Dr.Sonali Gautam

M.D. (Medicine), D.N.B.(Gastroenterology)

Home Constipation

Constipation

Chronic constipation is infrequent bowel movements or difficult passage of stools that persists for several weeks or longer.

Constipation is generally described as having fewer than three bowel movements a week.

Symptoms

  • Signs and symptoms of chronic constipation include:
  • Passing fewer than three stools a week
  • Having lumpy or hard stools
  • Straining to have bowel movements
  • Feeling as though there’s a blockage in your rectum that prevents bowel movements
  • Feeling as though you can’t completely empty the stool from your rectum
  • Needing help to empty your rectum, such as using your hands to press on your abdomen and using a finger to remove stool from your rectum
Constipation may be considered chronic if you’ve experienced two or more of these symptoms for the last three months.

Causes

Constipation most commonly occurs when waste or stool moves too slowly through the digestive tract or cannot be eliminated effectively from the rectum, which may cause the stool to become hard and dry. Chronic constipation has many possible causes.

Blockages in the colon or rectum

Blockages in the colon or rectum may slow or stop stool movement. Causes include:
  • Anal fissure
  • Bowel obstruction
  • Colon cancer
  • Narrowing of the colon (bowel stricture)
  • Other abdominal cancer that presses on the colon
  • Rectal cancer
  • Rectum bulge through the back wall of the vagina (rectocele)

Problems with the nerves around the colon and rectum

Neurological problems can affect the nerves that cause muscles in the colon and rectum to contract and move stool through the intestines. Causes include:
  • Autonomic neuropathy
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Spinal cord injury
  • Stroke

Difficulty with the muscles involved in the elimination

    • Problems with the pelvic muscles involved in having a bowel movement may cause chronic constipation. These problems may include:
 
  • Inability to relax the pelvic muscles to allow for a bowel movement (anismus)
  • Pelvic muscles don’t coordinate relaxation and contraction correctly (dyssynergia)
  • Weakened pelvic muscles

Conditions that affect hormones in the body

Hormones help balance fluids in your body. Diseases and conditions that upset the balance of hormones may lead to constipation, including:
  • Diabetes
  • Overactive parathyroid gland (hyperparathyroidism)
  • Pregnancy
  • Underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)

Conditions that affect hormones in the body

Hormones help balance fluids in your body. Diseases and conditions that upset the balance of hormones may lead to constipation, including:
  • Diabetes
  • Overactive parathyroid gland (hyperparathyroidism)
  • Pregnancy
  • Underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)

Treatments

  • High Fiber Diet
  • Addequate water intake
  • Daily Excercise
  • Laxatives
Consult your doctor if the above measures doesn’t help you in reliving your constipation as you may need further evaluation.

Risk factors

  • Factors that may increase your risk of chronic constipation include:
  • Being an older adult
  • Being a woman
  • Being dehydrated
  • Eating a diet that’s low in fiber
  • Getting little or no physical activity
  • Taking certain medications, including sedatives, narcotics, some antidepressants or medications to lower blood pressure
  • Having a mental health condition such as depression or an eating disorder