Abnormal Stools, How to regularise?

Hi all,

I'm hoping somebody can help me, for a long time now i've been suffering from issues  with my bowel, mainly stool size and the occasional bit of discomfort, my stools vary but  change from small millimetre thick pencils (not even the thickness of a finger) to medium cow pat consistency stools neither of these feel solid but are regular each morning whatever the consistency, i can not remember the last time i had a normal shaped stool!,

i've tried psyllium husk on its own and with added probiotics which works to some degree but has recently worked less day by day and now not at all which is confusing to me since it's meant to bulk the stool, my diet is fairly consistent and contains wholemeal bread, meat, carrots etc, potatoes, fruit and i drink quite a fair amount of water during the day.

I'm hoping somebody can help me out, with any product suggestions or with what i'm doing wrong

Thank You

Hi buzbi97

Try going gluten free and wheat free with the bread and not too much red meat. Potatos are part of nightshade group of foods which contain Lectin which can up set the digestive system.. Use foods that do not contain Lectin. Continue with probiotics and biopot greek yogurt...

Hi Mary

Funnily enough I’ve started the gluten free diet yesterday to see if that would make a difference

I’ll have a read into the night shades food group, have noticed tomatoes are also listed which I have regularly in my sandwiches,

Thank you for your reply!!

Try a combined mix of organic flax seed Chia seed. 

Hi Gillian,

What exactly does that combination do in the digestive system? 

Flax seeds are high in dietary fibre, omega 3 fatty acids, magnesium, calcium and Iron. Both flax and chia have a high fibre content. Chia seeds aids in reducing blood sugar levels after meals. They both work together by aiding your digestion, boosting energy, enhancing your mood and balancing hormone activity. It’s a really good mix, always keeps me regular when I take them. Be careful not too take too much flax as it can cause a bit of bloating. If it’s combined with chia seeds, it will be better. Always buy organic as they are full of pesticides if there not organic. Organic milled flax seed and organic Chia seeds. 👍

They add bulk and water to your stools, this is important for keeping your bowel system clean and clear of toxins. 

I appreciate you taking the time to respond to me!, I do believe its the bulk i'm lacking because i've tried brown bread, brown pasta to no avail but i'll definitely give the combination ago, how do you and how many times a day do you take them? 

Just put a couple of tablespoonfuls into your cereal in the morning. Drink plenty of fluids throughout the day. Cinnamon is good for releasing bile, sounds as if if from the types of BM you mention you could have a sluggish gall bladder or fatty liver. If you can tolerate cinnamon, you could put that in your cereal as well. 

Hi buzbi97

Happy to help...bon appetite.....

Thanks again Gillian,  funnily enough I have had a fatty liver diagnosis in the past due to diet but was told that it’d “Go away” if I ate a healthy diet, researching this and the gallbladder comes up with a close match to my problem, 

As well as cinnamon ox bile is recommended 

I was taking Ox bile and Digestive enzymes to increase bile as I’ve been getting upper right quadrant pain, but as I’m also also suffering from hearburn, I thought this would be ideal for me. It caused me symptoms similar to irritable bowel syndrome. ie quite bad cramping, loose bowel movement and diarrhoea,  so I thought I’d split my dose. Instead of 3 bile capsules a day, I took 2. Still took 2 digestive enzyme capsules, but took them at different times instead of at once. My hearburn went away for 3 days, but it came back with a avengance. I prefer the natural route when trying to deal with illnesses, but I’ve had to go back to PP’s for the time being. No wonder we have the saying “prevention is better than cure”. It can be really hard to find a happy medium when trying to cure illnesses. 🤔

I have seen very useful suggestions for you to tackle your problem. I will also be trying to follow some of these suggestions. Complete digestive system incl smooth BM is a key to good life. Good luck to you.

Yes it’s difficult to try and find the right solution, getting one problem sorted often causes another,

I’d like to be natural and be able to “go” like normal people (is that too much to ask &#129488 but I’m definitely going to try getting my bile levels up because like you I suffer with upper quadrant pain but also pain in the right shoulder, I don’t know whether connected but I have to have regular vitamin b12 injections 

Good luck to you too! I’m hoping some of Gillian’s great suggestions will help me get back to normal, do you have similar problems to me? 

Have you been on PPI’s? Is that why you need B12 injections? 🤔

No I’ve never taken PPi’s, a few years ago my iron levels were really low and I was given iron tablets to get them back up again, fast forward a couple of years I went to the gp for an unrelated problem and they found my vitamin b12 levels were low but personally I don’t find any difference from the injections 🧐

I’m starting a fast from tomorrow, I’ve done it a few times through the years. I’m only drinking filtered water for 6 days a week and eating on the 7th. Not everyone can manage this, but they say it’s a great healer. I remember from before when I did this, my stomach was great and I lost a lot of weight, never felt so good. Well, here goes, wish me luck. 😜🙏. I’ll keep you informed of how I’m getting on. 👍😁