Constipation – Symptoms

Transcript

So what are the symptoms of constipation? Well, the symptoms often depend on the cause. For instance, with irritable bowel syndrome leading to constipation, patients often complain of hard stools, straining, difficulty and passage of stools. They can have a combination of some of these symptoms and that can lead to bloating and distension, which is another hallmark of IBS or irritable bowel syndrome. Up to 50% of patients with constipation can also experience pelvic floor dysfunction. And this is where the muscles of the pelvic floor do not relax and are not coordinated appropriately in order to produce a good bowel movement. The cause is not exactly a hundred percent known, but we see this in scenarios where people have chronic straining or they have had multiple pregnancies, pelvic floor surgeries, some sort of traumatic type of delivery in which forceps are used. But these are a number of different types of causes that relate to pelvic floor dysfunction. Finally, a slow transit type of constipation can result in just hard and dry stools. This can be a result of just lack of fiber in the diet, lack of water or exercise. And certainly medicines can also do this and create hard dry stools, which is another symptom we see in constipation.