Chronic Constipation Despite Diet & Supplements
I am 67 years old and have had chronic constipation for a long time. By taking one glass of water in the morning containing 1 tablespoonful of Basil seeds soaked overnight in the water, the constipation problem is somewhat getting resolved since I statred using Basil seeds few days ago! Even with daily bowel movement now, it is extremely difficult to have a bowel movement and needs tremendous amount of straining which is getting very difficult for me to handle, the first 6 -8 inches of the stool is very very hard and the remaining is somewhat soft, still needing alot of straining and then the consistency of the stool causes plugging of the toilet bowl. I had a colonoscopy 5 years ago, no issues were noted, because of a recent hives issue I had a stool test done. Stool culture is negative and Fecal swab Ova & parasites indicate Blastocystis hominis, all other were negative. I look forward to seeing the doctor for Fecal swab results soon. The allopathic solution for hard stools is Ethylene Glycol (Restolax) which I do not want to pursue, neither I would like to use suppositiries. My daily diet is as follows:
Breakfast - 3 Tablespoonful of flax seeds in coconut milk with blueberries, strawberry, kiwi, half avacado plus I add ONE SPOONFULL OF COCONUT OIL for lubricity in the bowels.
Lunch - 2 mangoes, 1 sweet corn which has been boiled in water, 4 small guavas
Dinner- Salad comprising of Raw Kale, Borrocoli, Beetroot, garlic, ginger, carrot, raddish, mint plus add 2-3 SPOONFUL OF VIRGIN OLIVE OIL for bowel lubricity
White rice with chicken, potatoes or okra or cabbage or zucchini or spinach with potatoes, chick peas in gravy or Gram lentils
Water consumption is as follows:
One glass of plain water in the morning plus another glass of water containing Basil seeds
2 or 3 cups of Nettle tea during the day
2 or 3 cups tea cups of Milk Thistle tea during the day
1 glass of water in evening
1 glass of water at night
For blood pressure I take 7.5 mg Norvasc for over 10 years
For glaucoma I take Vzyulta 0.5% eye drops at night
300 gm of magnesium bisglycinate powder at night for sleep
3 mg of sublingual melatonin for sleep.
Multivatimin B complex plus 1000 IU of vitamin D
Straining during bowel movement is becoming impossible to bear, comments, suggestions will be deeply appreciated to ease straining, having softer stools etc. Have also tried Psyllium Husk in the past but did not notice significant improvement.
California
06/07/2026
Hi samar,
I find magnesium citrate is good to help things get moving by drawing water into the intestines, but this may be too much magnesium when figuring in what you described as "300 gm of magnesium bisglycinate powder. I hope you meant 300 mg, not 300 gm, which would be grams. While magnesium glycinate is great for sleep, it isn't close to magnesium citrate for constipation and magnesium citrate isn't anywhere near as good as magnesium glycinate is for sleep.
Vitamin C at higher dose can also help with constipation, but can be problematic in some men by promoting kidney stones in some men. If you don't have a problem with high dose vitamin C, such as 2 grams, it may help with the constipation.
The vitamin C and magnesium citrate seem to work better together for constipation. Exactly how much elemental magnesium are you getting from the magnesium glycinate powder you are taking? That would be important to know to see if there is room to add some magnesium citrate for the constipation. Elemental magnesium is just the amount of magnesium minus the glycinate component.. The RDA for elemental magnesium is 320 mg to 420 mg per day, depending if on your sex and age. If your supplement is only delivering about 100 mg of elemental magnesium or less, you could take that at night and take magnesium citrate in the morning. So you need to find out how much elemental magnesium you are currently taking. If there is room to take both, you may be able to get good sleep and ease the straining when defecating.
Art
USA
06/07/2026
Samar
(AI response) Amlodipine, the active ingredient in Norvasc, can lead to constipation in some patients. This occurs because it affects smooth muscle contraction in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which can slow down bowel movements and result in harder stools.
Sounds like your medication is the culprit. From what you wrote: helpful tips. I learned with food, fruits digests the fastest and should be eaten alone. Takes 20-30 mins. Carbs and veges go together. Veges and meat go together. Your mixing all together making digestion harder. Water and tea 1/2 hour before meal and 1 hour after meal. Water with meal dilutes stomach acid making digestion difficult. You may also want to get Methylated multi vit/min. You eat impressively healthy. You could switch heart meds or go to Acupuncturist and they can balance blood pressure. Just a thought. All the extra things your doing, you may not need to do anymore.
New York
06/08/2026
Greetings Samar,
You reminded me of my painful bowel movements years. I was on an iron supplement because of anemia. The doctor suggested a stool softener, but they did not work with the Iron supplement. My mother suggested Citrate of Magnesia similar to this one that comes in a bottle:
They used to say, we should not take a laxative daily because our body would get used to it. However, I drank about half of a bottle of Citrate of magnesium a few times a week, because if I had fiber and iron the movement would be painful and impossible without this laxative. The Citra of magnesia always worked for me.
Better yet, once the monthly's and bleeding stopped, and I no longer had to take a daily iron supplement, eating fresh Collard Greens and Spinach daily restored normal bowel movements.
HisJewel
