How Constipation Develops

Nearly every man, woman, and child living in modern society today is constipated. Yes, constipated, whether they know it or not. Yes, constipated even though the bowels may move regularly every day. Yes, even people with chronic diarrhoea suffer from one form of constipation.

To understand such a statement, consider the meaning of the word “ constipate”. Its Latin root is “constipare”, which means to press together. So constipation is a condition in which one’s faeces are packed together.There are two types of constipation. One type is present when the faeces that pass from the body are overly packed together. Another type of constipation is present when old, hardened faeces stick to the walls of the colon and do not pass out with the regular bowel movements.

Both types of constipation are so common among the members of modern society today that scarcely anybody recognizes them as being unnatural. As we shall see, constipated bowel movements are generally looked upon as normal stools. And few people have any inkling as to how much old, hardened faeces are chronically present within their bodies.The ideal duration from the time we ingest food to the time we expel waste is 24hrs or less. This is known as the transit time.

HOW CONSTIPATION DEVELOPS

Let us consider the operation of the colon. The residues of digested food empty from the small intestines into the large intestines or colon in a liquid form called ‘chyme’. Muscular contractions along the tube of the colon, called peristalsis, move the contents of the colon towards the rectum. As this motion occurs, the walls of the colon are constantly at work both absorbing moisture out of the contents of the colon and absorbing waste material from the body into the colon. The longer material remains in the colon, the more moisture is absorbed from it, and the more dehydrated and pressed together it becomes.

During a bowel movement, large, powerful contractions called mass movements force the contents of the rectum and lower colon through the anus.The liquid matter out of which the faeces are formed may be either thin and watery in consistency or slimy in consistency. A slimy medium will be propelled by the muscular contractions in the colon at a slower rate than will a watery medium. A slimy medium therefore has a longer transit time through the colon. Because it remains in the colon longer, it will have more moisture absorbed from it and be more packed together.

As moisture is absorbed from a slimy medium in the colon, the medium becomes sticky. As the medium is further dehydrated, it becomes gluey and glues a coating of itself to the walls of the colon as it passes through. As layer after layer of gluey faeces piles up in the colon, they often form into a tough, rubbery, nearly black substance. Old faeces may build up in pockets and they may coat the entire length of the colon and small intestines as well. They do not pass from the body with ordinary bowel movements but require special techniques to dissolve the glue which binds them in the body.

MUCOID VERSUS NON-MUCOID STOOLS

The slimy nature of matter found in the colon is due to the presence of mucoid material in what would otherwise be a watery medium. A stool formed out of mucoid material is a mucoid stool. A stool formed without the presence of mucoid material the author terms a non-mucoid stool. Because non-mucoid material moves through the body quicker than mucoid material, the bowels tend to move two to three times per day when the intestines and colon are in a non-mucoid condition.

The total quantity of faeces per day is much greater than when mucoid stools are present because the faeces contain much more moisture and are correspondingly less packed together. Because the faeces are non-sticky, a non-mucoid stool passes out of the body very easily. The entire contents of a non-mucoid bowel movement usually seems to just drop out of the body within seconds after one sits on the toilet.

A healthy non-mucoid stool is neither runny nor mushy. The faeces are fully formed as they pass from the body, but, due to lack of any stickiness to hold them together, they may begin to crumble as they rest in undisturbed water. A non-mucoid stool will always break up into little pieces with a small amount of agitation, as when the toilet is flushed. Because of the long transit time of mucoid material through the body, bowel movements usually occur no more than once per day when mucoid stools are present.

A mucoid stool usually has the appearance of being formed out of lumps that have been pressed together. The more mucoid the stool the more sticky it will be, therefore requiring longer time and more straining to be passed from the body. A mucoid stool will at best only break into chunks when the toilet flushed. A borderline mucoid stool contains only a small amount of mucoid matter.

The bowels will usually move once or twice per day when borderline mucoid stools are present. Borderline mucoid stools never have the appearance of being formed out of segments or lumps pressed together. A borderline mucoid stool requires little or no straining to be passed from the body. It will break up partially but not completely when the toilet is flushed.

In order to judge the mucoid content of a bowel movement, the stools need to be well formed as they pass from the body. Mushy stools will always break up when the toilet is flushed, even though mucoid matter may be present, because they are not dehydrated enough for any possible mucoid matter to become sticky.

Now we can understand why nearly every member of modern society is constipated. The average person has never had a non-mucoid stool since he or she can remember and would think it strange if he or she did. Bowel function is widely considered satisfactory if there is one bowel movement per day that passes from the body within ten minutes.

Anytime it takes ten minutes to complete a bowel movement, you are constipated! The faeces are probably of a sticky mucoid nature and have left one more layer of residue inside the colon as they passed through. A bowel movement that takes several minutes to complete may also be due to the presence of much old faecal matter in the colon. This faecal matter can inhibit proper colon functioning and impede the through-passage of the fresh faeces.