Constipation is a condition of the bowels that don't move
frequently, resulting in dry, hard stools. Moving the bowels can be difficult and uncomfortable and turning it
around is harder after the pattern of constipation has been established. Let's look first at all the different
symptoms might be considered constipation and then we'll look at the causes. Understanding what causes constipation
is paramount in learning how to change it.
SYMPTOMS
OF CONSTIPATION
Symptoms of constipation may vary from person
to person and also from time to time. I have had patients think they are not constipated because they moved their
bowels regularly, even though the frequency was every 7 days. A healthy digestive system moves the bowels at least
once daily and the longer food stays in the colon, the drier and harder it becomes. There are differing opinions
on this but most people find they feel better the more regular they are. The most common symptoms of constipation
are listed below:
difficulty passing stool
hard, dry stools
infrequent stool
pain with passage of stool
abdominal bloating and/or pain
abdominal distention
feeling of incomplete evacuation after bowel
movement
Relying on stool softeners, laxatives, colonics or enemas
is not addressing the root of the problem nor is this dependency good for the colon. Any of them are fine for an
occasional short-term aid, but know that constipation is not normal and it is worth it to the health of your whole
system to figure out the underlying cause and fix it.
There is a corelation between constipation
and the formation of gallstones according to studies. Constipation or "slow intestinal transit" time
is associated with the formation of gallstones.1A slow metabolism
such as caused by a hypothyroid simply slows down all bodily processes from the movement of the bile to the movement
of the bowel. It can even slow down thinking processes. A diet of refined foods (such as flour, bread, pasta and
white sugar) has been shown to contribute to both of these conditions as has a sedentary lifestyle.
Constipation I treated an elderly
woman in my office for bloating. She came to see me because she had emphezema and the abdominal bloating was so
severe that it made her breathing more difficult. When she lay on the table her belly protruded. I treated her
for some time with acupuncture and herbs but it was the beet recipe (on this site) that helped her the most.Then one day I gave her a bottle of the concentrated beets (in the starter and maintenance
kits) and within a few days she passed bile in her stool, the bloating went down and she hasn't been constipated
since (which was a life-time problem).
Sometimes bile salts is the best thing
to relieve someone's constipation and is a good place to start for someone with gallbladder problems. In fact,
we had to make our Bile Salt capsules
smaller because the most common complaint or side effect of the Gallbladder Starter Kit was diarrhea. Once we lowered
the dosage in the capsules we don't have that problem any more.
Bile Salts Suggested to Avoid Dry Stools
"It has been suggested that even the small quantity of bile salts normally
entering the colon acts physiologically to prevent undue dehydration of the
faeces."2
Low-fiber diet equated with
reduced bile and constipation
"In animal experiments a low-residue (i.e. low fiber) diet is associated with reduced bile acid excretion,
probably because of slow intestinal
transit."2.
2.KW Heaton, The importance of keeping bile salts in their place; Gut, 1969
Research Connects Constipation to Gallstones
A study was done on 1058 women in the UK. Of the normal-weight women with gallstones, they found that they had
signifcantly slower bowel transit time (constipation) as well as less output of stool.1
1.An explanation for gallstones in normal-weight women: slow intestinal transit; KW Heaton, PM Emmett, CL Symes,
FEM Braddon; The Lancet, 1993 - Elsevier
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