Re: Severe Cramping & Numbness in Extremities During Enema
Hi GammieGal,
Thank you for your reply, it's nice to know I'm not alone in experiencing such a reaction. The more I read online about the numbness in hands and feet, the more certain I am that it had to do with electrolytes, although somehow my fecal blockage during my enema really exacerbated it for a few minutes until my body was able expel the fecal balls and water...immediately after expelling the impacted stool and water I started to regain normal feeling and felt much better. It was definitely one of the scariest experiences of my life thus far.
I don't believe that enemas are an ideal long term solution to constipation at all. Although they are more natural than taking a chemical laxative...still, there is nothing "natural" about putting a hose up one's rectum and injecting a
quart of water. lol So I try to only use enemas as a last resort. I constantly strive to improve the consistency of my turds through diet. Also, I think that there is far too great an emphasis and expectation regarding frequency of bowel movement. We've been falsely led to believe that if we don't have a BM every day or every other day that there is something seriously messed up in there. In fact, I find that not to be true and I have heard from many doctor as well that that's not true. People's systems are very individual and while it's normal for some people to take a dump twice a day, it's normal for other people to take a dump twice a week, and both are okay as long as the stool is soft/cohesive and easy to expel. Hard stools are the enemy, infrequent stools are not. This is what I have come to believe.
I have been having a lot of luck recently by adding a few soft prunes a day to my diet - anything more than a few would likely have the opposite effect. I eat maybe 6-8 soft (not hard and tough) prunes a day at various times throughout the day and I make sure that I drink some water with them...and last night I had my first BM since my whole terrible enema experience last weekend, and my stool was very soft and easy to expel, which I can only attribute to eating a few soft prunes a day. This is what is working for me right now. I am not concerned with pooping every day...I only hope that when I DO poop, that my stools are cohesive and easy to expel: I refuse to accept straining and little hard balls! The prunes are not a laxative though, they won't necessarily make your BMs more frequent, but they do seem to soften my stool and make them easy to expel, which I am so happy about.
I really hope you can find what works for you. :-)
All Best,
R