Anyone else have chronic constipation? What have your doctors said? Has anyone ever had it go away?

[Nay]

I've had chronic constipation for 6 or 7 years. It has been getting worse slowly. I have a gastroenterologist who's done all the required poking and prodding and testing. Several colonoscopies show I have a perfectly pink and healthy bowel with no obstructions, polyps, etc. An endoscopy showed that my esophagus had healed up fine from its reflux (I take Nexium). I was diagnosed with a "slow bowel," which is hereditary, it seems. As I age, it is assumed that my bowel gets slower and slower.

For a year I have taken Miralax as prescribed and it worked perfectly (3-4 nice soft BMs per day) until the day I had some sort of intestinal or stomach bug or food poisoning that gave me diarrhea. From that day on, the Miralax did nothing. What the hell?? I called the doc, who told me to keep taking the Miralax and also use senna tea twice a week to jumpstart everything. He said that if I started to need senna more than twice a week, I should come back in for an exam. So far the senna and/or the Miralax is working somewhat, but not as perfectly as the Miralax alone before the intestinal bug.

I'm interested in other people's experiences and what their doctors have suggested, especially any prescription meds that I may ask my doc about. I know about Amitriza -- they've told me about that one.

As a Type 2 diabetic, I know that I am more prone to constipation, although the constipation predated the diabetes.