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Problem with Chronic constipation
Digestive Health | Last Active: Jun 1 9:39am | Replies (182)Comment receiving replies
Get a gastroenterologist, get a Sitz study, Colonoscopy, X-ray and maybe a CT. Get labs, especially make sure your thyroid level is normal, find someone that looks at your t3 and t4, not just your TSH! I after 30 years have a good thyroid Dr and even though my thyroid levels are for the first time stable in 30 years my colonic inertia has not improved. Make sure your eating clean, no fast food and drinking plenty water and moving. Some people talk of Pelvic floor therapy and massage but that’s for people who have mild not severe constipation like some of us. It is also an easy income for some to make money off of desperate people. Sometimes there are no explanations if all test negative and your diet and fluids are pristine and your moving etc. If that is the case and you don’t have any medical or mechanical problems then they call what you have IBS-C. Meaning the Drs just can’t figure out “why” you have constipation and if that is the case and you have tried all over the counter med suggestions then the Dr can justify prescribing Linzess and there are a few others. If your insurance doesn’t cover ( it’s expensive)there are programs to enroll in. Read reviews and blogs and see what people who take it do to make it work. A Dr who never had constipation has no idea that some of us do everything right and still can’t go. I do have scar tissue in my gut that greatly decreases motility.I have managed to keep myself from having a totally blocked colon but it takes lots of work. I am 63 and I pray that God gives me the wisdom to manage my constipation as I get older. It’s hard now so I just don’t see me being able to stay on top of it as an 80 plus year old one day, but I have faith that God will provide for me as I rely on him for all things. I guess the anti God people will block me for voicing my love for God. Well, their bad! No man is a mountain, I know I’m not. Life can be tough and I’m thankful I have someone to rely on and not just myself. Don’t be afraid to seek help. Your health is important. How you take care of yourself now when you are young will effect you years to come.
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@bb03 I don't usually participate in this group, but there can be a couple of other issues I can think of that can contribute to constipation.
Most of us sit too much , and that contributes to tight hip flexor muscles which tends to pull the side of the pelvis forward. I know my pelvis can easily go out of alignment for this reason, and this causes some constriction of the GI tract in the abdomen and can contribute to constipation. There are also mesentaries that suspend the GI tract in the abdomen, and these can get tight or moved around. My physcial therapist has done myofascial release on me that stretch the cob web type fascia that permeates everywhere in the body and this has loosened up the transit through the GI tract. There can be a physical reason in addition to any dietary reason for constipation.
Another reason can be a spine issue. Trouble voiding the bladder and moving the bowels may be a sign of spinal stenosis or compression of nerves involved with the function. When a patient has spinal cord compression in the neck, symptoms can progress to incontinence, but the early warning signs are difficulty in performing the functions. I am a spine patient and have experienced problems emptying my bladder because of compression of the spinal cord. I had spine surgery that freed the spinal cord and this does not happen anymore. I'm not suggesting jumping into thinking there is a spine problem because someone has constipation, but if there are other spine related symptoms being questioned, constipation may tag along on that list.
Jennifer