Upcoming video visit this week. It was only last week that it crossed the line from “annoying as heck” to “something’s got to be done”.
I’ll just say that it sounds like your situation is considerably more, um, impacted, and you’ve done a reasonable job of exhausting OTC remedies. For me, a fiber-rich diet and magnesium take care of it.
To be sure, modification of diet might not be relevant to a particular individual’s problems with gut motility.
That said, there’s two primary types of fiber - soluble and insoluble. Psyllium is high in both and, frequently, the problem that people have is that they’re deficient in both. If that’s not the issue though, one type of fiber (soluble?) tends towards slowing things down and the other (insoluble?) tends towards speeding them up. If you’re getting sufficient fiber but the balance isn’t good then psyllium didn’t do much to shift that balance. You may want to try a fiber source that’s less balanced between the two types.
And that’s just assuming that there’s nothing more to fiber other than the two types.
For example, this study breaks things down into several dozen categories and analyzes the effects of nine.
If you haven’t found an answer yet, there’s nothing like using yourself as a guinea pig.
I’m late to this since you posted about a year ago, so I’m sure you’ve already made a call on this by now. But, switching back to Metformin sounds like the right move if your stomach was reacting that badly.
Having that kind of severe constipation where even laxatives don’t work is a massive red flag that your system has just stopped moving. It’s the main thing you hear about in all those Ozempic Lawsuits lately, people are ending up with permanent bathroom issues they weren’t warned about at the start.
At the end of the day, you’ve got to prioritize getting your digestion back to normal before worrying too much about the A1C numbers
Update: Strangely, my comparatively brief use of Ozempic has had an enduring side effect.
One reason why I’ve overeaten most of my life is that eating tranquilized me. When I was stressed or depressed or upset, eating (especially carbs and sugar) was like getting drunk; it was a mood lifter. What taking Ozempic did was to completely turn off this reward system and keep it off.
As a result, in the past twelve months I have endured near-mental breakdown levels of stress and anxiety, including night sweats, waking up gasping for breath with heart hammering, and morbid thoughts that at times approached in severity the “voices” that torment schizophrenics.
My new normal is to wake up at 3:00 A.M. every night, no matter how exhausted and sleep deprived I was when I went to bed. A “good” night is one where after an hour or two I’m able go back to sleep. A so-so night is when I’m up for three or four hours, finally fall back asleep after dawn, and sleep in (often broken into two or three brief naps) until 10:00 or 11:00. A bad night is when the four or five hours sleep I start with is it the night.
For whatever it’s worth, I’m down about sixty pounds from my peak weight and a low-carb diet suffices to keep my blood glucose at or below 100. But the last year has been like a preview of death.
Reminds me of an exchange from American Dad. I assume this isn’t an uncommon issue with people that are overweight:
Barry: I’m hungry
Snot: Are you sure you’re not just tired?
Barry: I don’t know, all my feelings feel like hungry.
(For those that don’t know American Dad, Snot is voiced by Curtis Armstrong, AKA Booger from Revenge Of The Nerds. I always liked that Easter Egg)
Same here (lost 60 pounds 11 years ago, have regained only 10 of them). For me it was learning to know to difference between “hungry/need food” and “feel like tasting something.” And Metformin for the first year.
The worst side effects I’ve had with Ozempic has been some infrequent nausea, even more infrequent vomiting (I can’t remember the last time), and occasional diarrhea. The most common side effect is that I feel full. Like the type of full you feel when you’ve just finished your Thanksgiving dinner. Another oddity is I have a hard time eating a lot of beef. That might be a very personal thing, but I find if I’m eating something with beef I’m pretty much done after a few bites.
When I was suffering increasing constipation, my DIL recommended I take a small amount (start with 1/4 tsp) of polyetheline glycol, the main ingredient in the colonoscopy prep. It works and I have not had to increase the dosage over several years. I mix it with a roughage powder.
AKA MiraLAX.