# Incomplete Bowel Evactuation



## rbaum (Jun 22, 2016)

Hi everyone,

I am a 15 year old female and for the past few months, I've been having a hard time going to the bathroom completely and it leaves me extremely uncomfortable and bloated throughout the day. I'm 5"4, 95 lbs and my diet consists of mainly fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, nuts, and whole grains. I eat plenty of fiber and I drink plenty of water, but nothing seems to help me. I go to the bathroom twice a day, when I wake up, and again in the evening. My first stools in the morning are usually easy to pass but after that, I just feel constipated and nothing happens even if I push my hardest. The evening is usually the same constipated feeling but I can pass a few hard stools, but again, I can't feel relieved. I used to eat dairy, semi-soft cheese and greek yogurt, but after noticing that I seemed to have an even harder time going to the bathroom after consuming those foods, I cut dairy out of my diet which helps initially. Every night, I take Gas-X before I go to bed to help me relieve some of my bloating.

I've also tried different laxatives to try to fix this issue, stool softeners, calcium hydroxide, exlax, you name it. While it may make my first few stools easy to pass, there's still blockage. I also haven't had a menstrual cycle in a year and a half, but that is because of my diet and my weight. I am currently trying to gain weight by eating more of the food I eat now, but it leads me to consume a lot of food because if I don't eat enough on my diet then I will lose weight. I haven't seen the doctor about this yet but I have an appt. for Friday. I'm really hoping to find some advice of how I can relieve myself now because another day with these symptoms would be dreadful.

Before I started eating healthy and whole foods, I had an extremely poor diet and weighed about 140 lbs. I would only have a bowel movement every few days so since I started eating healthier, my bowel movements are more frequent but this incomplete evacuation is only a recent thing. I have scoliosis so my posture is pretty poor, I don't know if that would effect anything.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

have you tried elevating your feet on something like a footstool, shoe box etc while sitting on a toilet. elevating the feet can help straighten out the anorectal angle and allow a more complete evacuation. so can using a squatty potty. it might take some experimentation to find the right height. i first used a foot stool, then a shoe box and finally bought a squatty potty on amazon.

if you are having trouble with incomplete bowel movements and keep feeling like you need to go all day, you could have pelvic floor dysfunction. with pfd, the pelvic floor muscles do not coordinate and/or relax properly to allow easy passage of stool. ineffective pelvic floor muscle coordination results in inadequate relaxation of the pelvic floor while attempting to have a BM. the puborectalis muscle tightens and contracts when it is supposed to relax to allow passage of stool. so you can't get it all out (incomplete) and keep having that "have to go " feeling all day.

a defecatory proctogram test will show if you have pfd as well as reveal if you have any other outlet problems like a rectocele, vaginal prolapse, rectal prolapse, etc. an anal manometry also helps diagnose pelvic floor problems.

biofeedback and physical therapy can be effective in correcting pfd.

if you think this may apply to you, you might want to mention this to your gastro doctor and ask to get tested for it. here is a good link explaining it
all

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases_conditions/hic_pelvic_floor_dysfunction

good luck with everything. i do hope you can find some relief. take care.


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## ccoleman (Apr 10, 2017)

It's much said to hear that you have constipated. Drink a glass of warm prune juice every day will help you move your bowels. Epsom salts work they attack the constipation really well and very quickly. See it for week if it is recovery itself up or else consult a doctor.


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