Symptoms of constipation

It may seem strange that the concept of "constipation" is treated differently not only by patients, but also by doctors. And first of all it concerns such an indicator as the frequency of the stool. The frequency of the chair depends on many factors, including on the characteristics of nutrition, motor activity, human habits, the presence or absence of diseases.

It is generally believed that the normal stool frequency in an adult healthy person ranges from 3 times a day to 3 times a week.

With daily consumption of natural foods with sufficient dietary fiber and high motor activity, the stool can be 2-3 times a day, in fact according to the number of meals. On the other hand, with a relatively rare emptying of the intestine( 3 times a week, almost every other day), there can be no pronounced deviations in the health status of a particular person. In my practice, there was a unique case: during the whole of her conscious life, the patient had an emptying of the intestine once a week. At the same time, she considered this situation to be normal, felt healthy and never complained of intestinal work. She was hospitalized for chronic pancreatitis - inflammation of the pancreas.

Nevertheless, a chronic bowel movement delay of more than 48 hours should be considered constipation. Other major constipation symptoms of are:

difficulty in bowel evacuation with daily stool, which is manifested by strong stress( pronounced effort) during defecation;

sensation of incomplete emptying of the intestine, including during defecation several times a day. In these cases, the feces are usually dry, dense, in the form of dark lumps or balls( "sheep feces").

The manifestations of constipation may include a feeling of raspiraniya and abdominal pain, a feeling of relief after stool or gas leakage, increased gas formation and bloating.

Features of constipation in children

The peculiarity of the medical treatment of constipation in children is that the delay time of the stool is more strictly regulated - 36 hours. And the regular delay of stool in a child over 36 hours, accompanied by difficulty in emptying the bowels, feeling of incomplete release and the departure of a small amount of dense feces, pediatricians regard as constipation. It is commonly believed that constipation in children develops due to inconsistency in the work of individual systems of a growing organism.

One of the causes of constipation in shy children can be the conscious suppression of defecation in some circumstances, for example, at the beginning of a visit to a children's institution. In fact, no one has investigated this factor. But imagine: at first the child was accustomed to the dispatch of physiological needs under the same conditions, then he falls into other conditions, where he has to rebuild his behavior, adapt to new and compulsory conditions of existence. In adults, a similar form of stool delay is described by the term "traveler's constipation", which is also associated with a change in the human condition.

Constricting the child with a prolonged morning stay in bed, morning sorrow, lack of normal hygienic conditions, a sense of false shame( the child's upbringing involves the acquisition of hygiene skills).

Features of constipation in the elderly

Older people are more likely than others to complain about constipation. The most characteristic causes of constipation in this age group against the backdrop of a natural restructuring of the body are a sedentary lifestyle, a decrease in muscle tone, a small amount of consumed food and liquids, a lack of food for plant fibers, frequent use of drugs and abuse of laxatives.

Features postoperative period after

If you or your loved ones are to undergo a planned operation, you should take care of the normalization of the stool after surgery. The fact is that even a short bed rest in combination with the inevitable stress( waiting for surgery) contribute to stool retention;Postoperative constipation develops also in the event that the operation is performed not on the intestine. Therefore, the surgeon needs to clarify the nature and extent of the surgery, the estimated duration of the postoperative regime, to worry about the recommended foods and medicines beforehand( many surgeons recommend using laxative candles to ease the stool in the postoperative period).