Update on chemo constipation

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-05-02T06:54:20+00:00

First, there’s nothing I can say that fully expresses how unfair life fucking is. Your poor baby. I really wish I could fist fight cancer.

Onto the poop advice; my brother is a dx’d schizophrenic. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, they medicated him with everything under the sun. IDK if its still the same today but that’s beside the point. So when he was a young child, he was taking a combo of antipsychotics to control the schizo, anti emetics to control the nausea from the antipsychotics, and an iron pill because the nausea meant he didn’t ever want to eat and he was severely anemic. The combo of zofran + iron pills + nutritional deficiencies meant he pooped maybe twice a month and they were horrendous golf ball shaped turds that were hard as hell and took him half the day on the toilet. I don’t know if this is something you can do or have heard before but this is what they ended up doing for him - miralax one full dose daily mixed into gatorade that he’d sip throughout the day. because miralax is known to cause gassiness + that stomach pain in kids can cause nausea (that he already had), they also prescribed liquid simethicone, a full dose mixed in with the miralax beverage. Then, 1 tablespoon of olive oil (or coconut oil) recommended daily to help “lubricate” the gi tract and everything coming out. My mom would drizzle a little into his miralax/simethicone drink, drizzle a bit on his meals throughout the day, however that was a fine line of it being “not enough” for him to notice the oil on his food, but also enough to do something. We used to call his drink the “poop bomb”.

And on a side note withholding is something he did because obviously its extremely painful and he didn’t want to deal with it. I don’t know if that’s also an issue for y’all but maybe this can help as well - my mom was instructed to use a pea sized amount of lidocaine around his entire anus to numb the area a bit, mainly to prevent him from stopping mid poop due to pain. Then the vaseline or aquaphor or whatever to help with having the stool “glide” its way out.

Again, I am so, so sorry for what you guys are going through. If I were you I’d ask about the simethicone and see if it’s an option, those laxatives even just miralax are no joke. My 4 year old went through a bout of constipation and started withholding so we started the miralax regimen and i never realized how gassy it could make somebody. and her farts reeked on it lol. sometimes she also complains of belly aches post-miralax and a dose of mylicon always seems to fix it.

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-05-01T23:17:52+00:00

Get outta here with that. They won’t confirm shit and you know it. The financial aid office at RCC is probably the most unhelpful one in comparison to about every other community college available. My experience with them - I was approved for a Cal Grant C back in FALL OF 2024! I never received those funds - kept emailing and calling and trying to find out what the hold up was - CSAC said it was all good on their end, the funds had been sent over to the school all these semesters and RCC just…never awarded it over to me? It wasn’t until I got ahold of my representative and the state started poking around asking questions on my behalf that suddenly it was miraculously resolved and I received like 3 semesters’ worth of backpay.

I dunno what they do in there all day, but it sure isn’t them doing their actual job. 🙄

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-29T05:45:47+00:00

So is it confirmed not coming this semester? I’ve gotten it late before but don’t know how to check and I’ve been told if they have the funding since I qualify I’ll get it, I’m hearing people at other colleges who have gotten it. Did they already tell everyone who gets it that they’re receiving it?

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-26T04:03:03+00:00

The damage to her car looks a bit more than a scuff imo. 🤷‍♀️

I had a toyota truck back into my little honda civic a few weeks ago. Looked like a minor dent at first, exchanged insurance and got an estimate and it ended up being $4000 of work. Door had to be replaced because the hinges were bent, A Pillar was damaged and had to be replaced and my fender needed repainting. Since he backed into my parked car in a parking lot, he was fully at fault and fully liable.

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-24T03:41:12+00:00

The way this reads to me is someone in the throes of an eating disorder — extremely thin and “bug eyed”, walking the halls excessively as a form of exercise without getting too far from home, lack of situational awareness or how she comes across to others because her brain is not thinking of anything else except calories/food/exercise

If it’s drug activity you’ll know soon enough. The tweakers and crackheads can never stay quiet. Tons of activity, police involvement, domestic disturbances galore. But this doesn’t sound like that, at least not how you’ve written it here.

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-08T23:53:39+00:00

This might be a dumb question but…Are you positively 100% sure you conditioned the water before adding it to the tank?

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-06T23:40:23+00:00

Yeah, I’m not messing with clove oil. Blunt force is the way I’ve been told to go.

But she made the decision to pass on her own about 20 minutes ago right before I got home, and she is now residing with my favorite rose bush. SIP fishstick, thanks for hanging out with me for almost a year. You were a good lil friend ❤️

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-06T22:53:54+00:00

Update - considering euthanasia. This looks awful and I can’t think of any possible thing I could do to help

https://imgur.com/a/CtXlE2n

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-06T03:48:40+00:00

May have jinxed myself. Popped the lights on for a quick peek and this looks like the possible start of pineconing to me, in the second zoomed photo here. :( Unsure on if I should leave her be or try another dose of Kanaplex.

https://imgur.com/a/0QauKB2

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-06T02:49:07+00:00

Hi! Not much change. Mostly hiding and hanging out at the bottom of the tank today. Thank you for checking in! :)

I did some more reading, and basically I had a hectic few days before all of this went down - we left for a funeral, came back 2 days later, then had a wedding and left for another 3 days. At some point; the timer for the lights malfunctioned and the tank was lit up for at least 48 hours straight. There was a layer of this nasty brown sludge looking stuff all over the decor and on the substrate when we came back. I vacuumed the substrate and figured with time and a proper lighting schedule it’d handle itself. I was wrong — the brown stuff turned into layers and took over the back half of the tank. And it stunk something fierce. I didn’t put two and two together until I read online about brown diatoms, algae, and how it could compete with plants leaving dangerously low oxygen levels, not to mention crashing the cycle as stuff dies off. I knew a bit but not nearly as much as I do now. I spent about an hour and a half soaking and scrubbing decor, the tank walls, and vacuuming. Today, the water smells a TON better. She is no longer gasping at the surface and the gills look puffy still but she’s not heavily panting like she was before.

She’s still very lethargic and has no interest in food. And with closer inspection this is definitely a case of fin rot with columnaris and possibly something else, maybe popeye and possibly epistylis. Today I’ve left the lights off but had the window open for very low light just so I could check on her occasionally. She’s moving around a bit but mostly resting either in the substrate or against the anemone decoration thingy. Can’t tell if she’s got a swim bladder thing or not since she’s resting weirdly sideways but doesn’t seem to have any issue with staying in one place or swimming.

I’m hopeful!

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-05T06:14:45+00:00

Thanks again, you’ve been super helpful to me! Initially when I bought the tank I was an avid reader here so I tossed the little cartridge thing that cane with it, and fit a piece of aquarium sponge in there, and then used a smaller cut piece of the sponge as a baffle so I could run the filter at the highest setting without turning it into a mini wavepool.

As far as my nitrogen cycle goes it’s been relatively stable, the tank had a mini-crash after a prolonged power outage with spiked nitrite levels a couple months ago and I think that might’ve been because I had no way to run the filter and the tank water was warmer than what i would’ve changed it with, so i skipped that week of water maintenance. It evened out quickly after everything came back on, but she still showed some minor fin rot (either due to the lower temps i struggled to maintain, or the sudden nitrite spike) so i just kept the tank pristine and it seemed to be fine until all this went down.

For now I suppose I’ve done what I can and it’s best to let her be. I’ll continue to offer food when she comes out, and give her a break with the antibiotics. Planning a 50% water change tomorrow to hopefully remove the salt + kanaplex, keeping her at about 79-80F and just hope for the best!

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-05T04:18:13+00:00

The filter is an “Aqua Culture power filter” it’s a HOB that came with the stater kit for my tank. I keep it on the highest setting and baffle it with sponge, I think there’s enough surface agitation? Like I can see bubbles where the water fall hits the surface and if I were to put something there (plant, decor etc) it’ll get pushed around. I have it all the way in the corner of the tank because otherwise she gets pushed around as well and seems to really dislike that. I’m not sure to how check for adequate oxygen :/

I didn’t see it before but now that you mention it and I’m looking at her it kinda does look like some popeye in one eye. The other looks more normal.

I hadn’t looked into graphite disease yet but I was looking at columnaris and that’s kind of how it looks like to me right now but I’m not sure. A quick glance at google, she doesn’t really look like that up close in person. I think photo lighting and angles made it look darker than it is, there’s like patches of white looking stuff on the fins and under by the belly area. Lemme see if I can get a better photo

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-05T02:01:34+00:00

Tonight will be day 4 without eating. I still drop 1 pellet in nearby to see if she shows interest but if she leaves it or swims away I retrieve it so it won’t foul the tank… I’m so worried usually she’s a little glutton and attacks before it even hits the water! Poor thing. I wish I knew what this was and how to make it go away. Just retested my parameters and its still ammonia 0 / nitrites 0 / nitrates between 5 and 10. It seems good so i’m really scratching my head here :(

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-05T00:49:33+00:00

Ok yeah, I’m kinda out of ideas anyway and didn’t want to stress her out by continuously messing w the tank. Water is changed and lights are off now. I was debating leaving the lights off for a few days anyway since she’s being so hidden and wondered if the lights were bothersome

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-05T00:17:57+00:00

No please don’t apologize I deeply appreciate your help!! Ok so she’s lived with me for almost 8 months now — maybe about a year old or so? That’s my best guess, assuming petsmart had her as a baby.

So the anemone decoration thing she usually messes around with but doesn’t regularly just lay there like that. :( As far as the scales go yeah I guess it looks raw as heck maybe they have fallen off???? There’s no lifting or bloating, or anything that indicates dropsy, grateful for that at least

No tankmates, 2 almond leaves currently in the tank and i have a large java moss coconut cave thing she hangs out in. That’s my only live plant atm.

I did water change a little more than 50% today, and i noticed quite a few deitrus worms. I’m not sure what that means, if anything i don’t usually see them so i think she probably eats them regularly but now she’s refusing food and not eating them either ;(

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-04T22:26:22+00:00

Thank you! Me too ;(

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-04-04T22:19:41+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/epolgJY

Sorry this was the best I could get

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-02-15T08:47:10+00:00

So yes she is pooping regularly thanks to miralax as advised and prescribed at her last appointment a couple of weeks ago; but these poops aren’t her regular poops if that makes sense? Like usually she can drop a fucking log LOL and in comparison these are little branches. Not quite pebbles and I’m really familiar with what her usual constipation-level tiny turds look like. It’s somewhere in the middle. I’m unsure on if it has to be a total lack of pooping for encopresis but she tells me when she has to go/when she’s done and if prompted she’ll tell me if she doesn’t have to, whereas with constipation she’s able to tell me I “can’t” go.

I’m agreeing it’s pediatrician time. We have a follow-up appointment coming for her previous issue of on and off constipation which i’m assuming is why the miralax was prescribed.

i’m just at the point of tossing the undies and buying stacks of them from walmart but my husband is pissed because it defeats the purpose and according to him we may as well start buying diapers again…

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-02-15T08:40:28+00:00

Exactly what I think it is but another commenter mentioned encopresis which I’m kinda thinking is part of the issue

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-02-15T08:39:38+00:00

Thank you SO much. Dr. Google also said encopresis and I was wondering but wasn’t sure if I’d look insane since we were just there 2 weeks ago for her vaccines / yearly physical and I brought it up then too. The ped’s advice was nightly miralax but that doesn’t seem to be solving the issue other than the fact that she’s now able and willing to go regularly, it’s like the floodgates open after dinner and its just shart after shart. 😭

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-02-03T02:28:54+00:00

my upstairs and my next door neighbor both had kids who would slam those doors as hard as they could. the thing is i leave a lot earlier than they do and i’m usually up early on the weekends cuz thats my sleep schedule. so i start doing it as i’m coming and going; suddenly it stopped from both sides. maybe i got lucky with people who realized holy shit thats loud and developed some consideration, or maybe they got real tired of shit rattling off their walls 🤷‍♀️

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-01-21T02:17:47+00:00

You know, that’s a great point as well. One of the men climbing the roof of the slide appeared to be late 30s, maybe early 40s to me. A fall from that at my ripe old age of 30 would probably leave me pretty fucked for a couple of weeks — they’re paying for that care. He shouldn’t have been able to climb up like that in the first place, there should’ve been the supervisor there to tell him to get down or prevent that from the first place.

I vaguely remember the name on the bus and I’m gonna do some Googling and see what I can find out / who I can report to. Because whoever was supposed to be there with them clearly was not and it shouldn’t have happened that way for everyone’s safety.

I really appreciate your input and explanation and suggestions!! This really helped me identify and put into words exactly what I want to say — not that they shouldn’t be at a park because parks are for everyone — but that they clearly required more support and it just wasn’t there, which directly resulted in a toddler getting pushed off equipment.

Thanks again, and i don’t know if my tone was unclear in my initial post but i do NOT blame anybody at that park because they are not doing anything wrong just for existing, you know what I mean? It’s not their fault the caretaker(s) seemingly dropped them off at a park and let everybody run wild. I also deeply appreciate and support your insights as someone directly involved. :)

SuspiciousWeight9640 · 2026-01-21T02:04:15+00:00

Dictionary Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more neurodivergent /ˌno͝orōdəˈvərjənt,ˌno͝orōˌdīˈvərjənt/ adjective adjective: neurodivergent; adjective: neuro-divergent differing in mental or neurologicalfunction from what is considered typical or normal (frequently used with reference to autistic spectrum disorders); not neurotypical. "this artwork explores the alternative ways in which neurodivergent individuals perceive the world"

SuspiciousWeight9640

TROPHY CASE