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Suggest Treatment For Constipation And Lack Of Bowel Movement For One Week

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Posted on Fri, 4 Sep 2015
Question: what should you do if you haven't pooped in a week?
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Answered by Dr. Shafi Ullah Khan (1 hour later)
Brief Answer:
Need manual evacuation + Transrectal enemas followed by management

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for asking

I read your question and i understand your concern. Not passing feces for a week and more may be a medical emergency and may need a manual evacuation of impacted stools followed by a detailed work up trying to find a cause like obstruction or functional causes by work up like colonic transit studies, defecography and manometry etc. But before all that one needs a manual evacuation with transrectal enemas.

The key to treating constipation is mostly correction of dietary deficiencies, which generally involves increasing intake of fiber and fluid and decreasing the use of constipating agents (eg, milk products, coffee, tea, alcohol).

Medications to treat constipation include the following:

Bulk-forming agents (fibers; eg, psyllium): arguably the best and least expensive medication for long-term treatment
Emollient stool softeners (eg, docusate): Best used for short-term prophylaxis (eg, postoperative)
Rapidly acting lubricants (eg, mineral oil): Used for acute or subacute management of constipation
Prokinetics (eg, tegaserod): Proposed for use with severe constipation-predominant symptoms
Stimulant laxatives (eg, senna): Over-the-counter agents commonly but inappropriately used for long-term treatment of constipation.

Apart from it training your pelvic floor muscles using a biofeed back and using a catheter to measure the pressure and tone inside the rectum. Pelvic floor exercises help evacuating the bowel easily. Use of sound or light will be used to tell you when the muscle is relaxed and when it is contracted. It will help you how to control the bowel movements.

Last but not the least options are invasive like sacral nerve stimulation or if need be resection of the colon if no movement there but it rarely comes to that.

Talk to your gastroenterologist and let them help you in this regard.

I hope it helps. Take good care of yourself and dont forget to close the discussion please.

Regards
Khan

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
Answered by
Dr.
Dr. Shafi Ullah Khan

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2012

Answered : 3613 Questions

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Suggest Treatment For Constipation And Lack Of Bowel Movement For One Week

Brief Answer: Need manual evacuation + Transrectal enemas followed by management Detailed Answer: Thank you for asking I read your question and i understand your concern. Not passing feces for a week and more may be a medical emergency and may need a manual evacuation of impacted stools followed by a detailed work up trying to find a cause like obstruction or functional causes by work up like colonic transit studies, defecography and manometry etc. But before all that one needs a manual evacuation with transrectal enemas. The key to treating constipation is mostly correction of dietary deficiencies, which generally involves increasing intake of fiber and fluid and decreasing the use of constipating agents (eg, milk products, coffee, tea, alcohol). Medications to treat constipation include the following: Bulk-forming agents (fibers; eg, psyllium): arguably the best and least expensive medication for long-term treatment Emollient stool softeners (eg, docusate): Best used for short-term prophylaxis (eg, postoperative) Rapidly acting lubricants (eg, mineral oil): Used for acute or subacute management of constipation Prokinetics (eg, tegaserod): Proposed for use with severe constipation-predominant symptoms Stimulant laxatives (eg, senna): Over-the-counter agents commonly but inappropriately used for long-term treatment of constipation. Apart from it training your pelvic floor muscles using a biofeed back and using a catheter to measure the pressure and tone inside the rectum. Pelvic floor exercises help evacuating the bowel easily. Use of sound or light will be used to tell you when the muscle is relaxed and when it is contracted. It will help you how to control the bowel movements. Last but not the least options are invasive like sacral nerve stimulation or if need be resection of the colon if no movement there but it rarely comes to that. Talk to your gastroenterologist and let them help you in this regard. I hope it helps. Take good care of yourself and dont forget to close the discussion please. Regards Khan