He could be moving less and drinking less than you. He might have always had periodic constipation and you never knew because you weren't so involved in his daily habits. He may be on constipating medications that you are not taking. The only neurological conditions I know of that might effect his bowel function are diseases like Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis or the after effects of stroke.
He probably is not getting enough water. When it's to dried out, it's hard for it to come out. Ideally, it should be close to what comes out of a frozen yogart machine. Colace helps by drawing more water into the intestines which in term keeps the poop hydrated. What really helps is drinking enough water. If he doesn't have issues like intestinal blockages, a fiber supplement adding bulk would also help.
Is he taking opioide medications? They can cause constipation. I’m lucky, I’m normally the other way so the codeine brings me back to ‘normal’. Go for more water, and put some psyllium husks in his food to increase the fibre content easily.
If you click on ‘Care Topics’ at the top right hand side of the screen for this site, you will find an alphabetical list of topics. Scroll down to ‘constipation’ for more than you ever wanted to know about it!
Can we elaborate a bit more on this despite the redundancy of some info because i feel there is always a bit more i learn in these threads that helps. I have read that despite adding more fiber, that does not necessarily speed things up. What ends up happening is that because there is more fiber added, then more liquid needs to be added as well and who wants to keep chugging down liquid all day when you are an elder that hates having to deal with peeing? The addition of extra fiber only ends up making a mega huge wide stool that ends up drying out because it is simply too large to pass through the intestines and ends up bulking up and being huge by the time it gets down into the lower colon. The muscles and nerve endings in the rectum have been destroyed from constipation so there is no ability for the rectal muscles to push the stool through. THe stool becomes too large in width and volume and this is what causes it to be difficult to pass as well. I have read that stimulating with vitamin C or various types of magnesiums and getting electrolytes in balance ends up working well to move things along. I am still experimenting myself between the various magnesiums. THere is Magnesium glycinate, mag citrate, mag oxide, ozonated oxide, Mag hyrdoxide (Milk of Magnesia) the list goes one. .adding more fiber is not always a solution. It can also be muscle power that is weak so what is the answer for the frail and weak with disabilities? There is a web page somewhere that compiles lots of bowel movement resources for people with significant others that are disabled or quadraplegic in regards to bowel movements, I think it is the Christopher Reeves FOundation. If no one responds to this, i might repost as a new question myself.
If you click on ‘Care Topics’ at the top right hand side of the screen for this site, you will find an alphabetical list of topics. Scroll down to ‘constipation’ for more than you ever wanted to know about it!