CancerCompass message board discussion started by melanie and carol on 12/26/2007 http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,19128,0.htm Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ ATT: Poppy/Cath, Please advise me as you seem to always be informative in regards to MM. My mum 55 has been on Thalidamide for 2mths and is suuffering greatly from constipation. She is now not able to move her bowels.She is drinking water, metamucil and coloxyl and senna tablets. have you experienced this?  if so could you please advise me. I believe fish oil but she is a stubborn woman and everything I suggest she says does not work..I am frustrated along with her as all she can do is rock on the couch. Being on tramdol, Panadeine for pain has always been an issue with consipation but the Thal has made it worse... Thanks Cath and Happy New Year.     melanie and carol Wed, 26 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT  On 12/26/2007 melanie and carol wrote:ATT: Poppy/Cath, Please advise me as you seem to always be informative in regards to MM. My mum 55 has been on Thalidamide for 2mths and is suuffering greatly from constipation. She is now not able to move her bowels.She is drinking water, metamucil and coloxyl and senna tablets. have you experienced this?  if so could you please advise me. I believe fish oil but she is a stubborn woman and everything I suggest she says does not work..I am frustrated along with her as all she can do is rock on the couch. Being on tramdol, Panadeine for pain has always been an issue with consipation but the Thal has made it worse... Thanks Cath and Happy New Year.    My wife had the same problem when she was on Thalidomide and had great success using the CleanseMore product. Thalidomide has an adverse effect on paristalsis and CleanseMore effectively stimulates peristalsis with natural herbs, as well as hydrating the colon. I highly recommend it.More information:http://www.renewlife.ca/products.php?id=38 Best regards,Craig Persel  photog Wed, 26 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT Thanks for the link.  My mom has the same problem. IT's the dexamethasone and revlimid (a sister drug to thalidomide).  I will try it. MotherWMyeloma Wed, 26 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT Super. Best of luck.Craig  photog Wed, 26 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT Hello Melanie and Carol -- I started replying to your message, but it disappeared so if you get two... well, you'll know what happened.  Yes, I too suffered from extreme constipation with Thalid. which was one of the reasons I had to stop using it.  And like your mom, I was reluctant to discuss it until it was almost too late.  Anyhow, ultimately I needed medical intervention to relieve the situation which is not pleasant!  I now practice active prevention in that I am constantly aware that the Revlimid and morphine can cause constipation so I eat at least 3 pieces of fresh fruit and 3 serves of veg. daily, have stewed prunes every evening, use Movicol at least twice a week whether I need it or not, and drink at least 2 litres of water every day.  Using this routine I have avoided constipation for over 12 months.  From what you have said, your mom is using the over the counter preparations and perhaps she needs something stronger to get her back to square one.  Craig's advice sounds good, but I've never seen or heard of it before so I'm going to investigate it down here.  A trip to the doctor might be in order to alleviate this situation before she becomes impacted -- trust me, that's much worse!  She should get help now and then begin a preventative routine to avoid ever becoming this way again.  Sometimes, when things are going well it easy to forget what constipation was like and to think that you don't need to do the preventative actions, but from personal experience, it is really important not to miss a day!  I hope your mom is able to obtain relief soon and that she can get into a daily preventative habit that works for her.  Best wishes to you both -- hopefully she'll be able to start the New Year without constipation!  Cath poppy/cath Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT Hi Craig~~ I've just read the info on CleanseMore and was wondering if it is meant to be used with one of those total bowel wash programs?  I have seen this type of thing advertised before but have never known anyone who has had it done.  In theory it should certainly clear up any constipation problem, but at what cost?  There is a lot of talk about enema's - specifically coffee enemas - but these things have always seemed a bit radical for me. Do you have any experience with these things?  Looking forward to your input -- Cath poppy/cath Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT  On 12/28/2007 poppy/cath wrote:Hi Craig~~ I've just read the info on CleanseMore and was wondering if it is meant to be used with one of those total bowel wash programs?  I have seen this type of thing advertised before but have never known anyone who has had it done.  In theory it should certainly clear up any constipation problem, but at what cost?  There is a lot of talk about enema's - specifically coffee enemas - but these things have always seemed a bit radical for me. Do you have any experience with these things?  Looking forward to your input -- CathNo, CleansMore is to be used alone. It is not as strong as the coffee enemas, etc. and can be used on a daily basis to keep the system working properly. My wife used it daily until she switched to Velcade and constipation is no longer a problem for her.I don't have any experience with the more radical cleansing programs, but have read that many alternative cancer treatment clinics/physicians use them.Regards,Craig Persel   photog Sat, 29 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT hello and bless your mums heart, I also had bad constipation problems with thalidimide, the one thing I found to do is to NOT use any type of fiber , this seemed to only increase the size of the stool.Senokot-s,taken as directed on the bottle helped, also the glycern cone shaped suppositorys helped in lubrication. In my case the problem lasted as long as I was taking the thlid.The major problem seemed to be getting the stool ,to start.this is where the lube helped. Now I still had to strain and push,until the natural function of the body took over, cramping and  fluid stool would preceed the total passing of what ever was in the colon. Now I also drank large amounts fruit juice, and dont ask me why, but the ones with the highest amounts of acid seemed to helped the most. Dot get me wrong, this was a long process,{when the passing finally occured}.and somewhat painfull. It seemed to occure in three day stages, I generally knew what was going to happen on the fourth day and actually planned  for that day to be used as such I hope this helps e-mail me at any time ,sincerely jack barry Bucksnorts Sat, 29 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT  On 12/28/2007 poppy/cath wrote:Hello Melanie and Carol -- I started replying to your message, but it disappeared so if you get two... well, you'll know what happened.  Yes, I too suffered from extreme constipation with Thalid. which was one of the reasons I had to stop using it.  And like your mom, I was reluctant to discuss it until it was almost too late.  Anyhow, ultimately I needed medical intervention to relieve the situation which is not pleasant!  I now practice active prevention in that I am constantly aware that the Revlimid and morphine can cause constipation so I eat at least 3 pieces of fresh fruit and 3 serves of veg. daily, have stewed prunes every evening, use Movicol at least twice a week whether I need it or not, and drink at least 2 litres of water every day.  Using this routine I have avoided constipation for over 12 months.  From what you have said, your mom is using the over the counter preparations and perhaps she needs something stronger to get her back to square one.  Craig's advice sounds good, but I've never seen or heard of it before so I'm going to investigate it down here.  A trip to the doctor might be in order to alleviate this situation before she becomes impacted -- trust me, that's much worse!  She should get help now and then begin a preventative routine to avoid ever becoming this way again.  Sometimes, when things are going well it easy to forget what constipation was like and to think that you don't need to do the preventative actions, but from personal experience, it is really important not to miss a day!  I hope your mom is able to obtain relief soon and that she can get into a daily preventative habit that works for her.  Best wishes to you both -- hopefully she'll be able to start the New Year without constipation!  Cath Hi there Cath and Happy New Year to you. I also hope you have a healthier New Year. Mum is in extreme pain now with the constipation and is really embarrassed about it. She watched her mother with cancer suffer with it also and is afraid of other options. I have her on fish oil, metamucil, lactalose, coloxyl and senna and micrlax enemas. Nothing is working. She has decided to go off thal but is afraid of chemo. Rev is not an option, but Velcade may be???? Thanx so much for your advice and I will pass that on..Regards Melanie xo  melanie and carol Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT  On 12/29/2007 photog wrote: On 12/28/2007 poppy/cath wrote:Hi Craig~~ I've just read the info on CleanseMore and was wondering if it is meant to be used with one of those total bowel wash programs?  I have seen this type of thing advertised before but have never known anyone who has had it done.  In theory it should certainly clear up any constipation problem, but at what cost?  There is a lot of talk about enema's - specifically coffee enemas - but these things have always seemed a bit radical for me. Do you have any experience with these things?  Looking forward to your input -- CathNo, CleansMore is to be used alone. It is not as strong as the coffee enemas, etc. and can be used on a daily basis to keep the system working properly. My wife used it daily until she switched to Velcade and constipation is no longer a problem for her.I don't have any experience with the more radical cleansing programs, but have read that many alternative cancer treatment clinics/physicians use them.Regards,Craig Persel   hi there Craig, Thanx for your input i will investigate it also. But from what I am reading patients stop using Thal due to the constipation. After reading these emails to my mum she has decided to stop Thal but we will wait to see what the doc says...Happy New Year and thanx again..Melanie xo  melanie and carol Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT  On 12/29/2007 Bucksnorts wrote:hello and bless your mums heart, I also had bad constipation problems with thalidimide, the one thing I found to do is to NOT use any type of fiber , this seemed to only increase the size of the stool.Senokot-s,taken as directed on the bottle helped, also the glycern cone shaped suppositorys helped in lubrication. In my case the problem lasted as long as I was taking the thlid.The major problem seemed to be getting the stool ,to start.this is where the lube helped. Now I still had to strain and push,until the natural function of the body took over, cramping and  fluid stool would preceed the total passing of what ever was in the colon. Now I also drank large amounts fruit juice, and dont ask me why, but the ones with the highest amounts of acid seemed to helped the most. Dot get me wrong, this was a long process,{when the passing finally occured}.and somewhat painfull. It seemed to occure in three day stages, I generally knew what was going to happen on the fourth day and actually planned  for that day to be used as such I hope this helps e-mail me at any time ,sincerely jack barry Thanx Jack,What a sweet message from you. I appreciate it. As you will read Mum has decided to go off thalidamide. Most patients go off it due to constipation.Thal has way too many side effects for my liking. What quality of life do you have with side effects like these. Not much going by my mum. Sleeps during day, constipation, numbness has her tablet at 7.30 and becomes drowsy so going out at night s not an option. weakness etc etc.We will have a chat to doc and might consider chemo tabs or velcade???Thanx again and happy new year..Melanie xo  melanie and carol Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT Hi Mel and Carol --Hope that you both had a lovely holiday season and that by now Carol's constipation has eased.  Eventually I ended up buying a 'do it yourself'' enima which turned out to be messy and painful, but once I was 'cleaned out' I started my daily plan and have never allowed it to happen again.  Best wishes to you both and I do hope that the doctor was able to work out a more suitable chemo.  Just out of curiosity, why is Revlimid not an option?  It certainly has been my saviour!! Take good care, Cath poppy/cath Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT