Hello doctor, I am contacting you regarding my bowel issues. About five years ago, I began taking moderate to high doses of Magnesium to ease my heart palpitations. This caused my stools to be very loose and easy to pass. I would normally have 2 to 3 bowel movements a day. Beginning last year, I started to experience persistent bloating. Now, I have bloating, nausea, and excessive gas. I have recently stopped taking the Magnesium to see if this helps. But now, I am unable to have consistent bowel movements without Magnesium. I usually have to strain very hard for little amounts of stool. I feel ill and lose my appetite if I eat too much or too little. It feels like the stool is sitting inside me and bubbling. I already include a lot of fiber in my diet, but eating too much fiber also makes it difficult to pass stool. I have got a lot of tests done this year. I was having small amounts of bright red rectal bleeding on the toilet paper. On doing a colonoscopy, the results were normal, but a small hemorrhoid was found. I occasionally still get the same type of rectal bleeding. The abdominal and pelvic CT scan came negative, but large amounts of stool were found in my ascending colon. The pelvic MRI results were also negative, but large amounts of stool were found in my sigmoid colon and cecum. The diagnostic laparoscopy to check for endometriosis came back negative too. Do you think that I may have developed an unintentional laxative dependency from the Magnesium, which may be contributing to my symptoms? Thank you.
Hello. Magnesium dependency looks unlikely. For more information consult a medical gastroenterologist online -->