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Incomplete bowel evacuation. What could be causing this? Advice?
In fall 2020, I started feeling constipated when I ignored the urge to have a bowel movement. I didn’t seek relief afterwards, and I didn’t do anything to try to relieve the constipation. Since then I’ve felt constipated, but I’m not sure if constipated is the right word because I’m going most days.
Most days I’ll have decent sized bowel movements, but when I go I feel like there is more stool in me, and like I’m not getting total relief when I go. I don’t know if constipation is the right word because it’s not like I’m not going, but when I go I feel like I’m not letting everything out, or like there is stool in me that is too hard to get out on my own.
It seems like I’ve gone through cycles with my bowels, like I’ll be constipated for a few days and don’t go much, and then I’ll be consistently going most days for maybe a week or two or more, and then I start feeling like there’s something /more stool in me that I need to get out but it’s either too hard to get out on my own or like it would hurt too much. Usually after I get that feeling, I won’t go for maybe a few days or so, and then I’ll slowly start getting back to going everyday, and the cycles repeated.
I saw a nurse practitioner spring last year, and she mentioned to try taking meta mucil everyday for a month and see if that helps, and if not then follow up with a GI doctor or someone like that. I didn’t take the meta mucil, but I’ve been hesitant to do that because I don’t know if it’d make how I’m feeling worse. I’ve been hesitant to try the meta mucil because I don’t know if it would cause me to feel like I need to go but nothing comes out. In the past I tried prune juice and maybe drinking a lot of water at once, and after I did that it was like it softened some of my stool, but like it didn’t completely solve the problem and I felt like there was stool that was maybe too hard for the prune juice to affect.
Does anyone have advice about this, or know what could possibly be causing this? I feel frustrated with this because I’ve let it go on and haven’t dealt with it, but also because I don’t know what’s wrong, and if somethings wrong. I don’t even know if constipation is the right word because I am going most days, but I feel like something else isn’t right.
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You've received some excellent advice regarding treating your feeling of incomplete evacuation of your bowels. There are a number of anatomical concerns that only a GI specialist would be able to help you identify. Since you did not give your gender or age, older women who have given birth can oftentimes develop severely decreased pelvic muscle function. This increases the risk for the bodies inability to "push" the stool out. Also, another member recommended Metamucil to bulk up the stool. Metamucil is a soluble fiber that absorbs water into the stool making it more slippery, and by doing that, makes it easier to pass through the colon and rectum. Of course, when adding fiber it is just as important to drink a lot of water throughout the day. Not drinking enough water when taking Metamucil can cause constipation as well. If this issue is interfering with your quality of life, then I would advise seeking professional advice.
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4 Reactions@gravity3 I would love to eat fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, etc. but with my GERD problem they make me suffer.
@hopeseeker22 psyllium fibre (taken with lots of water) and other fibrous foods are the only things that help me.
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3 ReactionsHave you seen a doctor?
..............have you had a colonoscopy?
@rashida
I'm sorry. Is it the same with a quality yogurt or kefir?
@rashida
Then I am ECSTATICALLY OVERJOYED, EUPHORIC, THRILLED and more that you have found - through no little effort I bet - an AID, HELP IF NOT CURE to diminish, mollify cruel and totally undeserved pain, if not torture. Would that this were the experience of all of us seeking the answer. So again, Rashi, ALL PRAISE to You. Don’t let a doctor try to change you mind, should that ever happen. It did to me. and dumped him after 3-4 visits. All good wishes to You! Be well! Tom
🪻🌸🌺🌷🌹🌺🪻🌷🌻
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1 Reaction@gravity3 no, I am fine with plain yogurt. Not with kefir though …
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2 Reactions@emilystewart30, that's a good try, but it doesn't work. You need to elevate your feet. Sit upright and toward the back as you were on a throne. 🙂
Don't hunch or lean forward.
Amazon sells squatty stools at all prices. But you can use a stool or a suitcase or anything you can put your feet on as long as you don't create a tripping hazard.
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4 Reactions@animallover25 I'm so glad you mentioned the brand I was going to recommend, Yerba Buena. It was rated the top pick by Consumer Lab so I thought I'd give it a try. It just has a nice clean taste and seems to do a good job of evening me out. No sugar, artificial sweeteners, or food colorings.
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1 Reaction@gravity3 another use for those huge old phone books !
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