The first most essential point to take into consideration is that you can get help for all bowel conditions, and there is a complete cure available for most of those conditions.
There is tons of information available on the web about all bowel conditions, including fecal incontinence, colitis, IBS, Crohn’s disease, constipation, and all other issues. While you may not be able to grasp complex information related to those conditions, the basic information will help you know their symptoms. This way may be able to explain your bowel condition to the doctor in a much better way.
In this article, we will discuss those conditions along with their symptoms.
- If you do not have bowel movements three times a day or you have to strain excessively to pass the stool but still do not feel empty, you are suffering from constipation.
- If you have bowel movements three times a day and have more watery stools, you are suffering from diarrhea.
- If you have abdominal pain along with a change in bowel habits, and you have nausea, fever, and vomiting, you may be suffering from diverticular disease.
- Diarrhea, weight loss, and abdominal pain suggest that you may be suffering from Crohn’s disease.
- Bloody diarrhea, diarrhea with mucus, and a constant urge to go to the toilet even though you pass out nothing, you may be suffering from ulcerative colitis.
- If the stools leak out of your anus without you knowing about it, you may be suffering from bowel incontinence.
You must contact your GP immediately if you notice any of the following symptoms.
- Bleeding from the anus
- Blood in the stools
- A bowel habit change that lasts more than three weeks
- Tiredness and weight loss
- Abdominal pain
Approaching your GP about your bowel conditions
You can contact your GP for the treatment of your bowel condition no matter how severe it might be. He or she will run some tests to determine the problem and the stage it is in to formulate a treatment strategy.
Stoma for bowel conditions
Certain bowel conditions require a part of the bowel removed or bypassed. The second step of this surgical process involves bringing out of the end of the healthy GI tract through an opening in the abdomen to create a stoma. As a result, stools pass out through the stoma instead of heading to the diseased part of the bowel. With no sphincters in the stoma, there is no way you can control when to pass out stools, so you are going to have to wear an ostomy bag over the stoma to manage your stool evacuations.
A stoma can be temporary or permanent. If your surgeon finds out that resting the diseased part of your bowel will help it to recover, he will disconnect it from the healthy section of your bowel. He may do it by bringing an intestinal loop out through a cut in the belly and making an incision on the top of that loop to create a stoma, or disconnecting the diseased section and bring out the end of the healthy bowel.
You may want to discuss everything related to ostomy care with an ostomy care nurse.
