Constipation :Causes and risk factors of constipation

Sedentary life style or inactivity

Low fiber diet

Abuse of laxatives

Hormonal disorders

Certain medications such as antidepressants, narcotic medicines, anticonvulsants

Certain disease related to colon

Improper functioning of pelvic muscles

Stress

Diseases of rectum

Endocrine or metabolic disease such as diabetes, hyperthyroidism

Low fluid intake

Alumina:Constipation due to dryness of the intestinal tract and non-peristaltic action of the intestines; no desire for and no ability to pass stool until there is a large accumulation. Great straining, must grasp the seat of closet tightly. Stool hard, knotty or soft, adhering to parts. There is little or no urging to stool. Complete inertia even of the rectum so that the soft stool is expelled with great difficulty. Stool hard and knotty like sheep dung. Dry mouth and irritated tongue leads to the selection of this remedy. Great mental depression and want of appetite. Constipation during pregnancy. No desire to open bowels until rectum is completely full, even soft stools are difficult to pass, and may be mucous-covered or soft and clayey, sensation of stools getting caught up in splenic flexure (under left ribs, where colon starts to descend.

Antimonium Crudum -Diarrhea and constipation alternates, especially in old peoples. Summer constipation withthickly coated white tongue, irritability and fretfulness.Hard lumps of stool mixed with watery discharge. Piles continually oozing mucous.According to Dr E A Farrington; in his Clinical Materia Medica; If there is constipation, as is often the case when vomiting predominates, the stools will consist of white, hard and dry lumps that look like undigested curd. In older persons, particularly in the aged, forAntimonium crudumsuits both extremes of life, we have an alteration of constipation and diarrhea: the stool, in constipation consisting of hard, dry lumps; that in diarrhea, of water mixed with fecal lumps.

Abies Nigra- Constipation in Low-spirited persons with dyspepsia. Pain in stomach always comes on after eating. Patient feels as though he had swallowed some indigestible substance which had stuck at the cardiac orifice of the stomach.

Aesculus Hippocastanum Ineffectual effort with constant urging to stool. Large, Hard, Dry stool. This medicine acts especially on lower bowel. Dry, swollen mucous membrane of rectum causes burning and pain as ifrectum is full of small sticks.These pains lasts for hours after stool. Low backache of lumbo-sacral region which worsen on walking and stooping.

Aletris Farinosa -Anemic women who, feels tired all the time, in addition to uterine trouble and leucorrhea, have extreme constipation. Stool large, hard, difficult, great pain with great effort being required to effect an evacuation from the bowels.

Agaricus: obstinate constipation following diarrhea in old spirit drinkers; anorexia; painful straining in the rectum before stool.

Aethusa- most obstinate constipation, with feeling as if all action of the bowels had been lost; intolerance of milk; pain with soreness in hypochondria

Aesculus :Rectum feels dry and hot, as if full of sticks or spikes, sensation of knife being jabbed

upwards on attempting to open bowels, sensation of fullness in rectum, pain in lower

back, crawling sensation in anus, symptoms worse after sleep, person elderly 30c

Asterias R :Obstinate constipation. Stools after 12-15 days.

Anacardium :When ineffectual desire is felt at the rectum. There is sensation of pressure on the rectum after stool. In Nux Vom. the pressure is felt in the abdomen. Sensation of a plug anywhere in the body. Patient feels as if his anus is plugged.Great urgent desire for stool, but on sitting for stool; desire passes away without any evacuation. Itching in anus and moisture from rectum. Hemorrhage during stool.According to Dr E. A. Farrington in his clinical materia medica The rectum seems powerless; he complains of a sensation as of a plug or of some foreign substance in the rectum; this symptom is not the mechanical result of the retained feces. Here again you notice the sensation as of a plug or some foreign substance interfering with the normal function of the organ. Now these symptoms that I have mentioned are more common than we think. When they do occur ,we are more apt to think ofNux Vomica, Ignatia,Sulphurand forget Anacardium.

Aloe socotrina constipation precedes diarrhea; hard lumps mingled with jelly like mucus; constant desire to pass stool but only a little wind passes; great fullness sensation; marble like nodules may escape unconsciously.

Antim crude diarrhea alternate with constipation; specially in old people; stool is too hard; constipation associated with much flatus and abdominal pain; constipation during child bed; nausea and vomiting; loss of appetite; tongue white coated.

Asafoitida obstinate constipation; associated with abdominal pain and haemorrhoidal cramps; constant desire to pass stool; with pressing sensation towards the rectum and offensive discharge.

Alumen :No desire for stools for days. Obstinate constipation, attended with nausea, vomiting, retching etc.

Bryonia :Stools dry as if burnt with great thirst. Constipation accompanied by appendicitis. Constipation in warm weather; faeces hard, large and devoid of mucus. Characteristic symptoms of Bryonia include dryness of all mucous membranes, including those along the digestive tract. Stools are hard and dry and any complaint is worse for motion of any kind. Even movement of the eyeball will make a Bryonia headache worse. There is a thirst for large quantities of water or liquid. Pains are sharp

and stitching and are better for firm pressure sufferers want to be left alone and are better in a arkened room. Typically, they are the grumpy bear when sick. Useful for: constipation, headaches, coughs, sprains, flues and fevers, digestive disorders and respiratory problems.Bryonia [Bry] The large-hard-dry-stool-as-if-burnt of Bryonia is familiar to all of our Medical School. The constipation of the drug is due to dryness and there is no urging. Alumina is similar; its constipation is also due to dryness, but it has such complete inactivity of the rectum that even a soft stool is expelled with difficulty. With Bryonia the stools are passed with a great deal of difficulty, owing to an atony of the intestines.

Nux, as we have seen, produces and cures constipation due to fitful, irregular, peristaltic action. Bryonia cures constipation where not only the intestinal secretions are diminished, but the muscular action as well. Constipation in young children, according to Hughes, is frequently cured by Bryonia 30th. It is said to act better in rheumatic subjects and in summer. The mental condition of irritability and ill-humor will

often be present as a concomitant of the Bryonia constipation. Older writers alternated Bryonia and Nux vomica with success in very obstinate cases ,Stools large, dry, hard, and burnt-looking, especially in elderly person, dry mouth, head aches and feels congested, abdomen distended, burning feeling in rectum after passing stool, great thirst and irritability Belladonna no urging; pain in abdomen along with spasm; suppression of stools with distension of abdomen; coated tongue; eructations; taste sour.

Baptesia constipation with torper of the liver; great difficulty to pass; resembles sheeps dung.

Calcaria carb no urge to pass stool; looking like lumps of chalk in children during the period of dentition; feeling of faintness after stool

China constipation with vertigo; urging; larger accumulation of faeces, especially after continued purging, with difficulty to pass them; inactivity of rectum

Collinsonia- constipation during pregnancy; great pelvic congestion; associated with uterine disorder; congestive inertia of bowels; pressure and weight in the rectum; stool hard and sluggish; accompanied with pain; sensation as if sand in the rectum.

Causticum : Better able to pass stool standing.

Carbo An: Constipation where patient thinks bowels will be moved but only wind passed.

Cascarilla Cascarilla has abdominal symptoms relieved by warm drinks, we use this medicine when there are hard knotty stools covered with mucus likeGraphites,and constipation is associated with colic and burning.

Causticum -Stool is hard, tough, covered with mucus; shines like grease; small shaped; expelled with much straining or only on standing up. Rectum sore and burns.

Chelidonium Majus -Constipation with stools hard, round balls like sheeps dung, bright yellow, pasty; clay colored, stool floats in water. Diarrhea alternates with constipation. Burning and itching in anus.

Collinsonia Canadensis Pelvic and portal congestion causes hemorrhoids and constipation, especially in females. Hemorrhoids and constipation are withsensation of sharp sticks in rectum.Bowel symptoms are worse in evening and at night. Most obstinate constipation with aching in anus and hypogastrium. Constipation of pregnancy.Collinsonia has a symptom found under Opium, namely, dry balls of fecal matter are passed from the rectum; but they differ from those of Opium is that they are of a light colour.

Sepia :In women suffering from severe bearing down pelvic pains extending to the rectum with an ineffectual urge to pass stools.

Nux Vomica: For patients who are thin, highly irritable and very sensitive to noise and drafts of air. Bowels would move only after strong purgatives. Pain in bowels with great straining. May have been caused by excessive use of tobacco, wines and coffee. Constipation with ineffectual desire felt in abdomen. It is induced by lazy habits. Give in 200 or 1000 potency. Fastidious, fussy about order, the Nux vomica system is revved up, sensitive to touch,pain, noise, odours, music, food and medication. Tend to be a light sleeper and are angry and irritable if sleep is disturbed. Digestive complaints after eating meat, milk or cold food or headache and respiratory complaints an hour after eating. Constipation with desire for stool. Worse by exposure to cold and being uncovered as they tend to

be very chilly in general. Useful for: allergies, anger, asthma, colic, colds, constipation,diarrhea, fever, food poisoning, headaches, hives, indigestion, insomnia. An important constipation remedy when there are changes in diet especially when traveling.

You can think of Nux vomica in situations where you maybe are tired from over activity and then take a glass or two of wine before bed; then wake in the morning with a headache and possibly indigestion and then to take the edge off the headache, you might reach for pain relief (Tylenol, Advil etc) which may upset the stomach more. Irritability ensues and being out of routine can create a situation of constipation where there is urging to go but nothing comes of it or it may feel quite unsatisfactory as if something were still left.Here are a couple more descriptions of Nux vomica: #Nux vomica In many cases of inveterate constipation calling for this, that, and the other remedy, it will be noticed that expected results are not obtained and will not be obtained and will not be obtained until Nux vomica has been given to antidote the effects of drastic medicines. It is due not only to inactivity of the intestines, but to an irregularity of the peristaltic actions, giving rise to the great characteristic, constant ineffectual urging to stool, and when the stool does occur it is incomplete and unsatisfactory, as if a part remained behind. Even soft stools are expelled with difficulty. Small quantities may be expelled with each attempt. The mental symptoms of Nux are important in treating constipation, for the effect that constipation has upon the minds of some people is well known. In cases indicating Nux vomica there will be a great crossness, irascibility and objection to all opposition. The Nux stool is also apt to be large, and hemorrhoids are a frequent accompaniment, Great urge to pass stool, but nothing passed, or passing stools and feeling that there is more to come, especially if person is sedentary, elderly, or studying hard, chronic use of laxatives, chilliness, irritability.

Nitric ac. 30c :Boiling sensation in bowels, splinter-like pains last for hours after passing stools as if

something has been torn, also burning and itching, Desire for stool but passes very little; ineffectual urging to stool with sharp, splinter-like cutting pains in rectum during stool and this pain remains for hours, patient feels as if stool remains in rectum and could not pass

Opium: Constipation due to inaction of the intestines. There is no desire for stool. When it is passed, it is like hard dry black balls. There is inaction as well as dryness in the intestines. Dryness of the mouth and stomach. The patient feels no discomfort by not passing stools for days together. There is no urge for stool.

Plumbum :Head remedy for chronic constipation. It is also like opium constipation but there is some action in the intestines. There is urging to stool but it is passed with great difficulty. There is loss of muscular activity and diminished secretion of intestinal glands. Stool hard and lumpy causing fissures. Sharp griping pains, straining produces little pills which are hard, black, and dry, and at the same time bowels feel as if they are being drawn up towards the spine on a piece

of string, person habitually constipated

Lycopodium: Constipation of the most severe kind. Ineffective urging to stool. Acidity and burning in the stomach which is better by eructations. digestion impaired; hard stools; passed with difficulty; much loud flatus; pain in abdomen from left to right; tension with itching in anus in the evening; aggravation 4 to 8 pm.; abdominal plethora with constipation in old people of the higher classes; who are suffering from retarded defecation.

Sulphur :Constipationstools hard, knotty, dry as if burnt, large, painful; child is afraid to have the stool on account of pain. Ineffectual urging accompanied by painful burning sensation, when passed stools are dark, large, hard, and dry, always feeling that there is more to come, person suffers from piles or anal fissure, constipation alternates with bouts of diarrhoea, stools are passed every 2-4 days when constipated S

Gratiola: Constipation of cancer. Rectum constricted.

Selenium: Constipation; hard evacuation which can be removed only by mechanical aid. Stools exceedingly difficult and threaten to tear anus by their immense size. Filaments, like hair, in faeces.

Syphil : Obstinate constipation for years, rectum seems tied up with strictures. When enema was used, the agony of passage was like labour.

Ignatia constipation in consequences of cold, or from carriage, from riding in a carriage; great desire to pass stool; constriction in the anus after stool

Kali carb stool insufficient; bowels inactive; large sized feces; feels distressed an hour or two before stool.

Natrum Mur: When stool is hard and crumbly. The rectum is dry, the stool is hard to expel and causes bleeding; smarting and soreness in the rectum, after the motion. constipation from inactivity of rectum; obstinate constipation; with much perspiration, Constipation obstinate, stool hard, difficult, crumbling, difficult expulsion of feces, fissuring the anus, with bleeding during stool, leaving behindsoreness at anus, constipation from inactivity of rectum, worse when walking about, with troublesome perspiration at theslightest movement. Natrum mur suits to depressed peoples who are prone to take cold, skin troubles like eczema and have irritability and dryness of mucous membranes andemaciated.

Graphites: Constipation with no urging for stool. No stool for days together when blotches on the face appear. Constipation with haemorrhoids and fissures which burn, smart and itch intolerably. Aching of the anus after stool. The general Graphites temperament of sadness and obesity will easily decide for the remedy. Mucus coated stool. It suits specially the women who suffer from a neglect to attend promptly to nature's call. The patient is exceedingly sensitive, nervous, finds it difficult to concentrate. Difficulty in getting up in the the morning. No desire to open bowels for several days, then griping, colicky pain followed by passage of large stool covered in white mucus, bowels ache afterwards, person may have piles or an anal fissure and be overweight

Platina: Is indicated in constipation of travellers and emigrants where the trouble is brought on by change in the manner of living. Frequent urging, scanty and dry stool. Constipation after lead poisoning when Nux Vom. fails. excellent remedy for constipation while travelling.

Podophyllum remedy for constipation of children after a spell of diarrhea.

Ignatia constipation in consequences of cold, or from carriage, from riding in a carriage; great desire to pass stool; constriction in the anus after stool

Kali carb stool insufficient; bowels inactive; large sized feces; feels distressed an hour or two before stool.

Veratrum Alb: Complete atony of the intestines. The faeces accumulate in large masses in the rectum, the patient strains and strains, often breaking out into a sweat, but finally has to give it up, and the faeces have to be removed by artificial means.

Stannum M: Constipation on days following rest days.

Podophyllum : Chronic constipation associated with prolapsus of the rectum or anus.

Lac Vacc. Defl: Constipation where rectum seems paralyzed. The stool recedes even on prolonged straining.

Magnesia Carb : Puny and sickly children who refuse food or milk because they get pain in stomach if they take it; they suffer from diarrhoea, green stools with marasmus.

Medorrhinum: Likes to lean backwards to pass stool.

Magnesia Mur :Painful urging before stool; burning in anus after the stool. Intestinal atony and atony of bladder. Urine can only be passed by leaning down and by pressing the abdominal muscles. Constipation in children during dentition. Flatulence. The motions are large, long, hard and knotty but cause no pain.

Hydrastis: For constipation give in IX potency three drops a dose thrice daily. Constipation with sinking feeling in stomach and dull headache. Smarting pain during stool in rectum and long lasting pains after stool. The bowels are apt to be constipated, the stools being coated or intermixed with mucus.

Ambra Grisea: Inveterate constipation in old people, especially when stool cannot be passed if there is anyone near about him.

Sanicula: Constipation; stools large and hard impossible to evacutate. After great straining it is partially expelled and a portion recedes which must be removed mechanically. Stool several inches long not requiring much effort to evacuate.

Silicea: Horribly offensive stools often hard and difficult to evacuate. Foul smelling wind. Abdomen hard and swollen.

Tarentula H: Inveterate constipation with distress that the patient rolls from side to side which affords relief to the distress.