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