too much salad for patient that cant walk !

[commonsence]

patient cant walk , she has bm's maybe once a week, her bm's are hudge,they wont come out easy,other times it's a very loose stool, she eats salad everyday, i be leave that's binding her up like a bunny,all the meds and warm prune juice and prunes and phillips  will not help,please tell this  cna to stop feeding her salad all the time and give her a real meal with carrots or brocilli or brussel sprouts,green beans,this has gone on long enough,this patient is a feed,she ends up having so much food in her that don't digest so she vomits it out every day, This is out of control,this CNA never orders the patient a hot meal,  and the salad bar is always right there or made up in advance for her,so it's QUICK QUICK !  this cna thinks salad everyday is the best thing for the patient,and does not see what is really happening,any advice .too much !!!!

[mammo]

There is such a thing as too much fiber and this may be the problem as too much is as bad as too little.  Talk to the doctor in charge and get some answers to your questions, there's a lot involved here and he/she is your best resource.

[CalGal]

Salad is considered to be a fiber product, and as such, should help this woman to go to the bathroom more frequently. Eating salad shouldn't result in any 'binding.' Other fiberous veggies should also ordinarily help this individual to have a bowel movement, too.

If this woman isn't moving her bowels very frequently, and did so in the past, it could be due in part to lack of activity which normally helps individuals. But if she's confined to a wheelchair, she's probably unable to be very active.

Something like a very large bowel movement that is only produced once a week could be due to taking pain meds, or other medication that causes slow intestinal motility. You didn't mention whether she is on medication(s).

Slow intestinal transport can and does occur in many individuals, and no simple explanation can can be found.

If this woman is eating salad, taking prunes and prune juice, and also ingesting medication to help with 'constipation,' I do not believe she is being 'bound up' by the salad.