What's with Miralax?

[Mama2Five]

Our little one is 8 months now, showing no signs of CF yet but we continue to give her Miralax for irregularity issues. I still am not convinced that constipation has no correlation to her mutations, but no one else seems concerned.

My question here is, if CF causes mucousy stools, why would people with CF experience constipation, thus needing Miralax to stay regular? Is constipation, in fact, a symptom of CF?

 

[Aboveallislove]

Hey Janet,
Yes constipation is an issue for those with CF. Beyond the mucus issue is the water imbalance in GI track and a couple other things. Miralax addresses the water imbalance. This link gives a GREAT explaination of the physicology of CF GI track and also the difference between CF constipation and "normal" constipation. Most CF doctors have no real experience in the DIOS CF issues and we called for months with "no concern" until we ended up in hospital with DIOS. Our son wasn't on Miralax though. Here's the link: http://www.cfmedicine.com/htmldocs/CFText/dios.htm
Sorry this is short..have to head to speech class.

 

[Mama2Five]

Thanks so much for that article!

 

[windex125]

I want to say I am current with everything..... but that wld not be truthful... I try my best. But over the last year I hv become very faithful to one product, and that is Miralax I take it every other day. and if offers the best BM's ever. I used to ignore some of the my issues at times, have experienced painful backups. I am really proud of myself even at this late age to realize you must take care of getting rid of what goes into yr body, as much as what you put in it. Now if I cld just drink more water everyday, I wld be very happy. Pat

 

[Aboveallislove]

Hey Pat,
I'm with you vicariously because now that we have figured out the "ideal" dosing of Miralax, with appropriate instructions for titrating, we're on about 8 months of "good." We also, though, do lots of other stuff, like managing diet FODMAP as LittleLab recommended, limiting amount of breads/cheese per day and LOTS OF WATER. I'm with you too re not drinking enough...what works with him is I give him a "sippy cup" that he carries everywhere and is constantly filled. I started after hearing on the radio that those who have water in cups with straws drink more (water...I'm sure that's true with other things too ;-) ....so maybe you could find a convenient cup with a straw that you can just refill and have with you all the time. The added water helped a TON. Also apparently the Miralax water doesn't count for the needed "water" per day because the way the Miralax makes the body handle the water.

 

[ethan508]

Aboveall is right, having a water bottle at the ready helps me stay hydrated. My wife gets a little tired of me leaving my water bottle everywhere, but at least it isn't half full of old milk like my kid's sippy cups.