Bowel movements can tell a lot about a person's health.
Prior to the modern resources and hierarchical knowledge of technology culled by medical science, medical professionals used to diagnose a patient's health problems just by looking at his stools. There is a font of information available about the health of a person based on what the body eliminated. Having a bowel movement may not be the most pleasant thing to talk about, but it provides hints about how the body as a whole is doing. Take a look at your bowel movements and learn what your body is trying to tell you.
Instructions
1. Determine if you are straining to defecate. Also note if your stools are small and hard. You may be experiencing constipation. This is the result of the stool being in the colon for too long and the fluid being absorbed out of it. Drinking more fluid to prevent dehydration and eating a diet high in fiber should help.
2. Determine if there is bright red blood on or mixed with your stool. This may be an indication of hemorrhoids. Over the counter creams are helpful, but follow up with your doctor who can determine if the blood is an indicator of anything more serious. Some forms of rectal cancer are often indicated by bloody stools.
3. Determine if your bowel movements are gray or white. This could be a sign of potential gallbladder disease and it needs to be reported to a doctor immediately. It could also indicate liver infection or possible problems with the pancreas.
4. Determine if your bowel movements are too watery. Sometimes the bowel can move stool through the bowel too quickly if there is an infection that the body is trying to get rid of. Also, watery stool is a sign that there is a blockage in the bowel somewhere and all that can get through is watery stool. Report persistent watery stool to a doctor.
5. Examine your stool to see if it is thin or ribbon-like. This is another indicator of a blockage or abscess somewhere in the bowel. Occasionally, there may be stool that is ribbon-like. If it is consistently in this shape, mention the symptom to your doctor who can explore potential causes.
6. Examine your stool to see if it is black- or tar-colored. This is a sign of bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract and should be checked out by a doctor immediately. The only exception to this rule is if you just started taking an iron supplement as that causes the stool to have a black color. However, run it by your doctor just in case.
7. Examine your stool to see if it floats and determine whether or not it has an unusually foul odor. If it floats and is foul smelling, it may be something to report to the doctor. If it is yellow and greasy, too, it may be a sign that nutrients are not being absorbed in the gut properly and could be a sign of Celiac's disease.
8. Determine how often you defecate. There is no need to defecate everyday and taking laxatives on a regular basis can make the bowel become dependent on them. There is no "normal" amount of times to defecate in a week. Determine what is normal for your body and then watch for any changes your body makes. Report those changes to your doctor as necessary.
Tags: your doctor, your stool, bowel movements, Examine your, Examine your stool, watery stool