I have have horrible C lately---with a huge bloated tummy and in such pain, so I understand what you're going through. It is painful and many times, other than swinging back and forth between laxatives and Immodium, there's not a lot you can do about it. I never take Immodium, no matter how much D I have, for this reason. It stops me up so bad!!! The only thing that helps me is drinking very warm (almost hot) water with a little lemon juice in it. If you can't gulp it, it's too hot. But you want it really warm. Drink this throughout the day. And stay away from bread, rice and potatoes because that will thicken things even worse (sorry to gross some of you out!) But sometimes I feel like I have MUD inside of me. It's in there---it just ain't going anywhere----and it's painful. I fully understand that feeling of your system being totally shut down. Sorry I'm not much help. I've tried eating all of my trigger foods too, thinking that will force things to get moving, and that usually makes matters worse. Sometimes a Diet Coke (my weakness!) will move things along for me. But I don't advise drinking caffeine on an empty stomach---or it may cramp your stomach up even worse and you will be bloated like a whale! Drinking a Diet Coke after a bowl of cereal in the morning helps me. (Sorry, Heather, but whatever works, works!!!) Hope you feel better soon. I wanna see you standing at the sink, drinking your very warm water. This grosses my family out, but it helps me so much, that I don't mind it at all.