So, how quickly do stool softeners work?

[Bernadine]

And how...well? Like, will I need to be right next to a bathroom for several hours? I've never had to take them before, but they weren't joking about constipation after the egg retrieval. :confused:

[isabel]

I had some bad constipation when I was pregnant. Only time in my life. I think they took 24 hours to really kick in. No need to be right next to the toilet. They just allowed things to move.

[sparkythelawyer]

It can take a few hours. I don't think you'll have to park next to a toilet all day. Godspeed!

[spitforspat]

I took milk of magnesia recently and it worked in about 3 hours. No cramping or feeling like I NEEDED to go right then. Just glorious success.

[flex]

I took some early in my first pregnancy. Nothing happened for awhile. As "luck" would have it, I went camping in the woods that evening. Guess what happened? Yep, massive cramping and other such things. I was miserable. Away from home and a decent bathroom.

[Bernadine]

Sept 27, 2015 10:58:05 GMT -5 flex said:

I took some early in my first pregnancy. Nothing happened for awhile. As "luck" would have it, I went camping in the woods that evening. Guess what happened? Yep, massive cramping and other such things. I was miserable. Away from home and a decent bathroom.

Yikes!

[lemons]

It depends on what you took. H's go to was 2 parts prune juice to 1 part Sierra mist.

[sporky]

Plain old softeners will take a good day to really work their magic.

If you need something more... immediate... then I suggest latex gloves and Vaseline. Seriously, works like a charm.

[tellmesomethingood]

Look for stool softener so that have a laxative in them.

[cville]

Like colasce? Probably about 12-24 hours and it won't be like taking a laxative where all of a sudden you feel like you might die and can't stray from a bathroom for six hours. Like correctal, which was created by Satan.

[Aloe Vera]

These answers depress me. I drink almost an entire bottle of prune juice, eat dry prunes, take a stool softener and it takes a freaking week for me.

[whitemerlot]

They work slowly. I took them for a while after each kid was born. It just made me not constipated. I drank extra water with them too.

[balletofangels]

Under normal circumstances if I took it at bed I'd be going first thing in the morning. Now with narcotics it takes a few days to get things going and even then it is tough.