Chronic Constipation. To Live With It Or Not?

Chronic constipation.

What is the best constipation treatment and constipation medicine?

Constipation occurs in many people including Crohns patients in remission (not active stage of Crohns).

Americans spend millions of dollars on over the counter medications (laxatives) to relieve this problem.

What causes constipation? Constipation can have many causes. Causes of constipation can be sedentary life-style, underlying gastrointestinal disorders, inappropriate diet, stress or others.

There are many kinds of foods that cause constipation in adults and children. Foods that cause constipation can be potatoes, chocolate, white bread, pasta and many more. Overeating any food and not chewing food enough can also become constipation causes.

Chronic constipation is a problem for many people, not just for Crohns patients. A big problem is that many people don’t even know they have chronic constipation because traditional medicine says that constipation is defined as less than two or three bowel movements weekly. But according to more natural and holistic medicine you should really have at least one to two bowel movements daily if your digestive system is functioning well. I would recommend taking all possible steps to relieve constipation to anyone that has less than one bowel movement daily. Click here to learn more about constipation relief.

Chronic constipation. Many don’t even know that they are constipated. How do we find out?

Chronic constipation. How can you be sure that you don’t have it?

Symptoms of constipation are inability to move bowels, gas, stomach pain and even nausea and vomiting. It's important to recognize symptoms of constipation early because chronic constipation can lead to serious problems.

Many people are simply embarrassed to address this issue. So many patients are too shy to describe their bowel movements “stories” to their doctors. And many doctors are not eager to ask about their patients bowel movements. So how does normal stool look like? The Bristol Stool Scale is here:

There are seven types on this scale. Types 1 and 2 indicate constipation, with type 3 and type 4 being the normal or "ideal" stools especially type 4 because they are the easiest to pass, and type 5–7 being further tending towards diarrhea or urgency.

From ancient times it was known that normal bowel movements are signs of good health. Therefore, chronic constipation is a problem that can lead to health deterioration. Constipation should be treated as a serious gastrointestinal disorder. And I don’t think it’s being taken too seriously at this time. Thankfully, it’s treatable if you start taking all the appropriate steps.

There are many factors and illnesses including Crohn's disease that cause constipation. I would recommend to get your blood work done. Make sure you don’t have new onset thyroid problems. This could be a problem associated with constipation for many women and the elderly as well as Crohns patients.

Constipation Treatment:

• First thing that should be tried is a life-style change like walking more.
• Drinking more water(get in the habit of grabbing water in a bottle when you leave the house).
• Getting enough sleep.
• Do breathing exercises and medication.

Sometimes, it’s not simple to identify the cause of constipation and the life-style modifications are not enough. Then, the next step would be constipation medicine for chronic constipation.

You can find a whole isle of constipation medicine in your drug store. Most of them have similar ingridients.

First one is docusate sodium. It's a stool softener. The brand is Colace.

Then, there are numerous packageas of different brands of senna (Senokot) and bisacodyl (Dulcolax). Both of these are stimulant laxatives.

There are also enemas with saline laxative available like Fleet enema.

And there are glycerine suppositories available for mild constipation.

But if you're planning to get an over the counter laxative, please wait.

Buying a laxative in the pharmacy seems very simple to most people.

Are those laxatives very safe and non-habit forming? Many years Ex-Lax had phenolphthalein on the market. Those “chocolates” were so popular and lots of people loved the taste. Years later it’s off the marker for the suspicion of development of cancer. Now the brand of Ex-Lax uses another ingredient called senna. It’s promoted as a natural ingredient but this is a stimulant laxative and it causes its own side effects. The body gets used to stimulant laxatives very fast and then when you stop the stimulant laxative; it takes a long time to restore normal bowel movement. And you are back in the vicious cycle trying to get constipation relief.

Another good example to demonstrate my point is an over the counter laxative called Fleet Phospho-Soda. I was always concerned with this product because I personally had a very bad experience with it before my colonoscopy. It was used for years and only now the manufacturer voluntarily removed it from the market because of risk of kidney failure and association with severe dehydration in some patients. I don’t recommend using mineral oil unless it’s absolutely necessary because of the risk of inhaling it especially in children which can cause aspiration pneumonia.

I recently overheard that one mother was recommending mineral oil for constipation for constipation in toddlers. I do not suggest mineral oil for constipation for any age, especially this young. Mineral oil use by mouth is associated with aspirational pneumonia in childen. Not a good idea. Most holistic doctors recommend you to stay away from mineral oil even in skin care products.

Chronic constipation can be very painful and very uncomfortable and even harmful because the toxins get back into the digestive system. I am a strong believer in trying something natural first even though I am a pharmacist.

Consider taking a step-by-step natural and holistic approach to chronic constipation and this should help repair the whole digestive system. Click here for constipation relief.

Chronic Constipation - Constipation Treatment Naturally:

• Drink enough water (at least 2 liters of good quality, filtered, unfluorided, and great mineral content water).


• Your diet should include more fiber that is appropriate for you.


• Eat more salads, more vegetables and just enough fruits (limit the fruits because they have a lot of sugar, even fructose can precipitate constipation in constipation prone people).


• Add whole grain to your diet. The examples would be oatmeal, quinoa, and buckwheat (cooked for about 15 minutes).


• A lot of people benefit from flax seed oil and flax seeds added to salads.


• Fish oil, Krill oil can be helpful as anti-inflammatory natural supplements.


• Herbal teas like fennel, ginger, chamomile help digestion and prevent chronic constipation.


• Psyllium for chronic constipation is a great idea. It works for both constipation and diarrhea. It makes you regular working as a bulking agent.

I wish you well!




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