Hi Dr Bernard here. You might know me from the channel Chubbyemu this is heme review which
is my second channel this is a different video different title different thumbnail more in-depth
topic i recently described a man who took too much fiber supplement and it blocked his colon this is
actually not as uncommon as people think because based on how that particular fiber supplement
works it could cause a variety of problems psyllium husk is a natural product derived from
plants it's known as a bulk laxative which means that it absorbs water into the colon in order
to move things along the way that it does this is that it lowers surface tension to allow that water
to enter into the intestines in general you want dietary fiber whether it's from fruits vegetables
grains or psyllium husk fiber supplement because it helps retain water in the stool which in turn
reduces transit time in the intestines to help things move along there's some hot takes
from my favorite place on the internet where people say that because fiber is indigestible
why would anyone want to take it think of your gastrointestinal tract like a big city highway
keep it moving no one likes it when things get backed up your intestines are designed to pull
nutrients and water out of the food that you've eaten having fiber hold on to water into the stool
lubricates the intestines and to a degree prevents those intestines from pulling out too much water
if the stool becomes dehydrated and hard then it's more difficult to move things along if something
gets blocked things will continue to pile on inside if it's really hard then it'll stretch
the walls of the intestines which could induce the stretch reflex because your whole gi tract is the
line of muscle but when that stretch happens and a solid is in place that can't be moved the flow
of blood to the gastrointestinal muscles will start to get cut off and then cause some of
the tissue to necros then the walls become weak because they're not alive and it can cause ster
coral perforation stir coral referring to feces as all that starts to leak into the abdomen causing
peritonitis and here's the thing about psyllium husk fiber well it helps keep water in the stool
to keep things moving along in the intestines if you don't mix it with enough water you can
expect that your gut has enough water in it so it becomes kind of like a jelly like consistency if
you mix even more powder thinking that the more fiber the better then it becomes thick and sticky
to the point where anyone would be surprised that it wouldn't block the stomach or the intestines
here i've mixed about a pound of psyllium husk fiber supplement in two liters of water look at
how quickly it absorbs the water on contact but after some mixing it quickly becomes a clay-like
consistency as it starts to absorb more and more water it starts to become like a jelly consistency
and if you have water on your hands like how the walls of your intestines would have some moisture
you'll see that the psyllium block becomes kind of slippery although the more i rub into it the
stickier it becomes as it starts to absorb that water on my hands if you add more water
to psyllium after it is congealed you'll notice that it roughly maintains the same shape and just
continues to absorb even more water if you try to squeeze it it's not easy to break up actually
it's really difficult to even cut it up so once it's formed it becomes hard to break up adding
more water causes it to expand even more all of this meaning that if anyone who takes psyllium
without mixing it with enough water at first they can cause some trouble for their stomach
and their intestines in some cases people might mix it with some water and drink it while it's
still a slushy like consistency because it does take a minute or two for it to absorb water this
only means that it can become like a jelly in the stomach and then further harden as it keeps going
down into the intestines and then it can cause blockage leading to an impaction this happens
maybe more often than we think because psyllium is made from plants the mass that gathers in the
stomach is called a phytobazor phyto referring to plants and bazaar from an old persian word meaning
antidote but now referring to a partially digested or undigested mass that's spawned in the stomach
other kinds of bazaars are trichobazors which we know as hairballs lactobazor which is a
mass of milk proteins and pharmacobizarre which is made of medicines and excipients
psyllium husk as a supplement is generally regarded as safe follow what it says on the
label though because it definitely mentions mixing it with enough water when you do mix it properly
with the right amounts of water you'll notice that it does become a little bit more viscous but if
mixed well it doesn't settle at the bottom some people prefer the unflavored variants
or here in the us we have the metamucil-like orange flavor type of cilium and some trials
have suggested that it does have some health benefits like lowering cholesterol levels in
people who have high blood cholesterol as well as possibly helping with inflammatory bowel disease
by maybe helping with the gut microbiome that's the bacteria that live inside of your gi tract
also some fiber has been noted to help with blood sugar control so it could be helpful
in diabetes remember you have to be careful with all of this because like with anything
taking too much of it and in this case taking it the wrong way can one be very painful if it blocks
something in your stomach and your intestines i can speak from personal experience to that
and two remember that this is a product that comes from plants so some people though it's rare can be
allergic to psyllium and have a life-threatening reaction to it that's also been described in
literature so please be careful with your psyllium husk fiber i'm speaking from personal experience
it is very painful if something gets blocked and it's very frustrating because it takes a long time
for anything to actually start to move through again thank you so much for watching
check out the main chubby emu video about a student who drank two liters of psyllium
husk fiber supplement link in the description below or if you'd like to listen to a case of
fecal impaction that happened in a grandma with dementia check out the audio version of
this podcast also linked in the description below take care of yourself and be well