{"id":980,"date":"2011-04-18T23:30:20","date_gmt":"2011-04-18T23:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blueheronhealthnews.com\/blog\/?p=980"},"modified":"2011-10-27T18:10:50","modified_gmt":"2011-10-27T22:10:50","slug":"when-is-constipation-a-medical-emergency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blueheronhealthnews.com\/site\/2011\/04\/18\/when-is-constipation-a-medical-emergency\/","title":{"rendered":"When Is Constipation a Medical Emergency?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"While gathering information and client comments to prepare for the upcoming launch of our Treating IBS Naturally program, I was quite unnerved by a common problem that I knew people had.\u00a0 I just wasn\u2019t fully appreciating the seriousness of it.<\/p>\n

Constipation is one of the major symptoms of IBS and its severity can range from mild and unnoticeable to debilitating and severe.<\/p>\n

A few people shared stories of having battled the constipation for years, and having suffered terribly as a result.<\/p>\n

Constipation is quite simply an infrequent or halted bowel pattern.\u00a0 The effects, however, are anything but simple.<\/p>\n

People who have \u201coccasional irregularity\u201d like they describe in the happy sing-songy commercials have probably experienced some irritability, bowel pain, and general inconvenience as a result of their mild constipation.<\/p>\n

Others, though, have battled this debilitating symptom in its worst incarnation- not the mild irregularity but rather the full-blown medical emergency.<\/p>\n

For some, it\u2019s difficult to think that not being able to move the bowels for a couple of days could constitute an emergency, but it\u2019s not just those couple of days that cause the problem.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever had surgery, you know that in the post-operative instructions you have an item that says to call the doctor right away if you are faced with not moving the bowels for more than 3 days.\u00a0 For some surgical procedures, you might not even be discharged until you\u2019ve moved your bowels.<\/p>\n

You are sent home generally with instructions to increase water intake, add some stool softeners or prune juice, and other tips to \u201ckeep things moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what if it doesn\u2019t work?\u00a0 That\u2019s why you have to call the doctor, because he or she knows that bad events are on the horizon if you don\u2019t get help right away.<\/p>\n

One person who wrote in described his ordeal of having gone to the emergency room because of the excruciating and unbearable pain he experienced.\u00a0 He had been essentially without movement for 6 days and knew something was wrong but decided to try and \u201ctough it out\u201d at home.<\/p>\n

His wife was the one who poured his shaking, sweaty, pale body into the family minivan.\u00a0 She thought he was having a heart attack.<\/p>\n

When they got to the ER and the doctor did his exam, he knew immediately what the problem was.<\/p>\n

A simple enema solved his problem, but anyone who has ever had one of those knows it\u2019s no trip to the park undergoing that unpleasant procedure.<\/p>\n

What caused his wife to take him in? Simple- he could no longer argue with her and say \u201cNo, I\u2019ll be fine.\u201d\u00a0 He had long passed the point of manly stoicism. He was experiencing a true emergency.<\/p>\n

What would have happened if she didn\u2019t act? No one likes to think about that.<\/p>\n

So how do you know if your constipation is a true medical emergency?\u00a0 Signs to look for are below:<\/p>\n