Authored by BlueAngel on
Monday, January 12, 2004
Courtesy of Post Polio Newsletter, The Post Polio Network of WA, Inc., March 2002 Volume 13 No. 1.
Anyone who has ever been in hospital, will remember the strange question, “Have you had your bowels open today?” Whose business is it ! - such an intimate topic — to anyone else but me?
In ancient times — when we were children — there were such things as a Saturday dose of Caster Oil. My Mother, a nurse, was a bit enlightened and we got Milk of Magnesia! People seemed to have an obsession with “being regular”. Dad used “Ford Pills”. If we kids were lucky. we might get “laxettes” (a chocolate aperient). More recent research confirms that yes. the longer the faeces remain in the gut, more water is reabsorbed making it harder to move it along. With stagnation, more toxins are produced by bacteria in the gut and these can find their way into the body causing more problems. So there was some wisdom in “being regular”.
As a nurse, learning how to read “poop” was part of out basic training. Many diseases and other problems were portrayed in the “pot” and a nurse’s duty was the inspection of a used bedpan. My husband had problems breathing if he didn’t empty his bowels two or three times a day. With weak intercostals muscles from polio, he needed abdominal space for diaphragmatic breathing. He had a regime of scrapped apples, and raw cabbage at certain times of the day to make him “go”. In hospital we used to use a variety of aperients, - agarol, senakot, coloxyl, durolax, and glycerine suppositories, soap enemas, as well as dietary measures like hot water, prunes, allbran, figs, grapes, dried fruit, to name but a few. CONSTIPATION In reality, if we have sufficient Vitamin C and magnesium, we will not have any problems with our bowels, too much of either of these (or carnitine) gives diarrhoea. So if we take supplements of both bowel tolerance we need not ever have problems with constipation again. As well, our bodies will have sufficient of both of these for healthy immune, muscular & peristaltic function. In other words, magnesium allows the gut muscles to push it along and Vitamin C makes it softer and hurries it along! WATER The other thing we need, is plenty of water to dilute the internal sewerage so it can flow.— 8-10 glasses of water— not tea or coffee or soda or hard drinks. Plain water! Grandad always had hot water to move him! So what can we learn from our “poop”? A normal stool should be soft, may be formed, effortless to pass and should be medium to dark brown in colour, does not float — but sinks to the bottom of the toilet bowl. Constipation: Diarrhoea: SOME SIMPLE TREATMENTS For vomiting & diarrhoea or food poisoning — boil water for 24 hours — may sip a dessert spoon of white malt vinegar over 5 minutes — or take 60 ml colloidal silver once or twice a day as needed. The table below is a synopsis of ways to inmate a productive regimen to produce the desired results in your health practices.
Hard pellet- like stool, can be an effort or strain to pass; be painful, you can sweat or feel faint.
Frequent, loose, watery stool, may have difficulty getting to the toilet in time.
This article also has a rather long table describing the various colors and consistency of stool which will be included in this newsletter and can be used as the reader sees fit as a pull out.
Read Comments »