Prunes, and the limits of prunes

Started 21 November 2024 · 24 replies · 247 hearts · read 4.6k times

TeganNewport, UK · 21 November 2024

1.7 years ago

Prunes, and the limits of prunes — putting it in its own thread so it does not get lost in the check-in.

Squeamish subject, so I am going to be plain about it and get it over with.

Nobody warned me about this specifically and I am starting to think that is because it is common enough that everybody assumed I knew.

The physical part is manageable. What is wearing me down is the constant low-level monitoring of it, and I would like to stop doing that.

Sorry to be graphic. If anybody has had this, I would rather hear it plainly than politely.

TamzinPoole, UK

The bloating was the bit I found hardest, more than anything else. It made clothes uncomfortable and I felt ridiculous mentioning it and it was genuinely miserable.

11me too 3

TomásFacilitatorLisbon, Portugal

Slowing this down for a moment. The question asked was whether this is ordinary. That is not the same as asking what to do about it and we have answered the second one.

XanBerlin, DE

Prunes. I am sorry. Prunes, and I resisted them for two months on the grounds of dignity.

VeraRiga, LV

No wisdom, just: I am sorry. That sounds genuinely hard.

PoppyLeeds, UK

Xan — yes, and the bit that took me longest to accept was the next part.

I found magnesium helpful and I would say plainly that I checked with a pharmacist first because of another medication I take. Please do check.

GwythFishguard, UK

The timing of things mattered more than the things themselves for me. Same fibre, spread across the day instead of in one go, completely different result.

IvorLlanelli, UK

Mine has never entirely gone and it is now a background thing I manage rather than a problem I have. That is an honest place to have arrived.

PerryCardigan, UK

Reading Gwyth, I recognised more of that than I expected to.

Somebody in this circle told me to stop being polite about it with my GP and describe it precisely, and the appointment went much better once I did.

OdessaLviv, UA

Coming back to what Ivor wrote further up, because it is the bit I keep thinking about.

I would say gently that if anything is bleeding, that is a different conversation and it belongs with a clinician rather than in a thread.

HarlanDenver, CO

#10

Getting up ten minutes earlier so I was not rushing was the change that helped most, which was not the answer I was hoping for.

TeganNewport, UK

#11

Warm drink first thing was what did it for me. I had dismissed that as folklore and it turned out to be the most reliable thing I had.

TamzinPoole, UK

#12

Coming back to what Odessa wrote further up, because it is the bit I keep thinking about.

I kept a very boring log for a fortnight and it made the conversation with my GP take four minutes instead of being a vague description of discomfort.

LeniLeipzig, DE

#13

Well said, and thank you for taking the time over it.

7me too 1

XanBerlin, DE

#14

Mine alternated, which confused me and turned out to be extremely common. I had assumed it was one thing or the other.

VeraRiga, LV

#15

Tamzin has already said most of this and I want to add the one part that was different for me.

I had already had a complicated gut before any of this and I would say the general advice mostly did not fit me. Bringing it to somebody who knew my history was what worked.

PoppyLeeds, UK

#16

My experience is that this settles for most people and lingers for some, and I am in the lingering group, and it is still manageable.

GwythFishguard, UK

#17

What made the difference was doing three small things consistently rather than one big thing occasionally. Very dull, very effective.

IvorLlanelli, UK

#18

I raised it at a review expecting to be waved away and instead got a proper conversation and a plan. I had underestimated how routine it is.

PerryCardigan, UK

#19

Mine was much better on the days I ate at regular times and much worse on chaotic days. That pattern held over about four months of notes.

OdessaLviv, UA

#20

The thing nobody says is how much mental space this takes up. It is not just physically uncomfortable, it is on your mind constantly, and that is worth naming.

7me too 3

HarlanDenver, CO

#21

What worked for me was adding fibre very gradually rather than all at once. I did all at once first and had an extremely uncomfortable week.

TeganNewport, UK

#22

Perry has already said most of this and I want to add the one part that was different for me.

Mine was worst in the first fortnight after each step up and then settled. Knowing the shape of it made it much easier to sit through.

TomásFacilitatorLisbon, Portugal

#23

I want to name that an account of something resolving and an account of something that did not are equally welcome here. A page carrying only the first kind would be no use to the person reading it at two in the morning.

13me too 1

LeniLeipzig, DE

#24

Movement helped mine more than anything I ate. A twenty-minute walk after dinner, nothing strenuous, and it made a noticeable difference within a week.