Shape: Shaped or soft.

Special circumstances: a few healthy people have three times a day (semi-formed stool) or once every three days (sausage-like hard stool).

Time: 5 am to 7 am.

According to the flow direction of meridians in traditional Chinese medicine, 5-7 o'clock is the activity time of large intestine. Western medicine also believes that the colon is the most active at this time.

constipation

Fecal less than three times a week, hard and hard, laborious when defecating, endless feeling, falling down. A few healthy people can defecate once every three days, but it can't be called constipation if they don't feel tired and fall.

diarrhea

Defecation more than three times a day, or defecation once a day, the defecation amount is more than 200g, and the water content is more than 85%.

Alarm symptoms of abnormal defecation

If the following symptoms appear, you should seek medical advice in time to avoid delaying your illness.

First, observe the color of feces. Green feces, suggesting gallbladder lesions; Clay-colored feces suggest bile duct obstruction; Tarry stool, suggesting bloody stool.

Second, abnormal defecation is accompanied by anemia.

Third, abnormal defecation is accompanied by emaciation.

Fourth, abnormal defecation is accompanied by fever.

Constipation can also occur when muscles are uncoordinated.

Constipation can be divided into slow transit constipation and outlet obstructive constipation according to different pathology. Slow transit constipation is due to slow colon peristalsis and defecation less than once a week. Outlet obstructive constipation is not a few times, but a small amount. Liu Min, chief physician of the Department of Gastroenterology, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, said: "I defecate every day, but only a little, accompanied by endless feeling, falling feeling, strenuous defecation, or no intention at all. This is a typical symptom of outlet obstructive constipation. " Clinically, there are patients who defecate every day, but they are "extremely fine and individual".

Liu Min introduced that outlet obstructive constipation is caused by mismatch of abdominal muscles, anorectal muscles and pelvic floor muscles. "When the three muscles are not in harmony, there will be an endless feeling that they can't be discharged but still want to be discharged." The feeling of falling is not pain, but the feeling of falling belly. If there is pain, it may be intestinal ectopic syndrome, which is another disease.

Mental factors become high risk factors of constipation.

Constipation can be divided into functional constipation and secondary (organic) constipation. Secondary constipation refers to other diseases, such as rectal cancer and colon cancer, or systemic metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and thyroid diseases. Liu Min said, "Most constipation in life belongs to functional constipation."

The primary cause of functional constipation is mental factors. Statistics show that the number of women with constipation is four times that of men, which is related to women's mental sensitivity and weak stress resistance. It can be said that mental factors are high-risk factors leading to constipation. Secondly, it is eating habits. In diet, insufficient cellulose, less water and more spicy are all factors leading to constipation. Third, taking drugs. For example, antidepressants and antacids (containing aluminum and magnesium) for treating stomach diseases.

After constipation, I feel sad from top to bottom.

Chinese medicine believes that poor defecation and toxin accumulation will cause qi and blood circulation disorder, dull complexion, rust, red eyes, rosacea and facial acne. It can also cause sore throat, easy to catch a cold and tonsil inflammation, Liu Min said, "Because the lung and the large intestine are opposites, the unhealthy large intestine will affect the lung. According to western medicine, the digestive tract starts from the mouth to the anus, and the lower part is not smooth, and the upstream organs will have problems. " Specifically, the main consequences are as follows:

-Feces contain metabolic wastes from the body. If it is not excreted in time, these toxins will be reabsorbed in the body. If there are colonic polyps in the intestinal cavity, they will be stimulated by toxins to induce cancer;

-feces can not be discharged in time, which will cause absorption obstacles in the upper part of the small intestine, and bacteria in feces will start to ferment and produce gas, causing bloating;

-constipation and bloating can lead to loss of appetite;

-the stomach has no appetite and does not digest things, which will lead to oral ulcers and bad breath.

People with deficiency-heat constitution are most prone to constipation.

Chinese medicine believes that constipation is related to personal physique and should be treated dialectically. Generally speaking, constipation can be divided into real secret and virtual secret. The real secret includes excess heat, damp heat, cold coagulation, qi stagnation and blood stasis, while the virtual secret includes qi deficiency, blood deficiency, yin deficiency and yang deficiency. According to clinical statistics, excess secret is more common in young people, while deficiency secret is more common in the elderly, and constipation caused by excess heat accounts for more than 60%.

So generally speaking, people who are really hot in damp heat constitution are most prone to constipation. Liu Min explained, "This is a hot and dry constitution. Once the work pressure is high, drink less water and eat less barbecue and spicy food, which will further contribute to physical bias and constipation. "

In addition, people with various constitutions will be constipated under certain conditions. For example, people with qi deficiency, once tired and sick, lead to more serious qi deficiency, leading to weak defecation and constipation; People with yin deficiency are usually thirsty and short of water. If you eat spicy food, you will be constipated. People with yang deficiency usually have tepid limbs and pale face. If you often stay in an air-conditioned room or eat cold drinks, it will aggravate yang deficiency and large intestine weakness, so constipation will occur.

Hint: Yin includes water and blood in the body. Many people with yin deficiency will find that drinking water can't relieve dry mouth. At this time, it is necessary to take some medicine or food for nourishing yin under the guidance of a doctor. For example, medlar, lily and tremella are used as medicated diets to regulate.

You can't just take laxatives for a while.

When constipation occurs, many people will choose to take some drugs or laxatives. As everyone knows, it is good to use it right. If you use it wrong, it will not only relieve constipation, but also aggravate symptoms. Liu Min said that constipation should first distinguish what your constitution is and what causes it, and then choose a laxative that suits you.

For example, for people with yang deficiency, you can choose Cistanche deserticola, warming yang and relaxing bowels, while drugs containing rhubarb are febrile and not suitable for people with yang deficiency. "It's cold, and eating hot food is tantamount to adding insult to injury." Liu Min said, "Although you can defecate after meals, because the medicine containing rhubarb has a laxative effect and stimulates the peristalsis of colon and rectum, it is only temporary. If it goes on for a long time, it will aggravate the cold constitution and make you more constipated."

Once constipation occurs, don't rush to take laxatives. Liu Min introduced that we must first make spiritual adjustments; Secondly, the diet should be improved appropriately, drink more water and eat less spicy food; Third, we should develop good defecation habits and rules. "When these living conditions are still ineffective, it is best to seek medical treatment and take medicine under the guidance of a doctor, so as not to be counterproductive."

Stopping taking medicine is as important as taking medicine.

Many drugs, health products and foods in life have laxative effects, but people who have eaten them will find that these products are easy to make people dependent, and once they stop taking drugs, constipation will occur. "This situation is mostly because there are no symptoms, which leads to a more biased constitution, so as soon as the drug is stopped, symptoms will appear."

Even if it is symptomatic, it should be gradually reduced and taken according to the course of treatment after taking effect. "It is often that patients stop using it after they feel effective, and they have not really adjusted. They will use it again next time, which will lead to drug resistance. " Therefore, it is necessary to take it according to the course of treatment and gradually reduce it so that it will not recur. "I will take medicine, but I won't stop taking it. It is also impossible. "

Physiological reasons can also cause constipation.

In order to ensure normal defecation, we should pay attention to the following points:

First, relax mentally. At present, life pressure and work pressure are relatively heavy, so we should learn to adjust ourselves and maintain a good mental state and optimistic mood.

Second, we must ensure a certain amount of water and fiber in our diet. Especially to ensure a certain amount. Nowadays, many young people eat little or irregularly in order to keep fit, which is also a cause of constipation.

Third, defecate regularly. It is best to develop the habit of defecation at 5-7 in the morning and establish the brain's conditioned reflex to defecation.

Fourth, keep a certain amount of exercise. Mild constipation can generally be solved through life conditioning. You can choose to walk, sit-ups, etc. During exercise, or you can massage your abdomen and consciously do a little levator ani exercise.

Liu Min said that some people live a regular life and eat a healthy diet, but they still have defecation problems. At this time, it is necessary to check whether constipation is caused by physiological reasons. For example, colon length, internal hemorrhoids, anal fissure, abdominal muscle weakness and so on.

Tip: The colon is very long. If it seriously affects life, you can choose to remove the excess colon.

Internal hemorrhoids, anal fissure It hurts when defecating, so that patients can minimize defecation, break the law of defecation and have constipation.

Abdominal muscle weakness. Physical weakness, abdominal weakness, and difficulty in defecation. You can do more sit-ups at ordinary times.

Pelvic floor muscles are weak in contraction. Mainly after giving birth, women can carry out appropriate restorative exercise, such as lifting anus.

Defecation will touch the toilet, mostly due to spleen deficiency.

Many people find that feces will touch the toilet after defecation, which makes them unhappy and has an endless feeling. Chinese medicine believes that this situation is caused by dampness and turbidity. If the smell of feces still stinks on this basis, it is caused by damp heat.

Wet, mostly due to spleen deficiency. Spleen deficiency will produce wet turbidity, resulting in sticky stool. Chinese medicine believes that the spleen is the main transport organ and digestive organ. When food is received by the stomach and decomposed (mashed food), it is transported by the spleen. A healthy spleen produces delicate nutrients and transports them to other parts of the body.

Spleen likes dryness and hates dampness, and the seasonal feature of summer is summer heat and dampness. "High temperature and rainy weather lead to dampness, and the spleen is the saddest in summer." A healthy spleen can adapt to the summer climate, but the already weak spleen will become worse in summer, unable to transport delicious food, and become wet and stagnant in the large intestine, resulting in sticky stools.

Liu Min said that if it is only a temporary and mild loose stool, you can consider diet adjustment, such as eating more yam, coix seed, lotus seeds, dried tangerine peel and adzuki beans. Don't be greedy for cold and eat too much cold drinks.

It is suggested that raw coix seed has stronger dehumidification effect and cooked coix seed has stronger spleen strengthening effect, and both can be taken. Diet conditioning is expensive to insist on, not three or five times to see the effect.

Diarrhea in summer is mostly related to unclean food.

Diarrhea can be divided into acute diarrhea and chronic diarrhea. Diarrhea, more common in summer, generally belongs to acute diarrhea. Acute diarrhea is generally related to infection and food poisoning, which is actually a normal protection mechanism of human body. Chronic diarrhea generally lasts for more than three weeks, and is mostly related to diseases, such as gastrointestinal tumors, enteritis, diabetes, hyperthyroidism and so on.

When the toxin stimulates the small intestine and the peristalsis of the small intestine accelerates, it will reduce the absorption of water, and the excess water can only be discharged, so diarrhea. "The absorption of normal body fluids by the small intestine and colon should be 99%. If the absorption is reduced by 1%, it will lead to diarrhea. " If it is colitis or other colon diseases, there is mucus in the stool.