of course sometimes it can be worse than we expected. And some of us are more sensitive to pain than others, or the pain is worse at certain times or it's affected by something else in our particular situation, so that sometimes restricting or avoiding painkillers may not be an option.
You seem to be off to a good start with treating your CC. It's unfortunate that the surgery is scheduled so soon because the antibiotics may resolve any concerns about constipation by triggering a full CC flare, despite the budesonide. It's also possible that the surgeon may insist that you stop using the budesonide during recovery from the surgery because corticosteroids retard healing. It's impossible to predict in advance exactly what may happen so you may just have to play it by ear and take it a day at a time. We just have to hope for the best anytime we have to take an antibiotic.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.