Bowel symptoms: ‘I wouldn’t drink if my husband was home’

Teen magazine’s tips on how to “secretly poo without your boyfriend knowing” left a lasting impression on Jane Moore.

One tip even suggested a woman take an over-the-counter medication to avoid the need to poo during a night out with a partner, she said.

The 35-year-old recently realized he had adopted some of these habits, but the embarrassment masked a serious health condition.

When she and her husband first met, she would wait for him to leave the house before she would “go poo”, or she would “run the taps” if he was upstairs.

“I remember having such an insight reading that article and clearly internalizing it and not even realizing it yet.”

Last year, when he suffered from rectal bleeding, he was forced to “open up about something I had kept to myself for years”.

It was the first time she had spoken about the issue with her husband, Chris, despite being together for almost 15 years.

Four months after excision surgery for endometriosis and hysterectomy for adenomyosis, she worried that the bleeding was a sign of delayed complications.

But an unrelated MRI later confirmed it was endometriosis deep in her bowels.

The women’s health campaigner – originally from Swansea, but now living in Cambridge – said: “I talk about my body parts and periods online all the time, I didn’t think my body taboo about. But it was there.”

She laughed as she recalled her medical note detailing that she was “notorious for constipation”.

“I have been constipated for as long as I can remember, there were times where I would go once a week.

“In fact, I thought there was something wrong with people if they were really regular in the bathroom – I was brought up in a generation where girls were said to sparkle and act like rainbows. “

Embarrassment had kept Jane from speaking, but not for Emma Williams Tully.

The 39-year-old, from Wrexham, also has endometriosis. She said she felt “phobic” when she told doctors about her constipation and rectal bleeding.

“When I got constipated no matter what medicine I took I couldn’t go to the toilet for 10 days at a time and was in absolute agony.

“I went to different specialists over the border in England and every single colonoscopy came back normal.”

When she was diagnosed with endometriosis at 21, she recalls her consultant admitting: “We thought you’d been making it all this time.”

She praised the team of doctors who are now helping her, but described the years of endometriosis as “torturous”.

She has had a total of 11 surgeries, including a hysterectomy and removal of her colon, leaving her with an ileostomy stoma.

“I don’t want to scare people and think just because they have diarrhea or constipation that it’s going to happen to them. But it’s about your advocacy.”

Julie Cornish, a colorectal surgeon at Cardiff and Vale Health Board, said patients had “usually been in pain for some time” when they came to them.

“Things have escalated, because people are too shy to talk.

“Constipation is common, it affects about 20 percent of the population,” he said, but added that in the worst cases, patients experience it once a month.

“It’s extreme, but we’re seeing patients in their early 20s who have had trouble opening their bowels since they were young and it never goes away. They’ve developed a lot over time. All the laxatives have been taken and their colon is gone.”

There are simple steps that can help, she added.

“The gut is one of the most important organs in the body, if it doesn’t work well – you know about it. But we don’t talk about it, that’s the problem.

“We need a public health campaign around bladder and bowel.”

Don’t miss it: “You can get people who decide they’re just going to go to the toilet in their house,” Julie Cornish said.

“If they go on holiday for a week, they take something to stop them going to the toilet because they don’t want to do it anywhere else. Or they think going to work is unpleasant or embarrassing, so they stop. Let’s take it.”

Water: “Make sure you drink plenty of water. Caffeine is great for the gut in terms of making it work harder, but it’s not great if you’re getting diarrhea.”

Exercise: “Just a simple 15- to 20-minute walk—your core abdominal muscles work like a washing machine and will help move the bowels.”

Diet: “You can increase the amount of fruit and fiber in your diet. You can look for things like psyllium husk, flaxseed and chia seeds to encourage him to move.”

“A lot of people don’t actually look at their poo, but you should,” said Julie Cornish.

“Is there any blood? What’s the consistency of the poo?

“Look Bristol stool chart. If it’s type one or type two that’s rabbit pellets or Maltesers stuck together, that suggests you need a little more water or fiber in your diet.

“If you’re having trouble emptying your bowels, or you’re having a lot of bloating, you may be constipated or have a pelvic floor disorder – you may need to see a physiotherapist. be

“Opening your bowels every one to three days, with a smooth stool, is considered normal.

“If you notice a significant change in your bowel habits – an increase or decrease in frequency, or if you experience significant pain, bloating, weight loss or blood in your stools, please see your GP.”