dyschezia

Constipation means that a person has three or fewer bowel movements in a week. The stool can be hard and dry. Sometimes it is painful to pass. At one time or another, almost everyone gets constipated. In most cases, it lasts a short time and is not serious.

There are many things you can do to prevent constipation. They include

• Eating more fruits, vegetables and grains, which are high in fiber
• Drinking plenty of water and other liquids
• Getting enough exercise
• Taking time to have a bowel movement when you need to
• Using laxatives only if your doctor says you should
• Asking your doctor if medicines you take may cause constipation

It's not important that you have a bowel movement every day. If your bowel habits change, however, check with your doctor.

NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

A bowel movement is the last stop in the movement of food through your digestive tract. Your stool passes out of your body through the rectum and anus. Another name for stool is feces. It is made of what is left after your digestive system (stomach, small intestine, and colon) absorbs nutrients and fluids from what you eat and drink.

Sometimes a bowel movement isn't normal. Diarrhea happens when stool passes through the large intestine too quickly. Constipation occurs when stool passes through the large intestine too slowly. Bowel incontinence is a problem controlling your bowel movements. Other abnormalities with bowel movements may be a sign of a digestive problem.

NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Your child's health includes physical, mental and social well-being. Most parents know the basics of keeping children healthy, like offering them healthy foods, making sure they get enough sleep and exercise and insuring their safety.

It is also important for children to get regular checkups with their health care provider. These visits are a chance to check your child's development. They are also a good time to catch or prevent problems.

Other than checkups, school-age children should be seen for:

• Significant weight gain or loss
• Sleep problems or change in behavior
• Fever higher than 102
• Rashes or skin infections
• Frequent sore throats
• Breathing problems

Diverticula are small pouches, or sacs, that bulge outward through weak spots in your colon. They mostly form in the lower part of the colon. Diverticulosis is a condition in which you have these pouches. Most people who have diverticulosis do not have symptoms or problems. But sometimes the pouches can cause symptoms or become inflamed.

Diverticulitis is the name for the condition you have when one or more of the pouches get inflamed. Diverticulitis may come on suddenly. It can sometimes cause serious health problems.

Diverticular disease is a condition that happens when the pouches cause:

• Chronic (long-term) symptoms
• Diverticular bleeding
• Diverticulitis or diverticulitis complications

Researchers aren't sure what causes diverticulosis and diverticulitis. They think certain factors may play a role in causing or increasing the risk for these conditions, including:

• Your genetics. Certain genes may make some people more likely to develop the conditions.
• Lifestyle factors such as:
  • Diets low in fiber and high in red meat
  • Lack of physical activity
  • Taking certain medicines, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and steroids
  • Having obesity
  • Smoking

Researchers are also looking at other possible factors that may play a role in these conditions. Those factors include bacteria or stool (poop) getting caught in a pouch in your colon and changes in the microbiome in the intestines. Your microbiome is made up of the bacteria and other organisms in your intestines.

Diverticulosis is common, especially as people age. More than one-third of U.S. adults between the ages of 50 and 59 have diverticulosis. More than two-thirds who are over age 80 have it. Most of those people will not have symptoms or problems. But some of them will develop diverticulitis.

Diverticulosis usually doesn't cause symptoms. But some people can have chronic symptoms such as:

• Bloating
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Cramping or painin the lower abdomen (belly)

Diverticulitis may cause acute symptoms such as:

• Abdominal pain, most often in the lower left side of your abdomen
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Fevers and chills
• Nausea or vomiting

The pain caused by diverticulitis is usually severe and comes on suddenly. Less often, the pain may be mild and worsen over several days.

Some people with diverticulosis and diverticulitis may develop serious health problems (complications). Diverticular bleeding happens when a small blood vessel within the wall of a pouch bursts. The bleeding may be severe and sometimes even life-threatening.

People with diverticulitis can also develop serious problems such as:

• Abscess, a painful, swollen, pus-filled area caused by infection
• Fistula, an abnormal opening or passage between the colon and another part of the body, such as the bladder or vagina
• Intestinal obstruction, a partial or total blockage that keeps food, fluids, air, or stool from moving through your intestines
• Perforation, or a hole, in your colon
• Peritonitis, an infection of the lining of the abdominal cavity

Diverticulosis may be found when your health care provider is doing tests for another reason. Diverticulitis is usually found when you are having an acute attack.

To make a diagnosis, your provider will review your medical history, do a physical exam, and order tests. The tests may include:

• Blood tests
• Stool tests
• Imaging tests such as CT scan, ultrasound, or MRI
• Colonoscopy

f your diverticulosis is causing chronic symptoms, your provider may recommend:

• High-fiber foods or fiber supplements
• Antibiotics
• Medicines to reduce inflammation
• Probiotics

If you have diverticulitis without complications, your provider may recommend treatment at home. However, you probably need treatment in the hospital if you have severe diverticulitis, diverticulitis with complications, or a high risk for complications.

Treatments for diverticulitis may include:

• Antibiotics, except for very mild cases.
• A clear liquid diet for a short time to rest the colon. Your provider may suggest slowly adding solid foods to your diet as your symptoms improve.
• Medicines for pain. This is usually acetaminophen instead of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). NSAIDs may increase the chance of diverticulitis complications.
• Antispasmodic medicines to relieve spasms.

If your diverticulitis doesn't improve with treatment or if it causes complications, you may need surgery to remove part of your colon.

Your provider may recommend lifestyle changes to prevent diverticulitis:

• Eating a diet high in fiber and low in red meat
• Being physically active on a regular basis
• Not smoking (and quitting smoking if you are a smoker)
• Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight

NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Urinary incontinence (UI) is the loss of bladder control, or being unable to control urination. It is a common condition. It can range from being a minor problem to something that greatly affects your daily life. In any case, it can get better with proper treatment.

There are several different types of UI. Each type has different symptoms and causes:

• Stress incontinence happens when stress or pressure on your bladder causes you to leak urine. This could be due to coughing, sneezing, laughing, lifting something heavy, or physical activity. Causes include weak pelvic floor muscles and the bladder being out of its normal position.
• Urge, or urgency, incontinence happens when you have a strong urge (need) to urinate, and some urine leaks out before you can make it to the toilet. It is often related to an overactive bladder. Urge incontinence is most common in older people. It can sometimes be a sign of a urinary tract infection (UTI). It can also happen in some neurological conditions, such as multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries.
• Overflow incontinence happens when your bladder doesn't empty all the way. This causes too much urine to stay in your bladder. Your bladder gets too full, and you leak urine. This form of UI is most common in men. Some of the causes include tumors, kidney stones, diabetes, and certain medicines.
• Functional incontinence happens when a physical or mental disability, trouble speaking, or some other problem keeps you from getting to the toilet in time. For example, someone with arthritis may have trouble unbuttoning his or her pants, or a person with Alzheimer's disease may not realize they need to plan to use the toilet.
• Mixed incontinence means that you have more than one type of incontinence. It's usually a combination of stress and urge incontinence.
• Transient incontinence is urine leakage that is caused by a temporary (transient) situation such as an infection or new medicine. Once the cause is removed, the incontinence goes away.
• Bedwetting refers to urine leakage during sleep. This is most common in children, but adults can also have it.
  • Bedwetting is normal for many children. It is more common in boys. Bedwetting is often not considered a health problem, especially when it runs in the family. But if it still happens often at age 5 and older, it may be because of a bladder control problem. This problem could be caused by slow physical development, an illness, making too much urine at night, or another problem. Sometimes there is more than one cause.
  • In adults, the causes include some medicines, caffeine, and alcohol. It can also be caused by certain health problems, such as diabetes insipidus, a urinary tract infection (UTI), kidney stones, enlarged prostate (BPH), and sleep apnea.

In adults, you are at higher risk of developing UI if you:

• Are female, especially after going through pregnancy, childbirth, and/or menopause
• Are older. As you age, your urinary tract muscles weaken, making it harder to hold in urine.
• Are a man with prostate problems
• Have certain health problems, such as diabetes, obesity, or long-lasting constipation
• Are a smoker
• Have a birth defect that affects the structure of your urinary tract

In children, bedwetting is more common in younger children, boys, and those whose parents wet the bed when they were children.

Your health care provider may use many tools to make a diagnosis:

• A medical history, which includes asking about your symptoms. Your provider may ask you to keep a bladder diary for a few days before your appointment. The bladder diary includes how much and when you drink liquids, when and how much you urinate, and whether you leak urine.
• A physical exam, which can include a rectal exam. Women may also get a pelvic exam.
• Urine and/or blood tests
• Bladder function tests
• Imaging tests

Treatment depends on the type and cause of your UI. You may need a combination of treatments. Your provider may first suggest self-care treatments, including:

• Lifestyle changes to reduce leaks:
  • Drinking the right amount of liquid at the right time
  • Being physically active
  • Staying at a healthy weigh
  • Avoiding constipation
  • Not smoking
• Bladder training. This involves urinating according to a schedule. Your provider makes a schedule from you, based on information from your bladder diary. After you adjust to the schedule, you gradually wait a little longer between trips to the bathroom. This can help stretch your bladder so it can hold more urine.
• Doing exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. Strong pelvic floor muscles hold in urine better than weak muscles. The strengthening exercises are called Kegel exercises. They involve tightening and relaxing the muscles that control urine flow.

If these treatments do not work, your provider may suggest other options such as:

• Medicines, which can be used to
  • Relax the bladder muscles, to help prevent bladder spasms
  • Block nerve signals that cause urinary frequency and urgency
  • In men, shrink the prostate and improve urine flow
• Medical devices, including
  • A catheter, which is a tube to carry urine out of the body. You might use one a few times a day or all the time.
  • For women, a ring or a tampon-like device inserted into the vagina. The devices pushes up against your urethra to help decrease leaks.
• Bulking agents, which are injected into the bladder neck and urethra tissues to thicken them. This helps close your bladder opening so you have less leaking.
• Electrical nerve stimulation, which involves changing your bladder's reflexes using pulses of electricity
• Surgery to support the bladder in its normal position. This may be done with a sling that is attached to the pubic bone.

NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Adhesions are bands of scar-like tissue. Normally, internal tissues and organs have slippery surfaces so they can shift easily as the body moves. Adhesions cause tissues and organs to stick together. They might connect the loops of the intestines to each other, to nearby organs, or to the wall of the abdomen. They can pull sections of the intestines out of place. This may block food from passing through the intestine.

Adhesions can occur anywhere in the body. But they often form after surgery on the abdomen. Almost everyone who has surgery on the abdomen gets adhesions. Some adhesions don't cause any problems. But when they partly or completely block the intestines, they cause symptoms such as:

• Severe abdominal pain or cramping
• Vomiting
• Bloating
• An inability to pass gas
• Constipation

Adhesions can sometimes cause infertility in women by preventing fertilized eggs from reaching the uterus.

No tests are available to detect adhesions. Doctors usually find them during surgery to diagnose other problems.

Some adhesions go away by themselves. If they partly block your intestines, a diet low in fiber can allow food to move easily through the affected area. If you have a complete intestinal obstruction, it is life-threatening. You should get immediate medical attention and may need surgery.

NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

The appendix is a small, tube-like organ attached to the first part of the large intestine. It is located in the lower right part of the abdomen. It has no known function. A blockage inside of the appendix causes appendicitis. The blockage leads to increased pressure, problems with blood flow, and inflammation. If the blockage is not treated, the appendix can burst and spread infection into the abdomen. This causes a condition called peritonitis.

The main symptom is pain in the abdomen, often on the right side. It is usually sudden and gets worse over time. Other symptoms may include:

• Swelling in the abdomen
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea and vomiting
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Inability to pass gas
• Low fever

Not everyone with appendicitis has all these symptoms.

Appendicitis is a medical emergency. Treatment almost always involves removing the appendix. Anyone can get appendicitis, but it is more common among people 10 to 30 years old.

NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Bowel incontinence is the inability to control your bowels. When you feel the urge to have a bowel movement, you may not be able to hold it until you get to a toilet. Millions of Americans have this problem. It affects people of all ages - children and adults. It is more common in women and older adults. It is not a normal part of aging.

Causes include:

• Constipation
• Damage to muscles or nerves of the anus and rectum
• Diarrhea
• Pelvic floor disorders

Treatments include changes in diet, medicines, bowel training, or surgery.

NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Calcium is a mineral, a nutrient that you need (in small amounts) to keep your body healthy. You have more calcium in your body than any other mineral.

Calcium has many important jobs:

• To build and maintain strong bones. Your body stores almost all of its calcium in your bones and teeth to keep them strong.
• To help your muscles move.
• To help your nerves to carry messages between your brain and the rest of your body.
• To help your blood vessels move blood throughout your body.
• To help release hormones that affect many functions in your body.

Not getting enough calcium can cause several conditions, including:

• Osteoporosis, a disease which can make your bones weaker and more likely to break.
• Rickets, a disease in children that causes soft, weak bones.
• Osteomalacia, a condition which causes soft bones in children and adults.

You can get calcium from foods and supplements. You may be able to get enough calcium by eating a variety of foods, including:

• Dairy products such as milk, cheese, and yogurt. These are the main food sources of calcium for most people in the United States.
• Leafy, green vegetables such as kale, broccoli, and Chinese cabbage (bok choi).
• Fish with soft bones that you can eat, such as canned sardines and salmon.
• Calcium-enriched foods such as breakfast cereals, fruit juices, soy and rice drinks, and tofu. The product labels for these foods will show how much calcium they have.

Calcium is available in supplements. It is also included in many multivitamins. The two main forms of calcium supplements are calcium carbonate and calcium citrate:

• Calcium carbonate is absorbed best when taken with food. Some over-the-counter antacids, such as Tums and Rolaids, also contain calcium carbonate.
• Calcium citrate is absorbed well on an empty stomach or a full stomach. People with low levels of stomach acid absorb calcium citrate more easily than calcium carbonate.

Calcium is absorbed best when you take 500 mg or less at one time. If you are taking more than that amount each day, take a smaller dose twice a day rather than taking it all at once.

Calcium supplements might cause gas, bloating, and constipation in some people. If you have any of these symptoms, you could try:

• Spreading out the calcium dose throughout the day
• Taking it with meals
• Switching the form of calcium you take

The amount of calcium you need each day depends on your age and other factors. The recommended amounts, in milligrams (mg), are:

• Birth to 6 months: 200 mg
• Infants 7-12 months: 260 mg
• Children 1-3 years: 700 mg
• Children 4-8 years: 1,000 mg
• Children 9-13 years: 1,300 mg
• Teens 14-18 years: 1,300 mg
• Adults 19-50 years: 1,000 mg
• Adult men 51-70 years: 1,000 mg
• Adult women 51-70 years: 1,200 mg
• Adults 71 years and older: 1,200 mg
• Pregnant and breastfeeding teens: 1,300 mg
• Pregnant and breastfeeding adults: 1,000 mg

Certain people may have trouble getting enough calcium, including:

• Children and teens age 4 to 18 years
• People who are Black or Asian
• Adults age 50 years and older living in poverty
• Postmenopausal women; your body absorbs and retains less calcium after menopause
• People who don't drink milk or eat other dairy products

Check with your health care provider to see if you need to take calcium supplements, and if so, how much you should take. Your provider may want to first do a calcium blood test to see if you are getting enough of it.

NIH: National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements

Cancer chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment. It uses medicines to destroy cancer cells.

Normally, the cells in your body grow and die in a controlled way. Cancer cells keep growing without control. Chemotherapy works by killing the cancer cells, stopping them from spreading, or slowing their growth.

Chemotherapy is used to:

• Treat cancer by curing the cancer, lessening the chance it will return, or stopping or slowing its growth.
• Ease cancer symptoms by shrinking tumors that are causing pain and other problems.

Chemotherapy does not just destroy cancer cells. It can also harm some healthy cells, which causes side effects.

You may have a lot of side effects, some side effects, or none at all. It depends on the type and amount of chemotherapy you get and how your body reacts.

Some common side effects are:

• Mouth sores
• Fatigue
• Nausea and vomiting
• Pain
• Hair loss

There are ways to prevent or control some side effects. Talk with your health care provider about how to manage them. Healthy cells usually recover after chemotherapy is over, so most side effects gradually go away.

You may get chemotherapy in a hospital or at home, a doctor's office, or a medical clinic. You might be given the medicines by mouth, in a shot, as a cream, through a catheter, or intravenously (by IV).

Your treatment plan will depend on the type of cancer you have, which chemotherapy medicines are used, the treatment goals, and how your body responds to the medicines.

Chemotherapy may be given alone or with other treatments. You may get treatment every day, every week, or every month. You may have breaks between treatments so that your body has a chance to build new healthy cells.

NIH: National Cancer Institute