Constipation – Symptoms, Causes & Treatment

In the last post, you have understood that what constipation is and how it differs from normal evacuation of bowels. How can we check if we are suffering from constipation, the following is the checklist:

Symptoms of Constipation

1. Irregular, delayed and incomplete evacuation.
2. Stools will often be rather dry, hard and in the form of lumps.
3. The colour will generally be dark with some mucous.
4. Some blood will be visible on the surface of the stools.  The smell will be foul and offensive.
5. There may be crampy, abdominal pains. One has to strain hard even to get this incomplete evacuation.
6. There is no sense of satisfaction or general feeling of lightness after the evacuation.
7. There may be a sense of heaviness and uncomfortable feeling in the abdomen almost all the time.
8. The tongue is generally coated, furred as it is called. Hunger will not be keen. Head-ache and dullness are common symptoms.  There may be dizziness. Sleep may not be sound.
9. Chronic indigestion, chronic constipation and chronic dysentery generally tend to go together.
10. Constipation and Diarrhoea keep alternating. A spell of constipation may be followed by a spell of diaarhoea and vice versa.

Causes of Constipation

1. Indigestion will lead to constipation because of the weakening effect on the entire digestive apparatus.
2. Suppression of the urge: The Rectum generally remains empty. As the stools enter the rectum, an urge arises to evacuate the bowels.  The urge should never be suppressed.  Toilet should be visited regularly at the appropriate time even if one does not have the urge.
3. Absence of roughage in diet is another important cause of constipation. Today, we tend to do away with natural foods like fruits and vegetables. Instead, we take a lot of refined and processed foods. Fibreless foods like white bread, biscuits, cakes or ice-cream do not move freely alongwith the digestive tract causing constipation.
4. Lack of physical exercise: Persons leading a sendentary life and doing white collar jobs fall easy prey to constipation. Without physical exercise, the intestines become sluggish and faeces do not move forward in the intestines.
5. Inadequate consumption of water and other fluids also results in hardening of stools and consequently leads to constipation.
6. Excessive use of strong tea and coffee, insufficient chewing, overeating and wrong combination of foods, irregular habits of eating and drinking may all contribute to constipation.
7. Hungerless eating and overeating.

Treatment of Constipation

1. Eat natural food.
2. Avoid fried foods and hot spices
3. Early to bed and early to rise
4. A glass of water before visiting toilet will be helpful
5. Give up smoking
6. Never ignore natural calls. When the stools enter the rectum, the urge to evacuate arises at once. If this urge is suppresed, the rectum gets habituated to lodging stools. The urge will become weaker and weaker and a stage will be reached when the rectum will compltely lose its sensitiveness and cease to react to the presence of stools.  There will be no urge even if the rectum is bulging with stools.
7. Many authorities think that the squatting position adopted by Indians help in making the evacuation both easy and quick. The thighs press against the abdomen. This provides additional pressure. If there is accummulation of gas in the colon, the squatting posture is more helpful in expelling the gas (KAGASANA).
8. Asanas like sarvangasana, halasana, paschmitonasana, padahastasana, bhujangasana, matsyasana, dhanurasana, yogamudrasana, shalabhasana, uddhyana Bandh and Nauli will be helpful.
9. If you do not have the urge, visit the toilet at the proper time, that is, early in the morning, after getting up from bed. While sitting at the toilet, try to feel that the stools are moving in the colon. Try to feel as though you are aware of this movement and that you are following i up the ascending colon, across the Transverse colon, down the descending colon, into the sigmoid colon and from there into the rectum. This kind of mental preparation helps, because the brain plays an important role in bowel movements. A good bowel movement is very much an exercises in mental concentration.
10. Do not use toilet paper for wiping your bottom. Use water, cooling of water is not only useful but also necessary. In fact, it is necessary to wash your private parts even after passing urine. Women may splash water, men should draw the foreskin back and wash the glans penis.
11. You may also apply a little oil such as coconut oil, or til oil with the help of the middle finger both in the outside and the inside of the anus before going to bed.
12. You can use enema as well.
13. Regular drinking of water is beneficial not only for constipation but also for cleaning the system, diluting the blood and washing out poisons. Water should not be taken alongwith meals as it dilutes the gastric juices essential for proper digestion. The best time for taking water is when the stomach is empty. Take plenty of water on an empty stomach; it will do you immense good. A glass or two of water immediately on getting up from bed after washing the mouth will be beneficial. Again it is good to take water about half an hour before each meal. This facilitate the secretion of digestive juices, including saliva. The mouth, the stomach, the pancrease, liver and the secretory glands lining the small intestine secrete roughly 8 to 9 litres of digestive juices in 24 hours. Water taken before the commencement of digestion will be helpful.
14. Bael fruit, peers, grapes, etc. are good for constipation. Guava, when eat with seeds, give roughage to the diet and helps in the normal evacuation of bowels. In the case of grapses, the combination of the properties of the cellulose, sugar and organic acid make them a laxative food. Grapes tone-up the stomach and intestines and relieve the most chronic constipation.
15. Hip bath is beneficial for constipation.
16. Fresh air, outdoor games, walking, swimming, gardening and exercises play an important role in strengthening and activating the muscles, thereby preventing constipation.
17. Fast one day in a week.

Reference:

1. Practical Nature Cure – K.Lakshmana Sarma
2. Yoga Daily Planner – Heart Care – Dr. Jayadev Yogendra
3. All you need to know about Heart Attacks – Dr. G.D.Thapar
4. Nature Cure for High Blood Pressure – Nature Cure & Yoga  Health Center, Lajpat Bhawan, New Delhi.
5. Pancha Tantra – Five Principles of Health – Dr. B. Venkat Rao
6. Constipation & Indigestion – L.Ramachandran (Son of Acharya Lakshman Sarma)
7. Healthy Living – A.P.Dewan