The Dangers of Not Pooping

Health Wellness

Image result for holding poop in

Somethings are private and very few people like to talk about them. One of those is our bowel movements – pooping. Most people don’t like to talk about or hear about how often you poop, how hard or easy it is or what size, color or consistency it is. As we get older, we begin to discuss this with our older friends and family as we begin to understand how it impacts on how we feel or how it limits what we can do.

Yes, it’s a very private and embarrassing issue, but it’s also am important aspect of our overall health and it’s important that we understand it.

We eat food and drink fluids, and hopefully, lots of water. Your saliva helps lubricate the food to make it easier to swallow and it begins the digestive process. When the food reaches your stomach, it is exposed to digestive juices that consist of acids and bile. The stomach is also host to billions of bacteria that play an important role in digesting the food down to help the body absorb the nutrients.

From the stomach, the food passes through the small intestine where more digestion takes place and most of the nutrients are absorbed. From the small intestine, the food enters the shorter large intestine, where more nutrients are absorbed along with most of the fluid contained in the waste. At the end of the large intestine is the colon and from there, the rectum where the waste is passed out of the body.

If all of this works well, it helps us stay healthy, but when it doesn’t work right or if we intentionally try to intervene in the natural process, it does impact our health.

When you eat too little fiber and the large intestine absorbs too much fluid, it results in the poop becoming dry and hard, resulting in constipation, something many of us older folks have experienced. On the other end of the spectrum, something may interfere with the large intestine’s ability to absorb enough of the fluid from the poop and the result is loose and even running poop – diarrhea.

But what happens if we don’t poop for a prolonged period of time? Can it be dangerous?

This is the issue facing a man in England who police say they observed swallowing a packet or packets of drugs in his attempt to conceal the evidence. Fearing that if he poops, the evidence will be discovered and he’ll end up in jail, the man is eating very little and refusing to poop. It’s been over 40 days since he last pooped and what he could be experiencing could be the same that could happen to any of us if we don’t poop for a prolonged period of time.

Continuing to eat will continue to fill the colon and large intestine with poop. This can cause the colon to become very distended, a condition known as megacolon. This condition can be quite dangerous as the poop becomes drier and harder with time, which can cause the colon and/or large intestine to rupture, spilling poop into your body cavity, which can cause severe infections. The rupture can also result in excessive bleeding.

It’s important to poop on a regular basis to help avoid getting impacted and worse. If you’re having problems, talk to your doctor. It could be caused by a medical condition that can be treated or it may be easily resolved with the right laxative or bowel stimulant.

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