I sometimes have pencil shaped stools....my issue is hemorrhoids, which can make it hard to pass stool. I am dealing with backed up bowels and trapped air in my upper left small intestines, felt like pancreatitis or splenetic attack...awful pain.
I hope you get to feeling better.
Yeah I was pretty vague on the blood work thing, I think they checked liver/gallbladder stuff but I was pretty out of it at the time (they gave me something to calm me down).
I am thinking the constipation is from my lack of mobility for the past month. I got injured and pretty much either laid in bed or sat at my computer, nothing else. The doctor said it could have been a narcotic pill I took (not mine, bad I know), but I don't think one pill would do this.
Anyways thanks for the advice I can use all i can get as I got pretty freaked out over hearing I had an impaction. I definitely need to keep reminding myself the xrays done in ER showed it was no longer there.
Saying you had "blood work" is very vague. Were you tested for Celiac disease or Crohn's disease? Do you know what set off the problem?
My bowels are not normal as I have Celiac disease. Often the stools you describe are the best I can hope for, and only the fact I use Miralax and Amitiza allow anything to pass through my long and twisted bowel (which is a problem that is in addition to Celiac disease). So I would say it sounds like you have inflammation still, and if you do not have a particular cause for the inflammation, you are going to need to take meds to continue moving your bowels, and not expect things will be perfect immediately. One thing that might help is to add Align, which is a particular prebiotic, to your daily routine for a while. It is an OTC tablet. Don't be so concerned about the size of the stools in the short-term. Just keep taking things to get your bowels moving as much as possible so you will be more comfortable. After a month or two on the Align in addition to Miralax and see how you do. It's not panic time if your bowel movements continue to improve, even if it is slow progress. If anything gets worse, such as you feel very tired or have abdominal pain or gas or continued loss of appetite or blood in stools or vomiting, then you need to call your doctor's office and give them the additional information. Perhaps there was a specific problem causing the constipation, such as narcotic pain medication or too much time sitting still or something.