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Opioids morphine and constipation

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Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 23, 2011
Messages
58
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here and there
Hey all
I'm new to the site and other than my intro, this is my first post. *WARNING*-THIS QUESTION MAY OFFEND SOME PEOPLE*. If this question is in the wrong place can a mod place it accordingly? That being said..as others here, I am a pain patient that was recently prescribed 15 mg MS Contins. I know that opiates make people constipated to some degree or another and thought that I might be able to get some advice here about it. Other than copious amounts of water, is there some other way that I can combat this irritating side effect? Reason I ask is, after 3 days, my plumbing finally decided to plumb. Most uncomfortable. And couple with that question, if I plugged it, would I still have the same issue? Sorry if I offended anybody, I just wasn't sure where or who to ask such a...questionable question, certainly not my doctor. First thing he'll say is," you shouldn't be experiencing this unless you're taking higher than prescribed doses...yadda yadda yadda." I started taking about 60-75 mg orally for about 3 days a little over a week ago then stopped for 3 days, then back to the 60-75 mg for 3 more days. The main reason for taking 3-4x the prescribed dose is due to my high metabolism..........aaaaand, because I just the love the opiate high. Anyway, any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.
 
This has been talked about before, so no, I don't think that your question will offend anyone.

The constipation is a terrible, terrible side effect, and my best advice to you would be to grab a bottle of MiraLax.

Trust me, I would never have made it through my Thanksgiving OxyContin binge without MiraLax. All that food + OxyContin without any MiraLax could have been bad, bad news.
 
Your question isn't offending me, a lot of the guys who hang out here in Other Drugs have the same issue, and are users of various opiates to various degrees, no worries there my friend. Morphine is one of my favorites, but is expensive and hard to get for me so I don't have much experience with it personally. However, that limited experience was very much like yours, at least when it comes to constipation.

You're on the right track, drinking lots and lots of water is the way to go. Also make sure you're eating lots of fresh fruit and other foods with lots of fiber in them, again with lots and lots of water. If you haven't already, pick up some Miralax and take it before, during, and after consuming your MS Contins. That's the key, don't just take it after you're already constipated from the morphine. Also, be sure to get exercise, as it helps the bowels move, even something as simple as going for a bike ride or taking a few walks around the block helps a lot.

I don't know if you're a coffee drinker or not, but coffee also helps, esp. when you're trying to go but can't. Make sure you're drinking water (I know, I know, I've already said that) if you go with the coffee method, as caffeine makes you dehydrated and can therefore actually make the problem worse.

Magnesium citrate is my "emergency kit" when it comes to that, but I don't recommend using it unless you really really need to.

Hope this helps man, also, do some searching through the forums when you get the chance, you'd be surprised how many people have run into the same problem you have.
 
Magnesium citrate you say? Would that be milk of magnesia?

I'm at the point where in 1-2 days I'm going to have to go to the hospital for fecal impaction. I am like barely, barely shitting. Took a fleet enema today and it barely helped. Any suggestions?

I am about to drink a couple shots of castor oil, but that's like the gnarliest thing one can do.

I really need the current shit that is stuck to absorb a bunch of water, what would be the best way to accomplish that?

and OP, this has been covered before, but it's OK to ask new questions especially since older threads tend to get buried, just try to search though.
I would really like if there were consolidated threads for opiate users
-a sex/ libido megathread
-a constipation megathread

there are some really good megathreads going in Other Drugs, but i see the two above questions/ problems come up really frequently. I would even be willing to do the work on a megathread, but i'm not a Mod.

Other things you might want to look at are the BA Megathread and the Inactive Ingredients Megathread, etc... The mods, especially Cane and Captain H (you'll get to know them) do a really good job on here, and I can understand it is hard to get all these things going.

anyways, best of luck shitting.
 
NeighborhoodThreat said:
I don't know if you're a coffee drinker or not, but coffee also helps, esp. when you're trying to go but can't. Make sure you're drinking water (I know, I know, I've already said that) if you go with the coffee method, as caffeine makes you dehydrated and can therefore actually make the problem worse.

Hope this helps man, also, do some searching through the forums when you get the chance, you'd be surprised how many people have run into the same problem you have.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply dude, I appreciate it.
Yep, I'm a coffee drinker. I've always called it 'natures laxative'. I drink 2 travel size mugs every morning during the winter, mainly to counter the trazadone that I have to take at night, as well as the gabapentin. I take 1800 mg of that daily too. I also usually drink around 2-3 liters of water a day. After spending several hours perusing the site, it seems the most effective way to administer the morphine is plugging it, especially after reading that the BA orally is so low. I had no idea that plugging was so much more effective. I'll probably try that in the next day or two...considering my neck is killing me because it's been a few days since my last dose of morphine. Feels like I have a rail-road spike trying pry my neck apart.
Again, thanks for the reply.
 
muvolution...I actually did a search for the ms contin megathread and didn't really find what I was looking for.(probably didn't look hard enough, my bad, won't happen again) At the risk of being told that it's been covered, I did ask anyway. Thank you for your reply and the info.
 
What's Colace, a laxative? One thing I forgot to mention....I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Couple that with the opiate constipation issue and I'll end up in the hospital again. Very similar to what muvolution is describing.
 
Faceplate said:
muvolution...I actually did a search for the ms contin megathread and didn't really find what I was looking for.(probably didn't look hard enough, my bad, won't happen again) At the risk of being told that it's been covered, I did ask anyway. Thank you for your reply and the info.
Click to expand...

Yea it is difficult sometimes to find specific posts/ threads for something like this haha. I have the same problem but it isn't as extreme as yours 8o..... But, muvolotion, come on a constipation mega thread? That would be a shitty thread....haaaa.

Any ways, back to your plumbing issue...... A friend of mine always used to take some over the counter pills called 'stool softener'. I never had to take them but he said they worked pretty well. Idk if you have already tried those but maybe you could take a look into that. I think they even have like generic store name brands that are probably pretty cheep. Again, i'm not sure how well they work but you might as well give them a try. Good luck!
 
OP, I changed your title for clarity and future search reasons, I hope that's alright by you.

I am also a pain patient and have dealt with similar issues in the past and as others have already mentioned, this won't offend anyone around here. This is a fairly mature place and you got lots of junkies around so there is going to be discussion of the perils of being a junkie... whether that's draining abscesses, constipation, withdrawal-induced diarrhea and any number of other topics not generally discussed in polite conversation.

Most of the time I was able to effectively control this issue by drinking lots of water, eating lots of fiber and drinking a good amount of coffee every morning. If you're already at the point where you're constipated though, increased fiber intake may not be a great idea since it adds bulk to your stool so it puts you at a greater risk for other issues such as tearing. If the constipation isn't persistent and severe, you may want to add a fiber supplement. Personally, I got some generic powder shit that you can add to any beverage... you could even put it in water and not taste it. I loved it!

When I mentioned to my doctor about having an issue with occasional opioid-induced constipation (oxycodone at that time), he put me on OTC senekot-S tablets every morning and I LOVED these. Its a combination stool softener and gentle laxative and when I took these I had absolutely no problems with constipation or diarrhea.

Others have mentioned alternative laxative options and most of these are excellent acutely but many of them you don't want to be taking long-term.

Ultimately, if you're prescribed these, I think your best bet is mentioning it to your doctor and seeing what they recommend for you as they know your full history and can advise you more appropriately.
 
Faceplate said:
What's Colace, a laxative? One thing I forgot to mention....I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Couple that with the opiate constipation issue and I'll end up in the hospital again. Very similar to what muvolution is describing.
Click to expand...

Colace is a stool softener. Like ^ said you don't want to take laxatives long-term, but a stool softener is safe to take long-term. My bf has IBS too.
 
I'll check out the colace. Sounds like a good idea.
I just switched my pain meds back to the regular, so the severe constipation should start going away - i just gotta get past this one time. I was trying Bupe in the form of Suboxone for controlling my pain, and it has by far and away the worst side effects of any opiate I have ever taken.

by the way OP, there is a Pain Management Megathread, and like I said, sometimes there are just questions you can't find the answer to no matter how hard you search.

And for the person who commented on the lack of necessity for an opiod-induced constipation thread, you may be surprised at how often it comes up, and it can turn into a serious or even life-threatening problem.
 
^I think pb just wanted to make a bad pun there rather than argue the lack of necessity for a thread on regularity... also, I really appreciate the kind words above. I apparently missed that when I first skimmed this...

I suppose I was just too excited to post about opioid-induced constipation and I couldn't be bothered to carefully read all of this.
 
Exercise. I walk one hour every morning (taking the dog out) and I have no more methadone related constipation.
 
A solution of 10 to 15g of magnesium sulfate (heptahydrate is available in my country) should do the job. Prepare for a nasty bitter taste. However, I find it better than some drugs like bisacodyl that make it really painful.
 
Methadone used to give me the WORST fucking constipation ever, man. Like not shitting for 2 weeks at a time. It was horrible, no matter what I did. Then randomly I was able to get cleaned out fully, then I took that opportunity to start regularly taking colace, which helps immensely. i also make sure to drink copious amounts of water, coffee, eat fiber, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Try to stay away from eating a lot of bread. oatmeal is a good thing to eat for breakfast as well, helps keep you regular.

Opiate constipation is so fucking horrible. i thought it was bad when I was doing dope. But then when I started MMT it got so horrible. Couldn't shit for like 1-2 weeks, i would get horrible gas pains becuase it had no where to go, like on the verge of screaming. Nver want to go through that shit again.
 
I should have mentioned colace, as many have mentioned, stool softeners are a lot easier on your already strained bowels than laxatives. To the OP, coffee works great, I'm not a fan of caffeine effect's at all, they don't work well with my anxiety disorder, but, it is certainly a good option to have.

Magnesium citrate and milk of magnesia are two slightly different compounds, milk of magnesia is actually magnesium hydroxide, but they are both effective (sometimes almost too effective) laxatives. I take a magnesium oxide supplement (usually somewhere between 500 and 750mg daily) which also helps. Magnesium is a good mineral to have anyway.

@ BrowndownPalace, I hear you there, the few times I've taken methadone I felt like I was never going to be able to take a shit again, not fun.
 
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