How To Relieve Your Chronic Constipation Naturally
It is exhausting to struggle with chronic constipation. It can be overwhelming trying to figure out what you can do to have a bowel movement 1-3 times daily, easily, with no pain. It can feel hopeless, but thankfully there are a lot of things, besides toxic laxatives like Miralax, that you can do to help.
So how do you solve your constipation issues?
The first step in solving your constipation is to get your stool soft enough for you to push out.
Magnesium
Magnesium works really well for this. My article Magnesium for Constipation goes into a lot of detail on how to choose and use magnesium for your constipation.
I also have a video on magnesium and constipation relief you can watch on YouTube.
Natural Calm Magnesium Citrate (Click on the links to check the price on Amazon) is a good option because it has a mild taste and can be added to juice to camouflage the taste. You need to activate the powder with hot water and then add a lot of ice as it tastes better cold. You can mix it with lemonade, juice, or make it into a slushee with crushed ice or freeze it into an ice pop. Magnesium Citrate isn’t well absorbed into the body so it works well for constipation. The body gets flooded with the magnesium, can’t absorb it all, and releases the extra in a bowel movement. This is called bowel tolerance. For more information on bowel tolerance, what it is, and what you need to do to get there, watch my video on bowel tolerance on YouTube. It isn’t recommended for long-term use, a few months is fine, but it can help you to get through the initial stages of your constipation by helping them to have 1-3 bowel movements a day.
Omniblue (Link to Omniblue’s website) is made from 100X concentrated ocean water and is rich in minerals including magnesium. Omniblue is safe for long-term use. Because Omniblue is made from ocean water, it has a salty or minerally taste. You can add it to your drinks but I find that it works really well when I add it to bone broth, soup, salsa or other salty, savory foods. It takes some experimentation to find a way to add enough Omniblue to your diet to help you to go daily but Omniblue will help to heal your intestines, help you to have 1-3 bowel movements a day, balance your electrolytes and will help to end any mineral deficiencies. Most of us are magnesium deficient, estimates are 50-80% of the adult population is magnesium deficient, so this is critical.
Mix one teaspoon of Omniblue in a liter of Fiji water and or mix with juice and cook with it and use over 1-3 days you should have results. You may have to gradually increase the dose and spread out throughout the day. Often constipated people must take 2-3 times more than the suggested dose initially. I highly suggest you add drops in your beverage each meal, starting with one or two drops and gradually increase the number of drops over time.
Magnesium Malate is a high quality, well-absorbed magnesium supplement. Because of this, it isn’t the first line of defense if you are constipated and need to go ASAP but once you are going regularly, Magnesium Malate is wonderful for building up your magnesium stores and keeping you going daily.
My Electrolyte Drink is also an extremely effective way to achieve 1-3 bowel movements a day for constipation relief. Many readers have used this drink and found that it was so effective they couldn’t be far from a bathroom after drinking it. For people who struggle with chronic constipation, this drink can really help. You can use this drink daily or use it for a clean out, or both. It might take 4 ounces or it might take 4 recipes worth. It all depends on how deficient you are.
With all magnesium supplementation, you will need to experiment to see how much it takes to get a bowel movement. It is different for every person and may change over time for you. Dosing will be trial and error as you figure out what works best for your child and it may change over time as your magnesium stores fill up. You are looking to dose to the point of 1-3 soft easy to push out stools a day. If you aren’t trying to do a clean out and you get loose stools, then back off on the dose. If you have hard, painful stools, increase the dose.
Senna If you have motility issues and struggle to push out your stool then Senna can be helpful in the initial stages of having 1-3 bowel movements a day. The main ingredient in Ex-lax Chocolates is Senna. Senna causes cramping. This can be uncomfortable for most people but for people with motility issues it can help them to push out their stool.
Avoid Ex-lax pills as they have polyethylene glycol, the only ingredient in Miralax. Over 25,000 reports of adverse events have been made to the FDA for Polyethylene Glycol including pediatric deaths. I do not ever recommend using Miralax or any products that contain PEG/Polyethylene Glycol. (For more information on why I don’t recommend Miralax, please read my article Is Miralax Safe to Give to My Child?)
Smooth Move Tea is made with Senna and is also an excellent option for a stimulant laxative. Senna is not for long-term use because it causes dependency and if you use it too long you will not be able to go without it. But short-term, it can really help.
For more information on Senna, watch my YouTube video:
The second step in solving your constipation is to work on Finding the Root Cause of Constipation.
Until you figure out why you are constipated, you will have a hard time solving your constipation permanently. No amount of magnesium will work long term if you are celiac or gluten intolerant and still eating wheat or if you are dairy intolerant and still eating and drinking dairy.
Some root causes or contributing causes can be:
Lack of Good Gut Bacteria
C-Section babies don’t get the benefit of getting their mother’s bacteria at birth so their first bacteria is hospital bacteria. Formula fed babies don’t get the benefit of the bacteria in their mother’s milk. Antibiotics kill off bad bacteria but also kill off good bacteria. Factory raised meat and dairy often is full of antibiotics so when you eat that burger, you are getting a dose of antibiotics too. Miralax kills off gut bacteria. All of these can be the root cause or a contributing factor in your constipation. I was a C-Section baby, fed formula after the first few weeks and on antibiotics on and off for most of my childhood. Even though I am an adult, I believe that all of these things contributed to my gut issues that lasted from childhood through adulthood.
To see what gut bacteria you have or lack, the Organic Acid Test will help you so you know specifically what you need to do to get your gut bacteria to where it needs to be for daily bowel movements.
Repopulating missing gut bacteria can help with constipation. Probiotics are a quick way to add in beneficial bacteria. VSL#3 is an excellent probiotic with necessary strains for people struggling with IBS, Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis, and other serious gut issues. My husband has been using VSL#3 for Crohn’s with amazing success. Garden of Live RAW Probiotics are another option. You want to look for a probiotic that is shipped and stored cold and has a variety of different strains of probiotics in them. You also want to rotate probiotics so you don’t grow a monoculture of limited strains of bacteria.
Ideally, add fermented foods and drinks to your diet to get beneficial bacteria in your gut. I have some tasty and effective recipes on my website including Cultured Butter Healthy Bacteria for Constipation, Lacto-Fermented Pickles for Constipation and Lacto Fermented Salsa for Constipation
Fermented foods are one of the best ways to increase your good gut bacteria and help bring constipation relief plus they are very inexpensive to make.
Diet
Food intolerances or allergies can cause constipation. Gluten and dairy are the two most common culprits in chronic constipation. I highly recommend eliminating dairy for 3 months and seeing if your constipation improves.
Gluten
To determine if gluten is an issue for you like it is for me, my article Is Gluten Causing Your Constipation? will give you ideas on what to look for, what testing you need to do for and hints to help you with a gluten-free diet. You can order your own Celiac blood test through my partner True Health Labs if you can’t get your doctor to order the test for you.
Dairy
Dairy is a very common cause of constipation. It is also very inflammatory. For more information on dairy and how it can cause constipation, please read my article Is Dairy Causing Your Constipation?
Organic
Eating an organic diet can make a huge difference in your gut health. Many non-organic foods, especially dairy products and meat, have antibiotics in them that kill off good gut bacteria.
A great way to save money on a gluten-free, dairy-free diet is to join Thrive Market. I’ve partnered with Thrive Market because I really believe in their mission of offering gluten free, dairy free, organic and non-GMO foods for a reasonable price. If you sign up through my link you will get 25% off of your first order and a free 30-day membership to try them out. This is a great place to order organic versions of your favorite foods for up to 50% off of regular store prices and it is delivered right to your door! I know that with all of our food restrictions, I often have to go to 3 or even 4 stores to get everything that we need. Thrive Market has made it so much easier to get healthy, safe food for my family. Thrive has helped me to not break our budget but to still feed my family the quality of food I want to. Click the following link to try it out Thrive Market Free Trial and 25% off first order
Fiber
A lack of high-quality fibrous foods can also cause constipation or can make it worse but fiber can also worsen constipation in some people. If you are backed up, not drinking enough or your intestines are inflamed, fiber can actually worsen constipation. Temporarily going on a low fiber diet until you get your constipation under control can help in many cases. I also recommend getting fiber from diet and not from supplements.
For more information on Fiber, watch my video:
Dehydration
Not drinking enough water can cause or contribute to constipation. Soda and caffeinated beverages do not count towards your fluids needed per day. If you aren’t drinking enough water, that can lead to chronic constipation. If you don’t like drinking water by itself, infusing it with fruit can make it fun to drink. I highly recommend getting a Glass Water Infusion Pitcher like this one on Amazon that is BPA free. You can add fresh or frozen organic fruit or veggies like cucumbers and infuse it overnight and have tasty water to drink all day. Herbal teas are also a great way to increase your fluid consumption.
Stooling Position
The position you are in when you attempt to go to the bathroom can make it harder for you to go. We are built to squat and poop. Most toddlers will squat when they have a bowel movement but once we begin to use a toilet, we sit with our knees level to our hips instead of above our hips in a squatting position. This can cause our colon and intestines to not allow the stool to come out easily due to a “kink” from the position we are in. Using a Squatty Potty can help to put you in the proper position to easily release your stool. This is the Squatty Potty my family has.
Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s Disease
Hypothyroidism can cause constipation and under-dosing thyroid meds can also cause constipation. When you go into a doctor complaining of constipation, hypothyroidism isn’t the first thing that a doctor is going to think of, but constipation is a very common side effect of thyroid issues. If you are struggling with constipation that is unrelieved with other changes, ask your doctor to run a full thyroid panel.
If your doctor ran a thyroid test on you, did they just test TSH? Did they run a full thyroid panel? Were you “in range” or optimal? Did they check your Reverse T3 ratio? Many doctors do not even look at hypothyroidism for constipation issues and if you can convince them to run the test, they often only test TSH. My article, Constipation Caused by Less Than Optimal Thyroid Levels goes into more detail on what tests you need to have run and what to look for in the results to know that you are being properly treated. If you can’t get your doctor to order the tests you need, you can order a Complete Thyroid Panel yourself through my partner True Health Lab and then use the results to get your doctor to properly treat you or to find a new doctor who will support you with proper treatment. 
For more information on testing to request to help get to the root cause of your constipation, please read my article Recommended Lab Testing for Chronic Constipation
It can be hard to find a standard medical doctor who will help you dig and get to the root cause. This article will help you to find a doctor that will help you. How to Find a Doctor to Help You Get To The Root Cause of Your Constipation.
The final step in solving your chronic constipation is to Heal Your Gut from Chronic Constipation and Laxatives
Our guts are injured from our constipation itself, from what caused our constipation in the first place, from the treatments we have used to try to relieve our constipation, from the toxins in our food, drinks, and water, and from any antibiotics, prescribed and the ones that are in our meat and dairy products.
One of the most important things you need to work on is healing your gut. Adding home-made bone broth to your diet, adding Fermented Foods and Drinks to your diet to repopulate your gut bacteria with more bacteria than any probiotic can give, eating an organic whole foods diet, eliminating food that you are allergic to or intolerant of, will all work towards healing your gut and help you to avoid constipation in the future.
Many of us have leaky gut. Leaky gut is caused by glyphosate in our air, water, and food, or by antibiotics or food allergies or intolerances. Once you heal your leaky gut, your constipation improves and many issues that the leaky gut caused like brain fog, anxiety and depression go away.
For my family, the supplement Restore (Restore4life.com) was a game changer. I fed my family healthy, gluten-free, organic foods, made bone broth and was doing a lot that I felt should be helping. But my family had such damage that it wasn’t until we added Restore that we saw a major shift in our physical and mental health. For some Restore users, they saw a very quick improvement in their constipation, for others, there was a brief period of increased constipation which can be controlled with increased water consumption and increased magnesium, and then they started to see major improvements in constipation and other issues. This article, Restore For Constipation in Children and Healing the Gut. has my son’s story with Restore plus information on how to dose with it and what to expect.
If you are struggling with chronic constipation there often isn’t a quick fix that works long term. If you are having success with your constipation and then you regress, it is often because you haven’t gotten to the root cause or because there are more than one root cause, that is contributing to your constipation. If you have a setback, read through the articles again and go through the steps to see what you are missing so you can address it.
Tracking your bowel movements can help you to develop a regiment that helps you to find the natural remedy for your constipation. To get a free bowel movement tracker please click Here.
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*DISCLAIMER, I AM NOT A DOCTOR OR MEDICAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL. ALL IDEAS DISCUSSED AND DESCRIBED IN THIS POST ARE MY OWN AND ARE NOT MEANT TO TREAT OR DIAGNOSE. IF YOU HAVE A MEDICAL CONDITION PLEASE SPEAK WITH YOUR DOCTOR.
