Friday 2 March 2018

Constipation after Jaw Surgery




Disclaimer: this blog post will being talking about pooping. For any guy who still believes girls don’t poop, or for anyone who is a little too proper to read about this online, I suggest you skip to the next article now.

Ok not to alarm anyone, this blog post won’t be graphic. I saw someone post up on a Facebook group about problems going to the number 2 after surgery and thought this would make a useful blog post.

So here we go...

After surgery your body can go either one or two ways. Either you vomit and have an upset stomach... possibly due to the stress, anaesthetic or dramatic change in diet. Or you can go the other way and not go at all. Again this could be due to the dramatic change in your diet from solid to liquid and pain relief medications such as co-codomol which are well known to cause constipation.

Constipation can be painful and rather unpleasant. I’ve always had a lazy bowel... ever since I was a child... once a week if I was lucky. Before you freak out... I’ve had all the tests and I’m fine. Nothing untoward, just lazy bowels.
Coupling this with the co-codomol, I suffered terribly post op.

The first 2 weeks weren’t too bad as I lost a lot of water weight and was only on watered down fruit juice, milkshakes and soup. By week 4 things became a little uncomfortable and I realised I needed to do something.

So here are my top tips to get moving again







Drink plenty of water

Whilst recovering from your surgery try to drink lots of water and watered down pure fruit juice.


Natural over the counter remedies

You may also want to ask your pharmacist for some Senokot tablets or lactulose in liquid form. If you are looking for a more herbal natural approach Acai Berries, Flaxseeds, Aloe Vera and Green Tea are also great for constipation. 

Or alternatively you may want to try syrup of figs, prune juice or 2x teaspoons of coconut oil. I still take the coconut oil capsules and Aloe Vera now. However, these capsules are quite large, so I would suggest sticking to the liquid form while you are recovering.

When you move to a soft food diet you can incorporate a high fibre cereals like porridge and Weetabix.

You can also try purée fruit and vegetables - broccoli, spinach, pineapple, coconut, figs, grapes and mixed berries are particularly good for this type of problem.

I also found runny egg yolks can help.


Move around

If you can do a few sit ups and leg raises. Nothing strenuous and if it hurts your jaw stop immediately. Stretch, move you hips in a circle and go for a walk.

Use heat

Try hot baths, showers and hot water bottles to get things moving. They also double up as a nice pain reliever.


Things to avoid

  1. Don’t eat bananas
  2. Avoid milk and other dairy products as this can have a binding effect for some people
  3. Don’t eat white - go for wholemeal versions of rice, pasta, bread etc.


But if you change your diet and you're still stuck, it might be time to go and see your doctor. If your constipation is an ongoing issue and you have done all the right things and still have problems then these are things that should be evaluated by a doctor or a gastroenterologist.


Continue the chat in my closed Facebook Group 

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