Impacted Bowel - Decoction & Smoothie

Whole Aloe Vera Leaves

Ok, so admittedly the subject matter of this particular entry may be a case of TMI for some, but I promise to keep it tasteful (hmmm, something about "impacted bowels" and "tasteful" appearing in the same sentence doesn't feel quite right...!).

Anyway, I'm someone who flies a number of times a year for work mainly. For longer flights, I've noticed that after the first trip - flying from home to the destination - I sometimes get constipation that doesn't really correct itself until after the return trip. Having experienced this a number of times, I've concluded that it must have something to do with the altitude and related pressure change during the flight affecting my lower GI tract. Going does something that returning undoes. I haven't researched this at all. It's entirely based on subjective observation over a number of years.

Well, the same thing happened on a trip to Japan. However, this time, the problem did not correct itself upon my return home, but persisted. After a week of no bowel movement (BM), I started to get a little concerned. Then two weeks passed with no significant BM. I continued to eat, but barely anything was coming out. Using my hands, I felt around my abdomen and could detect the mass. It was hard and quite extensive. I started to worry and couldn't help thinking about a favorite pet dog of mine who my mom had put to sleep due to advanced intestinal impaction. I did the twists and turns, bending this way and that to minimal avail. I even started seriously hesitating to eat anymore for fear that it would only continue to accumulate internally without exiting and ultimately causing serious problems.

So, I went to a doctor who gave me a couple of prescriptions. I bought them, but just put them in the medicine cabinet without taking a single dose. I decided to try to fix it naturally on my own first. I mean what's the point of being an "herbalist" if I couldn't treat a simple digestive issue? Then, if that didn't work out, I'd take the meds.

I mainly used fresh organic Aloe vera gel, which I obtained from plants in my yard. I combined that with a little yuzu juice and fruit flesh, honey, water and a couple of dropperfuls of rhubarb tincture that I had made from the root of a plant from the yard, and blended it all into a velvety smoothie, albeit a very bitter one. Well, let's just say that two doses later, it really seemed to put the movement in bowel movement! Mission accomplished! I had never been so happy to poop in my life. That was over half a year ago.

So, I'm having a similar problem again and decided to do something like before, but with a significant twist. Here are the ingredients:

Decocted Ingredients - dry

* Aloe vera gel x gel of one whole fresh large organic leaf. I scraped the gel out of  the leaf that I bought at a high-end supermarket.
* Gobo root (burdock - Arctium lappa) x 20g, harvested from the yard & dehydrated
* Rhubarb root (Rheum tanguticum) dried x 15g, also harvested from the yard
* Fig fruit x 3 frozen - harvested from the yard
* Sliced yuzu with peel on x 1 whole yuzu (harvested from the yard & freeze dried)
* Black garlic x 5 cloves - I made them myself, using store-bought fresh garlic

Ingredients - wet

* Fresh ginger x five 1/4-inch medallions - organic, store bought
* Fresh turmeric root x four 1/4-inch medallions - organic, store bought
* Honey x 1 tbsp
* 2.5 cups water

I put everything except the Aloe gel, ginger and turmeric into a pot. Let it come to a boil, then simmered it for 45 minutes with the lid on. After turning off the fire, I will let it come to room temp (it is cooling as I type this).

I will remove all spent solids, except for the fig and black garlic, which will be blended together with the liquid, aloe gel, ginger and turmeric. No, I do not expect the taste to put  a smile on my face.

I will drink one cup plus a bit more twice a day, morning and night. This batch should last about two days. At the time I started this, it'd been about a week since a normal BM and my little rabbit poops more than me. We shall see how it goes!

 ** UP DATE**

As before, after about a full 24 hours or so, the effects kicked in and the "evacuation" of my bowels began and continued for about 48 hours. My plan now is to pull back on the rhubarb ingredient, which is a strong laxative, and mostly focus on the soothing and reparative Aloe gel and fig, which are also more gentle laxatives. I suppose the ingredients list is kind of long. The active ingredients could possibly have been narrowed down significantly. However, what can I say? I like to mix things up. Not to mention, these other ingredients - black garlic, turmeric, ginger, yuzu, etc., are good to the body and also act in complementary ways with the main anti-constipation ingredients. PS: the flavor wasn't as bad as I had expected. The ginger was a bit strong, but that also likely helped mediate a lot of the bitterness from the aloe and roots.