Constipation is a very common clinical symptom, and with the continuous improvement of people’s daily life, the incidence of constipation is also on the rise year by year. Many patients blindly take various solvents and laxatives, which often cause dependence on drugs and can further damage the intestinal plexus, and what’s more, a considerable number of non-specialist doctors also know little about constipation and can easily give patients wrong treatment suggestions. Therefore, the anorectal specialist hospital, anorectal specialist doctors, it is necessary to promote and popularize the knowledge of constipation prevention and treatment through a variety of forms, so that people will understand and recognize constipation, so as to take effective preventive measures and appropriate treatment methods, reduce the incidence of constipation, reduce the impact of constipation on people’s daily lives and work, and reduce the health hazards of constipation on people.
“It is considered as a local symptom caused by the imbalance of yin and yang, internal organs, qi and blood, and emotion in the human body, which causes the feces to stay between the intestines and make elimination difficult.
Modern medicine believes that constipation is a complex symptom caused by the pathological process of a variety of diseases, related to gender, age, diet, occupation, genetics, education, family income, geographical distribution, region, as well as race, personality and other factors. Although constipation is not an independent condition, it hides a very complex etiology behind it, and has become an important medical and social problem affecting people’s physical and mental health in today’s gradually improving living standards.
According to domestic and foreign literature, the incidence of constipation is 2%-3.7%, and according to this rate, there are at least 24-40 million people suffering from constipation in China. According to clinical observation, in our Shenzhen city, due to the fast pace of life and work, people’s psychological pressure, constipation is already a common disease, multi-morbidity, especially in the “white-collar class” the incidence is alarmingly high. Constipation has caused great harm to people’s bodies, has a serious impact on people’s daily lives and work.
So constipation in the end what harm to the human body? In summary, there are mainly the following aspects.
1, causing gastrointestinal disorders
Constipation due to defecation difficulties, dry stool, can directly cause and aggravate anorectal diseases, such as proctitis, anal fissure, hemorrhoids, etc., and these diseases in turn can cause and aggravate constipation, once the formation of such a vicious circle, feces in the rectum for a long time, excessive absorption of harmful substances can cause gastrointestinal nerve disorders and lead to loss of appetite, abdominal distension, belching, bad breath, anal exhaust more Phenomenon.
2, induce cardiovascular disease
Clinical work found that constipation can induce the onset of cardiovascular disease, and even sudden death. Current medical research shows that constipation induced by cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, there is a trend of increasing year by year.
3, the impact on brain function
Long-term constipation can affect the function of the brain, metabolites stay in the intestine for a long time, the role of bacteria produce a large number of harmful substances, such as methane, phenol ammonia, etc.. These substances diffuse the central nervous system, interfering with the function of the colon, mainly in the form of memory loss, distraction, slow thinking, etc.
4.Constipation and colon cancer are closely related
Clinical research found that the incidence of colon cancer in constipated patients is more than four times that of normal people, because constipation makes excrement stay in the colon for a long time, and carcinogenic substances in feces act on the colon for a long time.
5, constipation and Alzheimer’s disease is closely related
A study found that 30-40% of Alzheimer’s disease patients in their young age, suffering from stubborn constipation.
These are the main hazards of constipation to the human body, as for constipation patients in the process of defecation caused by physical and mental pain, etc. is not negligible.
When it comes to constipation, it can be said that everyone knows what is going on, but often everyone’s understanding is different. Therefore, it is necessary to give a medical definition of constipation. First of all, let’s be clear that constipation is not an independent disease. Rather, it is a symptom of many diseases. It generally refers to irregular, infrequent, difficult, uncomfortable or painful bowel movements. Due to the different diseases that cause constipation, there can be different clinical symptoms. A correct understanding of constipation can help to reduce the patient’s mental burden and also facilitate the treatment of constipation.
Normal people have different defecation habits, most people defecate between 3 times a day to 1 time in 3 days, the excreted stool should be soft and long, such as grainy, can be coiled more than 2-3 circles, stool disease refers to the process of defecation is not smooth, including the following three aspects.
1, the stool is too little too hard, difficult to expel.
2, defecation difficulties, accompanied by some specific symptoms, such as prolonged straining to defecate, rectal anal swelling, the sense of incomplete stool or the need to use manipulation to help.
3.Fewer than 2-3 bowel movements in 7 days.
Causes of constipation include the following.
Poor diet and bowel habits; mental factors; endocrine disorders, medical factors; extracolorectal lesions; functional colorectal diseases; organic lesions of the rectum. Although there are many causes, the common ones and the ones that each of us can correct are mainly bad dietary and bowel habits. For example: in terms of the structure of people’s diet, containing less and less fiber is a common reason. Low exercise is also one of the factors. There are also artificial suppression of bowel movement, such as busy work, children playful, when there is a bowel movement, not to relieve the bowel movement but to hold back, and then go after the bowel movement has passed, it may be difficult to discharge. For example, some people are accustomed to reading books and newspapers while relieving their bowels, resulting in inattention and easy disappearance of bowel movements. Often stay up late, irregular life, etc. can cause constipation.
Once constipation occurs, it should be actively corrected and treated. We suggest that many constipation problems can be solved by first regulating diet and developing good habits.
How to adjust the diet? The main thing is to eat more foods with high fiber content. Develop a good habit of regular bowel movements. If this does not solve the problem, it is necessary to go to the hospital to consult a doctor. Generally, modern medicine classifies constipation into three categories: the first is the slow transport type of colon; the second export obstruction type; and the third is the mixed type. Diagnosis is usually made by means of drainage imaging, colonic transport test, anorectal manometry, pelvic floor electromyography, and e-colon examination.
The treatment of constipation has progressed rapidly in medical research in recent years, and is currently a hot issue in the academic community of anorectal specialists. At present, there are two major types of treatment for constipation. One category is conservative treatment, and one category is surgical treatment. Conservative treatment is our preferred clinical approach. These include.
1, dietary methods
Dietary methods are the basic methods of treating and preventing all kinds of constipation, including drinking more water and eating more fiber-rich foods. Generally speaking, from a normal physiological point of view, the daily requirement for water intake is more than 2000 ML. The content of dietary fiber in various plant foods varies from high to low, with the highest content of fungus and algae, sesame, beans, etc., on more food selection. We can check the content of fiber in food through medical journals and websites. For example, according to the content of fiber per 500 grams of food to calculate, kelp 46 grams, sesame 31 grams, fava beans 33.5 grams, soybeans 24 grams, grapes 11.3 grams, leeks 5.2 grams, apples 4.9 grams, rice 3.5 grams, celery 2.2 grams, tomatoes 1.4 grams.
2.Create good bowel habits
First of all, you should change the existing bad habits, such as artificially inhibit the desire to defecate, reading a book when defecating, etc. to defecate for too long and excessive force defecation. On this basis, use the normal defecation reflex to defecate. The human colon is in constant motion, but only one type of movement, called group movement, can induce bowel movements, and this group movement is usually induced by a change in body position (specifically, lying down and becoming upright) and eating, and it only happens 1-3 times a day. Therefore, it is best to drink a little water and go to defecate every morning after waking up. Often this will make the body’s physiological reflexes (upright reflex, gastrointestinal reflex) to strengthen the situation may solve or relieve constipation.
3.Exercise method
When defecation needs to improve intra-abdominal pressure, mainly relying on the diaphragm, abdominal muscle momentum, so often deep breathing exercises to enhance the strength of the abdominal muscles, conducive to the discharge of feces, especially for some elderly people, some of these are very critical, in addition to physical activity can stimulate colon peristalsis, accelerate the advancement of intestinal contents, conducive to defecation.
4.Drug therapy
For more serious constipation patients, by the above methods can not be effective, can be applied to drug therapy, including the use of laxatives and Chinese medicine evidence-based treatment, should be reminded that a doctor must be prescribed to use.
5, enema and other laxative methods
This type of treatment can only be performed under the operation or guidance of a health care provider.
Although the efficacy of surgery is not yet ideal, it does solve the pain of many patients with persistent constipation in clinical practice, and is a key research direction in anorectal surgery.
Finally, we would like to point out to the general public a few suggestions for the prevention of constipation.
I. Reasonable and balanced diet.
Appropriately and reasonably increase the proportion of vegetables, fruits, grains and cereals, and bean products intake in order to increase the residual amount of food after digestion and absorption, stimulate intestinal peristalsis, and also retain some water to promote defecation.
Second, to develop the habit of regular bowel movements; for example, as soon as you get up in the morning, drink half a glass of warm water to go to relieve stool is a better habit.
Third, when relieving stool to concentrate, do not read books and newspapers and listen to music.
Fourth, get up early in the morning, to have physical activity; early to bed at night, life should be regular.
five, keep a happy spirit and a relaxed mood.
Sixth, do not abuse laxatives, even if you want to use it should be used under the guidance of a doctor.
Seven, the greatest danger of constipation in the elderly is that it will cause them an additional burden on the heart and brain vessels, so that the probability of myocardial infarction and sudden cerebrovascular disease during defecation is greatly increased. So once constipation occurs, we should correct it in time and avoid excessive force during defecation.
Eight, young people to prevent constipation should be different from the elderly, because their organs are not atrophied, aging and other problems, so the first thing that should be changed is the bad lifestyle. Like drinking only a very small amount of water every day, not enough exercise and consuming less fiber are the triggers of constipation problems, which should be paid attention to in daily life.
Nine, the incidence of constipation in children is also gradually increasing. Young parents, for the sake of the baby’s health or to save their own trouble, use some drugs or open plug and other means to force the baby to defecate, which will not only make the child from the psychological defecation have some incorrect understanding, but also make the child’s physiological function is frustrated, resulting in the uncoordinated defecation action, the nervous system to defecation response is not normal, and even make some people at the end of childhood, still have not developed a normal defecation Even after childhood, some people do not develop normal bowel movements and habits, resulting in functional constipation when they grow up. Therefore, if your baby has constipation problems, it is best for parents to consult with a doctor to understand, do not take for granted their own way to solve the problem, which will plant the root of the disease for the baby.