79. The One About Poop - Constipation Cures & Gut Anxiety Tips

Welcome to the holistic inner Balance podcast with Dr. Nicole Cain and happy healthy.

Hadley, your go to resource for natural mental health and wellness strategies so that you can become the expert of your own emotional and physical well being.

Merging modern science with ancient wisdom.

Talking about poop is literally the highlight of every naturopathic doctor's life.

I talk about poop all the time.

Let's record it.

Why not? Yes. We could literally title it the one about poop.

All right, you heard it first, everybody. Welcome to our podcast. This is Dr. Nicole and this is Hadley, and we're going to talk about poop.

Poop.

Constipation cures.

Yes. Or not. Poop.

Pooplessness.

Yeah. So sad.

It's the worst. Yes. And you know, the gut is a really profound part of our entire well being. Head to toe, we know that the gut regulates your immune system. And we think of your immune system when we think of allergies, when we think of colds and flus, we think of your immune system when it comes to rashes and reactions, or lack thereof, to food. Like, your immune system is. Keeps you alive. It protects you. And so the gut regulates that. The gut also regulates your endocrine system, your thyroid, your sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone, your cortisol, your stress nervous system, like that fight, flight, freeze. That's regulated by your gut. Your gut regulates your mood, your nervous system, your neurotransmitters. So you maybe have heard about serotonin. You know, 95% of that's made in your gut. Like your gut is the foundation of everything. And when your gut is out of balance, mayhem occurs.

Yes. I love how you put that.

Mayhem.

Mayhem.

And so today we're going to be focusing on constipation cures from an ayurvedic perspective. I said the word right? Y' all so good. We're gonna talk about holistic approaches, natural approaches, because it's a sign that your body is out of balance. And our job here is to help you become your own mental health expert so that you can pursue this delicious freedom of bliss. And it starts with your poop.

Yes. You guys, have you ever had, like, the most blissful poop?

Oh, it's like Snow White and all the birds are singing and all of that.

Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp.

And you're like, look at this.

It's the best when, like, you know, you wake up in the morning and you just, you know, go to the bathroom and you're like, ah, now I'm ready for the day. Today's gonna be a great day. That is, like, the best experience ever. And there's a reason for this. We're literally getting rid of yesterday's crap. Yeah, yeah.

Toxins, all of the things.

Your waste that needs to not be in your body anymore. And have you also ever had the experience not going for a couple of days? Oh, my gosh. And, like, being so grumpy or so anxious or so down and, like, depressed, and you're like, what is going on? Why am I feeling this way? And then you have a poop, and then you're like, oh, everything's fine. Yeah.

It's so funny when I watch my dog, she's, like, in a fine mood, and then she'll go to the bathroom and then she'll, like, skip. And she's in such a good mood. And I always laugh and I say to Paul, I'm like, oh, Shiva's in her post poop bliss now.

Yes. It's such a thing. And we can talk about some of the reasons why that's a thing. And we also want to talk about how to actually, you know, get rid of constipation as well, because it is. It's. You guys, it's, like, way more common than you might think. And constipation, you know, a lot of times in, like, the medical world, it's like a few days without pooping. But I'm going to make the case that it's one day without pooping because I feel it after just one day. For sure.

Yeah. According to a research article on Pub Central, the National Library of Medicine, this came out of the American Journal of Gastroenterology, is that one in four people are constipated. And that's based on four days of not pooping. And I would argue that that number goes up significantly if we go to your definition and it's. If you skip a day.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think most people experience it sometimes. Then if it's, you know, if the. If the definition is one day. Yeah. And it so, like, it can really impact not only all of these different, you know, your immune health and your hormone health. And if you're not getting rid of. If you're not getting rid of, like, hormones or other toxins in your body that. That will really, like, congest your liver. And then you might get, you know, rashes like Dr. Kane was talking about. You might get, you know, different hormonal imbalances and stuff, just because you're not pooping.

That's.

And that's all yeah. Yeah. But not only that, I have found for a lot for my clients that it really impacts their relationship with food. So a lot of times, you know, people will say, only eat when you're hungry, and then stop when you're full. And I was always annoyed by this advice because, first of all, I, like, was, you know, not very connected with my body. And I was like, well, I don't know when I'm hungry, and I don't know when I'm full. And I found that it was because, well, there were a lot of different reasons, but one of the reasons was that I wasn't going. I wasn't eliminating every day. And so I had this waste still stuck in my body, and I felt full and heavy and sticky, whatever. And that was why I couldn't feel like, am I hungry right now? I couldn't feel the emptiness of needing to eat more. And so I didn't know if I was hungry or full or whatever. And so this definitely impacts us on so many different levels.

Yeah. So let's talk about some reasons that you might be constipated, and then we're gonna definitely get into constipation cures. So diagnostic considerations. This comes from emedicine. And so if you go to a doctor who actually does a workup and thinks critically about it, these are the things they're gonna be thinking of. Is the number one thing at the top of that list is psychological causes, which is so interesting to me. That. And we're not just saying, oh, it's all in your head, because it's not. But there is such a reciprocal relationship between the gut and the brain that one changing will affect the other. They often change in concert with each other. And just like I mentioned at the beginning of this conversation, is 95% of your serotonin is made in your gut. And if things are changing emotionally and mentally, that's going to affect your serotonin levels, which will affect your mood, and it will affect your gut. And then, of course, things are changing in your gut that's gonna affect your mo. Hard to pull them apart. They very much live together. So psychological causes, and that's why we teach a lot on gut anxiety, is it's one of the main causes and ways that we suffer from anxiety. And so gut anxiety is like gas or bloating or irritable bowel syndrome or constipation or even diarrhea or some people, they alternate. They'll be constipated for four days, and then they'll have really loose Bowels. And then they'll be constipated again. And indigestion, heartburn. These are all signs of gut anxiety. Also blood sugar irregularities. Diabetes can cause constipation, imbalances in thyroid and parathyroid, especially hypothyroid, which is where the thyroid is underactive. You're going to have symptoms of, you may be more chilly, you may gain weight, you may be more constipated.

Lead.

High levels of lead, more like lead poisoning, which we see less commonly today. But if you live in a very old house that has original lead paint on the walls and you're like eating paint chips, that can happen. Parkinson's.

Or your water, if your water is contaminated, which has been kind of a.

Thing recently, I feel like that's a way better example than licking lead walls.

Than eating paint chips.

Eating paint chips. Way to just take that conversation up ten times more valuable. That was really, really good. And so, you know, there's a ton of diagnost. And with irritable bowel syndrome, I do want to mention that the name is irritable bowels. Like, your bowels are irritated. Like, that's literally what this diagnosis is saying. It's like your bowels are irritated, and we don't really know why. It's kind of like chronic fatigue is. Well, you're chronically fatigued, and we don't know why. And so maybe your doctors have diagnosed you with ibs. And honestly, that doesn't really mean much. They don't know why your bowels are irritated. They just are putting a diagnostic label on you to qualify you for treatment. And so work up. It's really important to make sure that you've had an appropriate workup, that you've had the diagnostic and the testing just to make sure that all of your ducks in a row before you start using these constipation cures, because it's all about treating the root cause. And Ayurveda has a really great approach to this. But I do want to also make sure that we're just taking a peek at what the conventional medical model will tell you to do. And so once one thing is that you'll go in and if you're constipated, your doctor should do an abdominal exam where they should have you lie on your back on a table, bend your knees, put your feet flat on the floor, and they'll feel around in your tummy. They should listen, they should palpate. And then if you have any discomfort or if they feel anything, then they may send you on for further workup, which could be an abdominal X ray or an abdominal ultrasound or a colonoscopy, or maybe they'll. Even if it's more upper gastrointestinal, they may do egd, where they stick a camera down your nose and in your throat and down into the stomach. And they may also do blood work in laboratory studies. And so they may look for iron deficiency anemia, they may look for liver enzymes, pancreatic enzymes. They may look to make sure that you have your electrolytes and that you're hydrated. And dehydration and a lack of minerals is a super common cause of constipation. So they'll probably ask you about that. And then if you go to a functional medicine doctor who, who then takes those basic tests and punts it way farther down the road, is they may do a comprehensive stool analysis and actually look and see what the heck is happening in your bowels. And so they're going to be looking for things like, do you have an imbalance in the bacteria in your gut? Do you have all the bacteria that you need? Or do you have a bunch of pathogens that are taking over? Do you have yeast imbalances, which so many of us have?

So common.

Yeah, you've seen that, too. Mm, yeah. Yeah.

Especially Candida.

Candida is the most common yeast. It's an opportunistic little critter that lives in our body, but it feeds off of sugar.

Yeah.

And so if we're drinking all the sugary sodas and eating all the sugary.

Foods and even like sometimes it can get out of balance. Like you think, oh, I'm, you know, I eat like a pretty healthy diet or whatever, but I mean, it gets out of balance. Like it can pretty quickly.

Yeah.

Do you have a history of antibiotic use? Yeah.

Oh, yeah, that's me. Oh, my gosh. I used to have ear infections all the time as a kid. And so I've. Gut work has been like my biggest thing.

It's the biggest thing. Yeah, yeah. And so there are tons of risk factors, environmental toxicity, psychological trauma. All these things can create an overgrowth. Overgrowth of yeast and Candida. And so they'll look for that. And by identifying what the heck is happening in your gut, it gives us leverage to actually treat that and treat the root cause. And, you know, so while diagnostic workup is really important, I do think there's a ton of wisdom also in what the old healers have known for 2,000 plus years. And so I really try to weigh both in you know, try to have a really balanced scale of like, okay, well, what is modern science teaching us? But what is this wisdom that's been around for 2000 plus years telling us?

Yeah, and what I always say is like, how do, if, if modern science and ancient wisdom is telling us the same thing? That's gotta be capital T Truth.

Capital T, truth. I'm raising the roof over here on my side of the desk.

Yes. Yeah. And the cool thing is that a lot of the Ayurvedic like principles and practices and different things are actually being proven by modern science, which that just like makes me really excited.

It's magic.

Yeah. It's like a marriage of my two favorite things.

It is. So what, what would the, the aged sages say? Like, why are we constipated?

Yeah, so it can, I mean, Ayurveda realizes that there are, it can be more complicated than this. But you know, the, the basics would be if, if you're like just becoming constipated, if it's not like a chronic thing yet, they would say usually it is due to a vata imbalance. And so, you know, during vata season it also might get worse for us. Right. In the fall you may experience, or maybe you haven't noticed this before, but you know, start to get really curious about it. You might notice that you are more constipated in the fall, in the autumn season. And so a lot of times that is related to vata. Vata is the elements of vata are air and ether. And so essentially the qualities of air and ether are like mobile and you know, it's like wind. And when wind blows against you, you get really dry. And so fall is more dry. And then also, you know, if you have a lot of vata in your constitution, regardless of the season, you are going to probably experience more dryness. You might have like dry skin, but you, you might have dry sinuses. You're, you also might have dryness in your intestines. And that is going to increase your likelihood for constipation as well. And so usually there's some element, even if there's like a, even if it's like ibs, which is a little bit more complicated than just like it's one dosha, you know, vata is going to be involved in some way if you have this like constip, these symptoms of constipation. And so and the other thing is, which we talked about with the psych, the psychology piece is vata, a lot of times will increase our, a specific Kind of anxiety because all of the doshas can have some sort of anxiety. And we might, we might need to do a podcast about this in the future of like the different types of anxiety for the different doshas. Yeah, that would be fun. But vata kind of looks like being anxious about like it's a lot of fear. Fear based things like, oh my gosh, I'm unsafe. That's kind of the anxiety behind vata. And so that is like our nervous system is not regulated and thus we are like tightened up and not allowing ourselves to release and to have this downward movement. And so sometimes it's really interesting. I've seen people and I've actually experienced this myself. You know, you do a downward movement type meditation practice where you kind of bring your attention into your body and down into kind of like into the earth and then you're like, oh, I have to poop now. It's like an immediate thing. And you know, it's not magic. It doesn't always happen that way. But it definitely does sometimes. And that is because a lot of times vata is like up and out. The energy is just like kind of up, out and all around, all over the place. I think of like, you know, in physics, well, and chemistry, you learn about like how gas will just like fill a space and it just kind of like the, the molecules of gas will just like ping around in whatever space it's in, right? Oh, yes. And that's, that's air and ether. That's vata. And so that's kind of what's going on in your body too. And it's not going down and out.

Right.

And so that's like the mind piece of vata constipation.

Back to yoga. Is there a yoga position that you've seen causes more of that down and out movement?

Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure. So anything that you know that is. Well, I guess not anything, but a lot of the things that are vata pacifying. So let's see.

I guess it's like when people are farting in class, right? And you're like, ah, yeah, that's pacifying vata.

Yeah, gas, like gas and bloating are both like also vata related symptoms, right? And that usually goes with constipation too. Like, well, not always, but you might. Have you ever had the experience where you're like, I know that I need to poop. I have like really bad gas and I'm bloated and I know that there's like stuff in there, but it just won't it just won't come out.

In homeopathy, we call that incarcerated flatus because everything is like 1800s German language.

That's amazing. Oh, my gosh.

That's a hilarious way to incarcerated flatus versus mobilized flatus, which I hear a lot in yoga.

Yes, yes, totally. So anything that's going to be like grounding, bringing your energy down is going to be huge. Anything that's like on the ground is also, you know, is going to be helpful for that because when we can bring our attention to the fact that our body is touching the ground, that's a really grounding experience. So, you know, child's pose is a great, just like grounding practice. Right? That's going to be bring your energy down. Even like goddess pose where you're stabilizing, but you're also bringing your light, you're bringing your like body closer to the ground. That can be helpful. It's not, it's not a restorative practice, which a lot of restorative practices are really helpful, but it's, it's stabilizing, which can be really helpful for vata. We need that. Because vata tends to ping around all over the place like gas. We need to create that container so that it stays inside that container. And so structure is really, really helpful for vata. The other thing that I'll say is something that I do often is if you have like a really long foam roller. And I learned this from one of my teachers, Katie Silcox, she's really into this, a really long foam roller. And you put your spine, you just lay down on top of the foam roller. Your spine is just, you know, straight parallel with the foam roller on top of it. And you just allow yourself to. You allow the rest of your body to relax onto. Makes it so that your body isn't like so tucked in and contracted toward the, the bones of your body. And it allows your flesh and your muscles to relax off of your bones, which brings you more parasympathetic nervous system state. And that is like, for me, that's the most effective thing. And you know, your back muscles relax onto this foam roller and you just.

It's the best, I imagine structurally too, is the muscles that hold on to the nerves that are coming out of your spine and going to the bowels that send those signals for gut motility that, that can be really helpful and stimulating to those. So if you are experiencing like, I know that I need to poop, but I feel like no action is happening down here that it's Just, like, so stagnant that doing something like that, like, body work and, like, moving your spine and massaging it and stretching it.

Yeah, that's another thing is abdominal massage. And Ayurveda is very into massage. Self massage. They call it abyanga when it's. When you do it with oil, or you can do dry brushing as well, but essentially, like, massaging your stomach so that you go in a clockwise direction.

Up the right, across the middle, down the left.

Yep. That is huge. And you can even make, like, circles with your hands while you're doing that. So, like, you're making a circle, but you're also doing little tiny circles with, like, your fingers as you're going around. That can be really, really helpful. The other thing that you can do is kind of like pinch your skin as you go with it, too. And it is. If. I mean, it feels really good, and then it also starts. It also helps to get that peristalsis going, which is, like, the motility of your gut, essentially. It's like, it gets your bowels moving, and that can be really helpful. And you can do that, like, first thing in the morning before you even get out of bed, if you want to have a bowel movement first thing. The other thing is that I do every single morning is drink a lot of warm water. Warm water is more helpful than cold water to get it all moving. And some people do lemon water as well. For me, that's a little bit too acidic for my pizza, But I just do warm water every morning, and that can. That can get your peristalsis going as well.

What about a cup of coffee?

Ooh, yeah. That's a great, great question.

Don't hate on my coffee, please, please.

So a lot of times people find that this is, like, the only way that they'll poop, right, Is like, I only poop after I have my morning coffee, so.

Oh, she's making that face, y'. All. Bad things are about to happen.

So, you know, I'm not saying take away your morning coffee, honestly, unless it. I mean, it can give you anxiety, and it can true, true anxiety depending on the person and all of that. But I try to have my morning bowel movement before I drink coffee. It's. It can be dehydrating, and so it's sort of a vicious cycle of, like, the more you drink coffee in order to be able to poop poop, it's also dehydrating you, and so you're gonna be less likely able to poop the next day because you're dehydrated. Right. So that's the. That's the challenge here.

So in one hand, my coffee, maybe, and in the other hand, a vat of warm water.

Yes. Yeah. So what I do is I just. I drink my warm water first before anything else. So I know I'm getting hydrated, like, really, really hydrated. I'll also. Sometimes I put, like, trace minerals in there, too, to get the electrolytes. So I'm getting really hydrated. And then if I can have my bowel movement after that, like, and not rely on the coffee. You know, sometimes if I'm, like, traveling or whatever, like, I. You guys, sometimes I rely on the coffee, but. And I don't drink it every day, but I mostly rely on the warm water, so then I don't have to rely on a substance. And sometimes I poop even before I drink the warm water now.

But we know what's happening.

It took me a long time to get there. Yeah. That makes it so that you don't have to rely on, like, I mean, a drug, right? Like caffeine to help you be able to poop. And it makes. Makes life a lot easier.

Traveling constipation is a big problem for people.

Yes, absolutely.

So I have my hacks, but I would love to hear yours. So if somebody. So if you're listening and you're like, wow, I really resonate with this, like, every time I travel, like, I can't poop. And just so you know, you are not alone. I hear this all the time. I deal with this. And for me, I think it's really psychological. It's like, you don't want to do that in someone else's bathroom. And they could all be bearing witness to this personal tragedy that's happening every single day. So what are you.

Yes.

Okay.

We talk a little bit about this in our travel podcast, so definitely check that out. But I agree that part of it is psychological. A lot of it is psychological, and it's vata psychology. Plus, especially if we're flying, we. It is very, very vata imbalancing. So planes are about 30% lower humidity than what is, like, optimal for the human body. And, you know, that's a big percentage. And so it's about, like, 20% humidity in a plane versus is the 50% that our bodies are optimally, you know, optimally function at, essentially. And so that. That is also a factor. Plus, we're, like, hurtling through space. Right. So that's another vata piece of it. Here is we're not on the ground. We're actually moving really, really fast through space. And our bodies can feel that, you know, even though it's more subtle.

Right.

It doesn't feel like we're hurtling through space necessarily when we're on a plane. But so all of these things contribute to this vata constipation when we're traveling. So drinking warm water throughout your plane ride can be really helpful. And when you get to your destination, another thing that can be really helpful is doing these grounding practices for your psychology. And it's not just for your mind, because it's all very, very connected. And so those are two of the biggest things. And we've, you know, we talk about this also in the. The travel podcast. But the other one that is, like, kind of just a nice hack to have if you really experience this a lot is Triphala, which I'm sure Dr. Kane can speak to even more. But triphala is so helpful. Oh, my gosh. To be able to just get things moving. Drinking it or drinking a little bit of, like, powder or taking a capsule or two the night before you want to go to the bathroom in the morning can help to get things moving in a really gentle way. It's not a laxative, really. Like, it's a very gentle, gentle. I guess laxative. Ish substance.

I like it. And I love the biofeedback that it gives you, which is. Is super unique to this amazing concoction. And my favorite company is Banyan Botanicals. I know you said you like them, too.

Yes, I love. I love Banyan.

And they have it as a powder. And I usually. Actually, I recommended it to someone today who's traveling across Canada, and they were having some gastrointestinal syndata stuff, and I was. You need some. I call it Triphala, but it's probably pronounced Triphala, but it's spelled for y' all who are listening. T R I P H A L A And. And it's amazing. So when you start taking it, the flavor is going to be very bitter and kind of muddy in color. And as Hadley was saying, a quarter teaspoon to even a half a teaspoon, depending on your body, in a little bit of water at night before you go to sleep is great. It's going to taste really bitter if you need it. And then the teacher that I had recommended it every night. And then the longer you take it, the more it's going to do its job of helping balance your doshas and helping detox body and restore balancing is Just amazing. The flavor will become sawdusty, and then when it's done its job and you don't need it anymore, it'll taste sweet. And so that's a really. I love that. And that's a really good balancer. The cool thing about that is it's balancing for all of the doshas. Yeah.

Yeah, that's the really cool thing because, yeah, a lot of. A lot of herbs will be, you know, for one dosha, but then it might increase another dosha. So triphala is like. Like one of my favorite herbs, for sure. And, yeah, I think when. When we're traveling, another thing is making sure that we are. Are really grounding ourselves as much as we possibly can, because, like you said, you know, being in a new place is really. You know, it's hard on our nervous systems. Even if we're not flying, even if we're driving to a different place, we are still moving really fast in. And then also, you know, we're just in a new place. So something that is really helpful just for anxiety, like travel anxiety and, you know, feeling like we're ungrounded is literally just orienting yourself to your space. So get when. You know, and this. I always talk about how, like, dogs do this. You watch your dog, when you take your dog to a new place, they do a little, like, sniff around the perimeter of the place.

Shiva does that.

Yeah.

And then.

And then they're like, all right, cool. I'm good. Now maybe they, like, pee somewhere, park their territory, and, like, we can do this too. And it actually helps. Yeah, maybe not the peeing part, but we can do this too. And it, like, brings us. Brings our nervous system down so. So that it's not. I mean, not, like, depressive down, but it. It brings us into our bodies and, like, oh, okay, you know, the wall is this far away from me right now. You know, the other wall is this far away from me, and it makes us feel safe in our bodies, and that's hugely, hugely important in order to be able to go to the bathroom. We can't poop if we don't feel safe.

Which reminds me of feeling safe in our bodies is you taught something a few podcast episodes ago about actually placement of your hands.

Yes. Yes. Yeah. So just putting a hand on your shoulder or a hand on, like, your. Your arm, like your kind of your bicep, tricep, and just kind of squeezing it a little bit. So you can do that even if you're talking to someone. You don't have to, like, go and Do a whole practice. I think a lot of times people think that they need to, like, do a meditation practice, but just putting your hand on your body, even if it's like, if you're sitting down and you put your hand on your legs or something, whatever feels really resourcing and grounding for. To bring you into your body to be like, okay, I'm here right now. You know, I don't have to be in my head. I'm safe right now. That can be huge. To regulate your nervous system, like, throughout time and space so that you don't get to a place where you're not able to then go to the bathroom because you feel unsafe. And then one more thing that I'll say that's really helpful. Have you heard of, like, the squatty potty?

I am a huge believer in the squatty potty. If it was socially acceptable, everybody would get that for Christmas.

Yes. So Todd and I put it on our wedding registry. You would.

I love this so much.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. It was hilarious. You know, some people thought we were weird, and we are. Yeah.

I was just gonna say you are weird.

And I'm all about it.

I love it, too. I'm leaning in on that.

Y. Sometimes Todd will be like, you're so weird. And I'll be like, thanks.

Thanks, babe. Thanks, weirdo.

Normal.

Not me.

But yeah. So the squatty potty is basically just this little stool that you put under your toilet and that. It's a Squatty potty is a brand. There are other brands as well that are just like little benches, essentially, that you put under your toilet and you just put your feet up on them. And what it essentially does is it makes it so that your legs come up, your knees come up a little bit more so that you're in more of a squat position. Because that's what our bodies, you know, naturally have evolved to do in order to be able to go to the bathroom. You know, we used to just squat in the woods.

Right. Like a dog.

We didn't sit, like, on a chair.

Like a dog, a cat, a raccoon, all of them.

And so our colon is optimized to be able to release, you know, fecal matter in when we're in a squat position rather than when we're in a sitting position. It kind of gets, like, pinched when we're in a sitting position. So this is really helpful. And then when I'm traveling, I just try to find, like, a waste basket.

Yeah.

And, like, turn it upside down, put my feet on that and that is, like, hugely helpful for me when I'm traveling as well.

Yeah, that's why the trash can's upside down every time you come to the office. I'm just kidding. Kidding, not kidding. I love that you also mention adding trace minerals. And so I do want to mention trace minerals. I want to emphasize that. I think that's a really good point. And one of a great hack that I often recommend to people is adding magnesium to your supplement protocol. Magnesium is really important in terms of digestion, especially in constipation. The overdose of magnesium is diarrhea.

Yeah.

So it's a really great. It'll tell you how much you need. So typically I tell people if you're constipated, plus you have anxiety, which is most of us. Right. And then if you have sore, stiff, tired muscles, then these are all great indicators that magnesium might be valuable for you. Most people are depleted in magnesium. We sweat out our minerals, we sweat out our water. We drink reverse osmosis water that doesn't have the minerals added back in. And so it's just we're deficient and our body tells us so add in, start maybe like 400 milligrams, and then wait an hour if nothing happens. If your bowels are still obstructed or blocked. Obstructed. Pausing on that. If you have an actual bowel obstruction, go to the emergency department.

Yes, please.

But if you're not pooping and it's been a couple of days and you want to play around with magnesium, this is how to do it. Right. So 400, wait an hour. So if nothing happens, take 400 more, and then every hour, keep taking 400 milligrams until you have a bowel movement, and then you can dial back and stick with that dose. But while you're doing that, you might want to figure out, why are you deficient in magnesium? Is your gut out of balance so you're not absorbing magnesium? Or maybe it isn't actually a magnesium issue, it's just causing that side effect that we desire, and you're actually in a really vata state. Or maybe you're dehydrated and there's like a little bit of water. Maybe you're drinking too much coffee and you're getting a rebound. Also, let's talk about sex hormones and constipation. Does anybody listening to this podcast, do any of you get constipated before your period happens? Because right here I do. And so that's progesterone. So your progesterone is its Highest right before you start bleeding, the bleeding happens and the progesterone crashes. So progesterone slows digestion. And it's really interesting and I was kind of thinking through the pathophysiology of how this happens. And so we know that progesterone, estrogen and estrogen are on a teeter totter. When one goes up, the other goes down. Estrogen and serotonin are also on a teeter totter. So when your progesterone goes up, your estrogen goes down, and that allows serotonin to go up. And serotonin, it moves peristalsis. And so when your progesterone goes down and your estrogen goes up, your serotonin can go down. So it's all about finding balances in these things. And that's why sometimes when people take an antidepressant, they get digestive issues and why some people on antidepressants have hormone issues and why some people who have hormone issues do better on antidepressants. Because all of these live in community and they all affect each other, which is why it's so good to get to the root cause instead of just playing a game of whack a mole and adding, now I'm on birth control. Now I'm on birth control. And Lexapro. Now I'm on birth control, Lexapro and Miralax, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So a couple of hacks for that is getting your hormones back on track. And depending on what's happening with your hormones, there are really cool botanicals like Vitex, which is chaste tree berry, is really good at hormone balancing, especially estrogen and progesterone. And so you might talk to your naturopathic doctor about if Vitex might be helpful. There are also really good herbs that are just like straight up laxative herbs because sometimes you just have to poop and the magnesium isn't kicking in and you've been on hormone support and you're eating triphala by the fistfuls and nothing is happening. And so I'm gonna share with you four herbs that I like to use in combination with these other things and fiber, of course, that are really good. So here's a hack. It's a tincture. And so you're gonna get four different types of herbs and you're gonna mix them and it's just gonna be equal parts of all the tinctures. So go online, buy the tinctures, mix them together, talk to your doctor first, of course, and it's gonna be arcticum, which is burdock, which grows here in Michigan, by the way. You can, like.

Yeah, it does.

And, like, pluck it up and eat it, the roots.

So fun.

It's so fun. And then taraxicum, which is dandelion, also grows here in Michigan. And then we have mentha and then rumet. So again, arcticum, taraxicum, mentha, and rumex. You're gonna do equal parts. You're gonna mix it all together in one tincture bottle. You're gonna shake it, and then you're gonna do three big squeezes in warm water with lemon, if you can do the lemon. And you're gonna have that twice a day. And then if that still doesn't work, then you're gonna increase it to three times a day, the next day, and then you're gonna slowly increase it. And then in the meantime, if this is, like, really obstinate constipation, go to your doctor and do the workup that we talked about at the beginning. But that herbal hack, like, that's my. My constipation traveling rescue remedy, and it works so well.

Yes. Oh, awesome. I'm glad that people are going to be able to come away with this with, you know, some very tangible advice.

Yes.

The other thing that I'll say, you mentioned fiber.

Fiber.

This is like. This is so good. And so sometimes people think, oh, I just need to eat more raw vegetables and more fiber. But sometimes that actually can just give you the gas and the bloating and make you more constipated. So I want to bring that into the conversation, too. So with vata, and in vata season in the fall, we want to eat more cooked foods. And so I'm not saying to eat less green because we always, you know, we need greens, but, like, steaming them or sauteing them or cooking them in some way can make them a lot easier to actually digest. It breaks down the cell walls so that you can actually absorb the minerals and the nutrients and everything without getting all of the gas and the bloating and the constipation that might come with that. I've had people tell me, I don't actually feel good when I eat salads. And I'm like, yes, that makes actual sense if you have a vata imbalance. So you can make. You can even make, like, a steamed salad. Literally just put the vegetables into a steamer basket or, you know, just saute it on the stove with a tiny bit of water, and it's lovely. Don't do Too much water because they get soggy and it's gross. But maybe just use the water that you like, wash it with, you know, there's like a little bit of water left on your vegetables or whatever, and put it in there. And then you can have like a steamed salad with like a nice, like, tahini, olive oil, lemon dressing or something.

Yum.

That is going to be so much more beneficial if you have vata constipation specifically. That's gonna be so much more beneficial than just trying to eat all the fiber and all of the vegetables and everything, because that can actually, if you have too much of that fiber and that specific kind of fiber, that can actually constipate you even more.

So if you have rabbit poops, fiber can be good for that. And so it's a really good differentiation because fiber and the same forms of fiber aren't going to have the same outcome from everybody. And so I really love that you differentiated that. So if you're in a real vata imbalance, then eating those raw fibrous veggies could make you feel worse. And you're like, it's backfiring. They said to eat, eat fiber. And now I feel even more like a gaseous, bloated Oompa Loompa. I don't know where that came from because they don't really look bloated to me.

It's more like the blueberry girl. The blueberry girl.

I'm a bloated blueberry. And so if you have more of the rabbit poops where it's. So fiber's a bulking agent. And so if you're not able to fully evacuate or if you feel like you poo but there's still more poo and it's not all coming out, then fiber might be helpful. And I like the powder, the psyllium husk powder. I find that really helps a lot. There's also homeopathic remedies that could be good for constipation, especially gut anxiety. Can I share a couple?

Yes, please do.

So if you have constipation that it's where you try to poo, but then it will peek out and then come back in.

Oh, yeah, Turtle.

Turtle head poop. Yep. There's a homeopathic remedy called silica that's really good for that. So you can get that online or you can get it at a health food store. Silica, 30C, two pellets each day can be really helpful if that's your particular form of constipation. There's another Remedy. It's called calc carb, Calcarium carbonicum. That's really good for, especially in kids, obstinate constipation, where when they finally do poo, it's like giant man sized poo. And so that's a really good one. And then there's another remedy that's really good for that too. Papaver. It's a little bit less easy to find, but that one's especially good if somebody just had surgery and they were given painkillers and they can't poo and they're super constipated from that. Papaver is just awesome. If you can't get your hands on papaver, then you might consider something like phosphorus. Phosphorus is really good after anesthesia and it's really good and it's a great constipation remedy. Typically, people who need phosphorus are going to have more sensitivity to noise and light and smells.

Oh, interesting. Which is. That's a lot of vata.

I love that. I've never gotten to study homeopathy with that like Venn diagram of Ayurveda over top of it. Yeah, I feel like that would be such a cool.

Oh yeah, for sure.

Wait, explore. So there's a little homeopathy in there. So we've talked about some yoga poses. We've talked about diet. We talked about behaviors and lifestyle kind of strategies. We talked about supplements. We talked about herbs, and we talked about homeopathic remedies.

And we talked about nervous system regulation practices.

And we talked about nervous system regulation practices. We talked about how to talk to your doctor about finding the root cause. And we talked about the psychological impact.

You guys. We talked about a lot.

I just counted, like, hopefully you came.

Away with something from that. This.

I came away with at least eight things.

Yeah. Yeah, I love it.

So what do you do for constipation, especially if you have gut anxiety and what works for you? We would love to hear about it. Send us your comments, send us your solutions because we are definitely open to learning more stuff and we'll share it with our audience.

And I mean, there, there are so many different types of constipation that, you know, sometimes one thing that works for one person will not work for another person, but it'll work for another. And so we would love, hear and share what you have found. Works for you.

May you have delightful poops, my friends.

Find your poo bliss.

Thanks, everyone.

The record, the recording you just listened to consists of the personal opinions of Dr. Nicole Cain, a naturopathic doctor with a master's in Clinical Psychology and Happy Healthy Hadley, an Ayurveda expert with a master's in health, behavior and health education. While these opinions are based upon literature, counseling education, medical training, and clinical experience, this content should not be viewed as the definitive opinion on these subjects. Listening to this podcast is not a substitute for any sort of medical, psychological.

Or other form of treatment.

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