According to the American Family Physician website, constipation affects as many as 26 percent of elderly men and 34 percent of elderly women and is a problem that has been related to diminished perception of quality of life.

Before treating constipation, its causes should be known. Sometimes cancers or other tumors in the intestinal wall or outside it, or adhesions, strictures, or displacements of the bowel, bring on constipation because of partial obstruction. To detect such conditions requires medical training. The bowel itself may not be at fault; but improper action of the liver, gallbladder, or endocrine glands may result in sluggish intestinal action. Reflexes from a diseased rectum may affect the bowel higher up. All such conditions require careful study by a physician.

A common cause of constipation is insufficient bulk in the diet. When a person eats milk, cream, butter, eggs, flesh food, refined cereals, and starchy vegetables, nearly all his food is digested and absorbed, leaving little residue; but if he eats freely of fruits and green vegetables, a large residue of cellulose remains undigested and unabsorbed, which helps make the bowels act normally.

The mild acids in fruits stimulate the production of digestive juices. They also induce an antiseptic action in the digestive tract and greatly assist in reducing fermentation. They stimulate the bowels to force the food onward and downward, and are nature’s wholesome laxatives.

Neglect to answer the call of nature is a common cause of constipation. Normally, when fecal mass comes in contact to the mucous membrane lining the rectum, a message signalling need for evacuation is sent over the nerves to the brain. Habitual failure to give heed to such messages end in obstinate constipation. Among school children, and some who work in offices or other public places, the call to evacuation is frequently put off. Constipation due to emotional or nervous tension is also common.

In the absence of the natural call to evacuate the bowels, it is important to go to the bathroom at a regular, definite time anyway and to attempt a bowel movement. The best time is within an hour after breakfast. The taking of food into an empty stomach constitutes a powerful stimulant to peristaltic action, and the peristalsis which begins in the stomach spreads downward through the digestive tract. After eating, therefore, is the rational time for an effort at evacuation.

Fecal matter is collected slowly in the descending colon as it is delivered to that portion of the bowel by the upper portions. The lower part of the descending colon lies against the psoas muscle, which contracts at each step one takes in walking or running. The action of this muscle, therefore, is stimulating to the bowel, especially when it is full. Exercise that brings the muscle into activity, therefore, is a useful part of the treatment for constipation.

If their bowels do not move exactly as they think they should, many people resort to cathartics. Some take a cathartic every ten days or two weeks, whether they are constipated or not. Many cathartics act by irritating the bowel. Repeated irritations sets up inflammation in the intestinal walls and causes them to contract so firmly that the fecal mass has difficulty in passing. Hence what many people consider an effective treatment for constipation may only make the condition worse.

The enema habit is also bad. Enemas wash away normal intestinal secretions and irritate the bowel. Plain water is a bowel irritant. Whenever an enema must be taken to clean out the large bowel, a heaping teaspoonful of common salt should be added to each quart of water used.

Symptoms of constipation include, besides inability to evacuate, a feeling of fullness in the lower abdomen, a sensation of dullness, or even moderate pain in the head. Many people think these symptoms are caused by poisons formed in their bowels and absorbed into their blood, but such symptoms seldom result from poisons. They are caused by irritated mucous membranes and body reflexes from nerve endings in the intestinal tract.

In many cases of chronic constipation there is a spastic condition of the sigmoid part of the descending colon on the left side of the abdomen, with a dilated and inactive condition of the ascending colon on the right side. In some cases a larger portion of the colon is spastic. This condition can be usually diagnosed with X-ray studies. Because the spasticity may be made worse by irritation, it may be well for a time to puree fruits and vegetables so they will be free from coarse fiber and roughage. It may be inadvisable to take bran, so often recommended as remedy for constipation. Later, when regular bowel actions have been re-established, such precautions will be less important.

Massage may be of value if properly given. It should be firm, deep kneading, not merely rubbing the skin. It should begin low down on the right side, move slowly upward with a combined rolling and kneading motion to the lower margins of the ribs, then horizontally across the abdomen to the left side, and finally down the left side of the abdomen as far as possible.

WHAT TO DO

1. Try to learn the type of cause of your case of constipation. You may need the services of a physician in doing so. If he finds that surgery or other special treatment is needed to remove the cause, this should be arranged. The treatment program suggested below would be useless in certain cases, and it might cause dangerous delay in correcting conditions that should not be neglected. The following is intended for use in cases where no tumors or organic defects complicate the situation.

2. Eat an abundance of fruit and vegetables, fresh and cooked.

3. Drink at least eight glasses of fluid – chiefly water and fruit juices – everyday.

4. Go to the toilet regularly every day – preferably soon after breakfast – whether you feel the need or not. Also go immediately whenever you feel the urge.

5. If not able to have bowel movement otherwise, take a saline enema at the end of a regular stool visit, but not oftener than once in three days

6. Three times a day, take two tablespoonfuls of powdered brewer’s yeast stirred into a glass of tomato juice or buttermilk. (This usually will not have to be continued more than a week).

7. If possible, take half an hour or more of outdoor exercise daily, including running or walking.

This information was compiled from the Modern Medical Guide and Life Ledger – the peace of mind and guidance you need.