Constipation is the worst symptom of PD for me. It is the symptom that stops me from doing more things than all the other symptoms put together. It is common for me to go 5 days without defecating. And for me to be stuck on the toilet for over 12 hours.

I've tried all the things mentioned in the article without any significant improvement. Indeed, although eating more fibre is usually recommended, I find that eating too much creates its own problems: the sheer size of the faeces makes defecating difficult.

The only things that work for me are:
- Macrogol / Movicol;
- enema

There seems to be some interplay between the constipation and the underlying Parkinson's. As the article explains the PD slows the passage of faeces, which, in turn, slows the digestion of my meds, making my PD worse and further slowing down the passage of faeces. The faces contains pathogens which the body wants to expel, so having them stuck in the body is not a good idea.

Even if one manages constipation as a chronic condition, one still needs to deal with the time when you are blocked up, feeling an incredible need to defecate, but unable to do so.

When in this situation I drink 500ml of orange juice and 500ml of water containing two sachets of Movicol every hour. But it can take 4 hours or more of this regime and much straining to "go".

I'll be grateful to hear of other people's experiences.

John