Constipation.

Between one incident and the next, I forget the details.

I've been severely constipated - blocked - since Sunday, so this is the fifth day. And I've been trying to figure out what I did to deserve this. I actually improved my diet, eating high-fiber raw vegetables, raisin bran, and potatoes, and almost entirely eliminated sugar.

One of the unfortunate effects of sugar is to make your digestive canal weak. This can be seen in people, usually elderly diabetics, who drool while eating, and/or easily choke on their food. It also affects the entire intestines, making them sluggish and too weak to properly push food along.

So, with the elimination of sugar, why should I be hit with this now?

Sunday and Monday I was not aware enough of what was happening, and ate as usual, so that by Monday evening I was rather sick. Tuesday, I slowed down on my eating, and gave myself an enema. (Yuck.) It was not very effective, but I figured that it would help, and took some caffeine to stimulate the bowel.

No better by Wednesday. I didn't eat all day, took aloe and chlorophyll, and used a Fleet. This had some effect, and I was hopeful, to the extent that I ate some salad and very small potato in the evening. But still not the desired result.

This morning the reason dawned on me - chocolate! I had been eating chocolate nearly every day, and stopped abruptly. Chocolate stimulates the bowel, and the bowel becomes dependent on stimulants! By Sunday, I was really stopped up. Actually, I don't know how long it had been going on, I hadn't had a reason to worry about it.

So today another Fleet, and I'm living on TSF. Truly Sugar Free is candy sweetened with maltitol. Very much maltitol causes diarrhea.

Crossing my fingers.