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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Difficulty In Bowel Movements While Taking Miralax?

My 71 year old father is taking miralax with stool softeners and sienna tablets 2x daily. He has had a Triple A, has a thorasic aneurism and is on dialysis 3x s a week due to renal failure. His toes are necrotic and has been on Percocet until recently. He now manages pain with morphine and Percocet. He is scheduled for Axillobifemoral bypass next week. he isn t eating more than a half a meal a day and is worried that he isn t having a bowel movement with the miralax. He keeps increasing his dosage. Is this harmful for him given his poor condition?
Mon, 24 Feb 2014
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General Surgeon,  's  Response
Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Morphine is a medicine which causes chronic and hard to treat constipation. So this is the most probable reason of his problem. Other possibility is bowels obstruction due to colon cancer.
In case of obstruction he should not also passing gasses. Cramps and bloated abdomen are characteristic for obstruction.

As even constipation can lead to obstruction and to perforation as a side effect, I suggest him to visit a doctor. Abdominal X-ray should be done. Morphine intake should be considered and maybe changed to some other medicine.

Hope this will help.
Regards.
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What Causes Difficulty In Bowel Movements While Taking Miralax?

Hello! Thank you for the query. Morphine is a medicine which causes chronic and hard to treat constipation. So this is the most probable reason of his problem. Other possibility is bowels obstruction due to colon cancer. In case of obstruction he should not also passing gasses. Cramps and bloated abdomen are characteristic for obstruction. As even constipation can lead to obstruction and to perforation as a side effect, I suggest him to visit a doctor. Abdominal X-ray should be done. Morphine intake should be considered and maybe changed to some other medicine. Hope this will help. Regards.