What is constipation?

Because the pace of life is relatively fast now, coupled with great pressure at work, some young people always have irregular eating habits. They don’t have time to eat in the morning and always overeat at noon and in the evening, which makes defecation very difficult. Some people even forget the time of their last bowel movement. In fact, this symptom is a kind of constipation. What is constipation? Let’s take a look together!

Constipation is a symptom of many diseases, not a disease itself. Constipation means different things to different patients. Common symptoms are a significant decrease in the frequency of bowel movements, with bowel movements occurring every 2 to 3 days or longer, irregularly, with dry and hard feces, often accompanied by a feeling of difficulty in defecation.

Most constipation patients only experience difficulty in defecation, dry and hard stools, and only defecate once every few days or even a week. During defecation, there may be spasmodic pain and a feeling of falling in the left abdomen. Some patients complain of bitter taste in the mouth, loss of appetite, abdominal distension, discomfort in the lower abdomen, excessive flatus, or neurotic symptoms such as dizziness, headache, and fatigue, but they are generally not serious. In acute cases, constipation occurs in a short period of time without any special reason under the original regular bowel habits. Middle-aged and elderly people in particular should pay special attention to cancer of the rectum and colon. Those with severe abdominal pain, vomiting or bloody stools should consider constipation caused by acute intestinal obstruction. Generally, physical examinations can often touch spasmodic intestinal tubes or fecal masses in the descending colon or sigmoid colon, but they disappear after defecation. Those with intestinal obstruction often have abdominal distension, abdominal pain, intestinal pattern and intestinal peristaltic waves.

In stool examination, the shape of the stool and the presence of mucus or blood should be observed. Rectal constipation is characterized by large, hard stools. Since it is often accompanied by rectal inflammation and anal injury, the stool often has mucus and a small amount of blood. When middle-aged and elderly patients often have a small amount of blood, special attention should be paid to colorectal cancer. For patients with spastic colon constipation, the stool is hard and granular like sheep dung. Patients with irritable bowel syndrome often excrete a large amount of mucus, but there are very few red blood cells and white blood cells in the mucus.

Imaging tests

1. Rectal examination: Carefully observe for external hemorrhoids, anal fissures, anal fistulas and other lesions. When palpating, pay attention to the presence of internal hemorrhoids, spasm of the anal sphincter, whether the rectal wall is smooth, and whether there are ulcers or neoplasms.

2. X-ray barium enema examination and abdominal plain film: X-ray barium enema examination is very helpful in the diagnosis of colon and rectal tumors, colon stenosis or spasm, megacolon and other lesions. It can also provide a more comprehensive understanding of the motor function (peristalsis) of the colon. If multiple step-like fluid levels are found on the abdominal X-ray film, it will be of great help in the diagnosis of intestinal obstruction.

3. Colonoscopy: Colonoscopy is extremely helpful in diagnosing various colon lesions that cause constipation, such as colon and rectal cancer, intra-intestinal polyps and other organic intestinal stenosis. Combined with biopsy, a confirmed diagnosis can be obtained.

When constipation occurs, you must pay enough attention to it, because constipation brings many harms to the human body. Severe cases may cause other intestinal diseases. Therefore, you must develop good living habits in your daily life, eat more vegetables and fruits, eat more crude fiber foods, drink more water, and exercise appropriately. Exercise can effectively prevent constipation.