Bloating, nausea, fatigue, changes in bowel habits, stomach aches, increased abdominal gas and pressure – these are all issues often associated with constipation. 

No one likes to talk about their bowel habits, yet these changes can happen to anyone anytime. Sometimes, the food we eat can affect our bowel movements. Medications, health issues, and schedule changes can also create problems that lead to constipation. 

We take a closer look at constipation, delving into what it is, the possible causes, ways to relieve these unwanted symptoms, and how to reduce constipation from happening in the future. 

What Is Constipation?

Constipation is a condition that occurs when a person has a difficult time with bowel movements. It is often accompanied by straining to pass hard, dry stools. 

Doctors consider people constipated if they have fewer than three bowel movements per week. Some people can have one to three stool eliminations per day, while others have significantly fewer than that. If you have three or fewer bowel movements each week, accompanied by straining or hard stool, you may be suffering from constipation.

Constipation throws your gastrointestinal tract out of balance, interfering with eliminating toxins. Increased bacterial buildup in the colon and intestines can lead to other issues, including nausea, bloating, stomach distension, loss of appetite, and other more severe problems. 

Common symptoms of constipation:

• Fewer than three bowel movements each week
• Straining to pass stool
• Painful elimination
• Feeling of incomplete elimination
• Hard, dry stool (can be large or small)
• Feeling stool blockage
• Cramping 

Less common symptoms of constipation:

• Nausea
• Increased or smellier gas
• Reflux 
• Stomach upset
• Lower back pain
• Fatigue 

These less common symptoms can occur because stool begins to block intestinal movement, backing up into the gastrointestinal tract and putting pressure on the stomach walls. If constipation worsens, the food you eat has nowhere to go and sits in the stomach, causing upset, reflux, and nausea. Increased pressure in the intestines can lead to lower back pain. 

Concerning symptoms of constipation:

• Rectal bleeding
• Black stools
• Blood in stools
• Ongoing stomach pain
• Symptoms lasting longer than 3 weeks
• Inability to perform daily activities due to constipation symptoms
• Unexplained weight loss
• Other changes in stools

The above concerning symptoms of constipation require contacting a medical professional for help. 

Possible Causes

There are numerous reasons why people develop constipation. It can be an ongoing problem due to medical reasons or something that happens infrequently due to external situations. The stool needs to move freely through the gastrointestinal tract, or the body will absorb the water in the stool, causing it to become hard and difficult to eliminate. 

Risk factors that increase chronic constipation include being female, being older (over 65), lack of activity, and mental health conditions such as eating disorders or depression.

Some of the leading causes of constipation include:

• Nutritional deficiencies: Not getting enough fiber in your diet, especially from fresh fruit and vegetables, or rapid changes to one’s diet.

• Dehydration: Liquids help keep stool soft and mobile.

• Ignoring the urge to eliminate stool: Not going to the bathroom when needed can lead to stool compressing and becoming hard and unable to pass.

• Lack of physical activity: Sitting or lying down for long periods with insufficient physical movement can cause stool to become hard and stationary.

• Anxiety, stress, or depression: Mood changes can affect gastrointestinal functions.

• Medication: some medications and supplements can cause constipation and other changes. For example, possible side effects of SeroVital, an over-the-counter unregulated alternative for doctor-prescribed HGH therapy, are vomiting, nausea, and bloating. Find out whether the SeroVital alternative for HGH works.

Other medications that can cause constipation include treatments for allergies (antihistamines), depression, seizures, pain, nervous system disorders, and high blood pressure. Let your doctor know if any medication you take is causing constipation, bloating, or nausea. 

Laxative abuse is another cause of constipation, as the body becomes dependent on the treatment and stops responding. Diuretics and iron supplements can also cause nausea and constipation. 

• Weak pelvic floor muscles: Problems with pelvic floor muscles can hinder the ability to pass stool. 

• Colon or rectum blockages: Damage to internal tissue or tumors can lead to blockages that impact stool elimination and may cause abdominal swelling, pain, nausea, and vomiting. Blockages can also occur with medical conditions such as Crohn’s disease, hernias, colon cancer, bowel cancer, and diverticulitis. 

• Other medical conditions: Some of the other conditions that can cause constipation symptoms include:

• Pregnancy
• Diabetes
• Parkinson’s disease
• Irritable bowel disease
• Overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism)
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Multiple sclerosis

• Travel: Some people experience constipation when traveling and staying in unfamiliar places. 

How to Get Rid of Constipation, Bloating, and Nausea

Severe and chronic constipation requires speaking with a doctor to determine the best way to treat the condition and eliminate any bloating and nausea while improving stool elimination. If you are in the early stages of constipation or want to improve your body’s ability to eliminate stool, there are some steps you can take that do not require medical intervention.

Here are some ways to prevent constipation from developing:

• Increase your intake of high-fiber foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans
• Reduce consumption of low-fiber foods, including dairy, meat, and processed foods
• Increase fluid intake (half your body weight in water each day)
• Go to the bathroom immediately when you feel the urge to pass stool
• Get regular exercise – stay active
• Try to create a regular bathroom schedule (first thing in the morning, after meals, before bed, etc.)

If you feel bloated, nauseous, or constipated, you can try the following:

• Take a fiber supplement 
• Use a laxative or stool softener as directed.
• Drink ginger tea to soothe the stomach
• Take anti-nausea medication
• Eat bland, low-fat foods
• Use mineral oil lubricants to help move the stool through the colon
• Try an enema or suppository (ask your doctor first)

Your doctor may prescribe prescription medications if none of the other options work to reduce constipation. Pelvic muscle biofeedback training can help relax the muscles. A specialist can help guide you in these exercises. Surgery is a last resort when chronic constipation leads to potentially life-threatening situations or gastrointestinal damage. 

Conclusion

You may want to begin a food journal to determine if anything you eat is causing an increase in constipation. Food sensitivities and allergies could be a problem. People with lactose intolerance who consume dairy and those with gluten sensitivities who consume gluten-containing foods may also experience constipation. 

Chronic or severe constipation can increase the risk of anal fissures (torn tissue), hemorrhoids (swollen tissue around the anus), rectal prolapse (rectal tissue slipping out of the anal opening), or fecal impaction (stool backed up into the colon).

Getting help for ongoing constipation is crucial. Your doctor may need to perform some tests, including colonoscopy, lower GI (gastrointestinal) series, sigmoidoscopy, abdominal X-ray, anorectal function test, or colorectal transit study to determine the problem. 

Seek medical attention when necessary, especially when rectal bleeding, weight loss, or severe pain are present. Constipation, bloating, and nausea are treatable conditions.