In the post yesterday, arrived the prescription I had been waiting for after the visit from the nurse. She had spoken to my GP and just as all my prescriptions he had sent it onto me so that Adam could take it to the chemist. I have to say that I am not surprised by what I have discovered.

As my MS has stopped my gut working by itself and my bowels now only empty when I eat, forming a force through system, they want me to take laxatives in small doses so that an artificial system is set up and will mimics normality. The nurse and I talked through the options and no matter what I suggested she was insistent that the first thing we should try was a drink that was made up from sachets with water. She promised me that it was nothing like the really nasty Fibro-gel I had tried years ago, firstly because adding fiber isn’t what is needed and secondly she said she didn’t know anyone who managed to keep taking it because it is so vial. I had on one other occasion years ago been given a huge amount of a laxative liquid to drink which was intended to clear my entire digestive system. I never managed to drink the entire pitcher and lied about having put most of it down the drain.

Yesterday evening I opened the first sachet, it didn’t smell of anything so step one was passed ok. The packet said it needed to be mixed with 125ml of water, pouring that amount into the glass started to worry me as I realised that if I needed to take the max I had already been prescribed I would need to drink just a little more than 1 1/2 mugs per day of this stuff. Not sure about that point but lets move on for now. I mixed it up as described and smelt it again, so far so good. I decided to miss the take a sip step as the past has always told me this is a bad idea with medicines, and I took a big fast gulp. Not fast enough. Remember the Fibro-gel I mentioned, it isn’t anything like that but it is equally horrid in a totally different manner.

There are 4 liquids that I drink voluntarily each day. They are strong black coffee, caffeine free diet coke, gin and tonic. This morning I have tried it mixed with coke, I could drink it but I have a feeling I would find reasons not to in time. The slightly salty taste tells me without trying that coffee just wouldn’t work for me, but what I have learned from that experiment is that sweetness isn’t the answer, I think I am going to ask Adam to buy me some lemon juice as I am guessing but I think it will cover the taste, or I could just try pure Gin 🙂