If not, could you redirect me to the appropriate subreddit?

If you are reading this, you may have been like me; just taken your first dose, felt a little "something", and are now wondering what you've signed up for!

I read a few reviews via Google, Dulcolax website, but found it more whiny than helpful. So here is the benefit of my experience (advice first, anecdotes after)

MY TOP 5 TIPS:

1. Accept that it is going to suck. You're not going to have a magical unicorn of a poo and everything will be roses. Dulcolax is a stimulant, so it's going to cause your bowels to involuntarily contract. This is not pleasant. The warning on the box, "may cause faintness" is not referring to some light-headedness; it's referring to the fact that the cramping may cause you to feel like fainting. Be honest with yourself about your pain/fear tolerance- something Senakot or some more fibrous methods may be a better fit for you. (I have had success with canned red kidney beans.) That being said, if it's too late for you and you've already taken it, try to relax: this is temporary and you will not die.

2. Don't stray too far from the toilet. This is not going to be a one-time performance; there are going to be curtain calls and repeat showtimes. Hopefully you have more than one toilet in your home.

3. The box says it will start working in 6-12 hours, but depending on your body, the show may start in 2-4 hours. I would overall recommend not making any plans for 12-14 hours after dosage.

4. Have a toolkit ready: these were the most helpful for me:

[1] A thick towel: in case you feel faint, or feel like vomiting, a nice thick towel on the floor you can kneel on is good. Also, if the cramping gets bad, you can find a pose that feels good to you; for me it was kneeling on all fours with my butt up in the air.

[2] An afghan (the blanket, not the nationality): I had the shakes, as well as ending up sleeping on the bathroom floor (on the above-mentioned towel!)

[3] An interactive toy: You will want something to take your mind off what's going on inside your body. It may be too difficult to concentrate on a book, so I would recommend something you have to interact with, such as a smartphone or portable gaming system.

[4] A bottle of water or sports drink: you are going to lose a lot of water, and this can be dangerous. Dulcolax is going to make your stomach upset, so I wouldn't recommend chugging; just sip it as you are able.

5. Finally, Don't eat within an hour of taking Dulcolax- I did this, and having my bowels evacuated while having undigested food sitting in there made me feel pretty awful.

Hopefully these tips will be useful to you, or to helping you decide if Dulcolax is the right choice for you. My experience is as follows:

I typically poo once a week, which is unhealthy, but does not bother me much. I recently had an injury, and the painkillers added to my already chronic constipation forced me to take stool softeners for the first time in my life.

I chose Dulcolax because I work in a hospital setting and it is commonly prescribed there. Restoralax is considered "the best", however because of that I wanted to "save it" as a last resort, should nothing else work. I picked up some "Dulcolax for Women" (why for women??) and didn't read the side effects because working in this field, I know that even if 1 out of 100 research patients suffer an "adverse event", it has to be reported on the list of side effects. It said "gentle relief" and that was good enough for me.

I'm off work due to injury, so I knew if I was shitting through the eye of a needle the next day, no big deal. I chose to take it before bed, so I could look forward to an epic morning. Four hours post-dose, the show began. I experienced severe stomach cramps, cold sweats/shaking, whilst simultaneously feeling like I was going to vomit, and then feeling like I was going to faint. I actually fell off the toilet onto all fours on the bathroom floor, trying to put my head down so I wouldn't pass out. This was the only time I was frightened, and I grabbed the box to see what the side effects were. "MAY CAUSE FAINTNESS", "DO NOT GIVE TO THE ELDERLY" had me wondering what I had signed up for, but it was too late now so I hung on for the ride, which lasted from 2:00-4:30 a.m. The actual fainting/nausea/scary part only lasted 20 minutes, the rest of the night was simply spent alternating between pooping pure liquids and sleeping on the floor, like a typical bout of diarrhea.

I felt like the party was over and I could return to bed at 4:30 a.m. About 13.5 hours post-dose I had another liquid BM, and that has been it. Still feeling crampy and violated, but I think the shits have ceased, and I've managed to eat a little. I don't think I will ever do it again, but it got the job done.

TL;DR: you are going to feel like you might actually die for about 20 minutes, but otherwise o.k. Don't make any plans for 12-14 hours

• tl;dr

• Technique

  • Posture

    • Alternative variation (23/08/2022)

  • Prep

    • Lubrication / Enema

  • Motion

  • Hygeine

  • After

    • Wiping

    • Bath

• Diet

  • Fiber

  • Cheese

  • Milk

  • Seeds

  • Chewing

• Wind

• Incomplete Evacuation

• Anal spasm

• Sex and Masturbation

• Long sitting

• Stress

• Standing

• Exercise

First, I'm not a doctor.

I have had problems with haemorrhoids for a while.

It has taken me so long to develop proper pooping technique / diet / lifestyle in order to avoid them. I've been able to avoid flareups for 6 months at time so far.

I think they are way more of a widespread issue than numbers would suggest. Most people wouldn't realize they have them, and many probably won't see a doctor about them because they are embarrassing.

It's funny though that each time I have a flare up it would be the result of something new that I didn't realize was an issue. I wish someone had told me about all this earlier.

tl;dr

• Never push/strain!

• Always take off your pants and underwear. You want to be able to splay your legs wide.

• If you need to wait for it to arrive, use the Yoga "puppy pose" position on the floor, and "cat (with pushed out stomach) and cow" positions.

• Don't sit on toilet. Prefer a squat position. Lean forwards, like a sprinter in the blocks. Press up on balls of feet. Push out stomach. Legs together or apart - try both.

• Don't stay in fixed position. Find what feels natural.

Technique

Posture

I read long ago about the squatting technique and was a big fan. But I think its hugely counter-productive too. It makes everyone go to Amazon and by the foot stool to put in front of the toilet. These are really bad!

They usually have fixed foot positions which make you end up in an unnatural position.

The key I have found is freedom of movement.

When we use to squat as cavemen, we had full freedom of movement and positioning. There wasn't a designated hole somewhere we had to use, or a place where we had to put our feet like in south asian countries floor squat toilets even. We also could also place a hand on a tree or hold onto a stick if necessary for balance.

The modern toilet takes away all of this.

If you have freedom, you are able to find the perfect posture and motion.

But alas we have to adapt as best we can to modern life.

A way to replicate the squat on a conventional toilet is to lean forward and put your hands on the ground like you are starting a 100m sprint race. Your legs should be splayed outwards like 45 degrees. You should be able to push your stomach out without any restriction Once you splay your legs you will see that your stomach is no longer restricted as it would be if you were sitting with your legs in front of you. A key to this is taking off your pants. Your pants will restrict your ability to splay your legs adequately. You should also be up on the balls of your feet which helps to increase the angle to better replicate a squat.

I feel like leaning forwards is actually better than doing a full squat over a hole. A full squat can actually create more straining. You ideally want something to hold onto to maintain your balance. Having the toilet seat to lean back on can actually be useful for balance.

Sometimes you will feel that the toilet seat is maybe a little too high blocking some movement, especially if you have shorter legs.

Alternative variation (23/08/2022)

I have recently had success with actually keeping legs together, while still splaying feet outwards and leaning forwards. Your heels should point outward, and you should be on the balls of your feet.

With the legs together, I feel like the anus is actually a bit more unrestricted. If you move your legs open and then together you can kind of feel that it's slightly more unrestricted towards the back. But as always, it's good to find what works for you. A mix of position can help during the different stages of defecation.

Prep

You should always begin by relaxing the external sphincter. I find a good way to do this is to do a "reverse fart". I really cannot find the scientific term for it. There is a certain body position you can do that will trigger it. It is very similar to the Yoga position "child's pose". Go onto all fours, and then stick your butt in the air and put your head on the floor. You should be on the balls of your feet and legs splayed out to the sides. I usually put my head and hands on a dry towel on the floor, which allows me to move forwards and backwards to find the ideal position. After a while you will feel your anus open and suck in air.

You can also make adjustments while in this position to help the stool progress into your anal canal. Play around with it by moving your body forwards and backwards and sucking in and pushing our your stomach.

I also find that alternating between the cat/cow yoga position can help. When in the cat position, push out your stomach.

It can become a nice relaxing ritual.

You should stay in this position until you feel like you are reading to go.

Then you shuffle back onto the toilet in your leaning-forwards squat position with hands on floor.

To perform the actual bowel movement, I find that sometimes I will make small adjustments as necessary. Like leaning further forwards with your upperbody coming closer to your thighs, extending the legs a bit. During the movement, it sometimes feels natural to extend the legs a bit as you finish. Sometimes you may want to take your hands off the ground and sit upright a bit with an arched back.

The key is to do what feels natural.

You can always return to the floor position if necessary to help progress further stools along.

You can also try standing up and pushing your lower abs / stomach out. Sometimes this triggers some movement. Just move around and try things is the key takeaway here.

Once you start using this method you will get a feel for what is the perfect position. It will come naturally. The goal is to never need to push.

Lubrication / Enema

Sometimes it can help to add lubrication. Get some water up there. A Japanese toilet is ideal. Their ass cleaning feature is also sometimes described as an enema or has an enema-mode.

You can also use a spray bottle with water, and spray there when in downward dog.

If you have an enema kit to squirt water up there that can be useful too.

You can also spit in your fingers and self-lubricate if you are game, again in the downward dog position.

I find that this can help push a BM along. It's like the body senses an incomplete bowel movement or that something is there, and pushes things along. Usually there is a harder piece of stool that is holding the rest of a good stool up. A little lubrication here helps a lot.

Motion

The golden rule is to never push with the external sphincter. This is what causes haemorrhoids.

The main control you have down there is to push and pull with the external sphincter, and to "bear down" (pushing out the stomach).

Ideally you have the "I really need to go feeling / I can't hold it", and it will just come out through the force of the internal sphincter. What you want to use is the pulling motion, to pull back over the stool as it passes. It's similar to squeezing the sphincter, but you will feel your abs sucking in a little.

Pushing the stomach out is very useful and safe as long as you don't push with the sphincter. Sometimes I find that when my abs can push against something it puts more force down towards the rectum which can help. This may come from moving legs closer together or pressing with hands.

Sometimes you can reach around and use your middle finger to push just above your anus and below the tail bone to move things along. Only needed in rare cases. You will feel if this is necessary,

You can also try twisting your body. Like reach your arm back towards your butt from each side. You can do this in yoga cow position or while squatting on toilet.

Also, moving legs together can help things too I found recently.

Hygeine

The biggest issue you can have is the stool hitting the back of the toilet seat. This is rare though. If you have diarrhea though its going to be a problem - don't try it. Usually D comes easily so its okay to sit for that.

Just make sure to clean if anything goes wrong.

After

Wiping

Spit on your toilet paper!

This will change your life. It is by far the best way to wipe if you don't have a bidet. Way better than wet wipes too. They are still a corse texture and can irritate.

There is a perfect number of "plys" that you need such that it doesn't break and such that you can still feel the area to know when its clean (and also to survey for any developing hemmroids). It's best to buy 4-ply paper when you can. I find that two sheets though is too much. I think 6 plys is actually ideal. Again, something you will get a feel for.

To dry if necessary, use a normal piece of toilet paper to dab. You can place it on the anus and then just squeeze/pucker anus. No rubbing!

I don't like Japanese toilets that much because the jet can be too aggressive, and you don't want to dry the area out too much with the drying function.

The separate floor standing bidet is probably the best.

If you have your own bath you can actually use it as a bidet too.

Bath

A bath is good to soothe especially if you have HRs. Try bend legs though, don't put too much pressure on your butt.

A bath can also help if you have feeling of incomplete evacuation which can lead to straining. Jumping in bath seems to start the urge.

Diet

High protein bodybuilding diets have been the biggest problem for me. I am a hard-gainer, and so I reached for things like milk and cottage cheese to get the extra calories. These are so bad for my digestion and cause constipation, which have often led to haemorrhoid. I now avoid them.

Fiber

Eat lots of fiber. Fiber retains water that provides bulk to your stool to make it easier to pass.

Eat salads and vegetables as sides to every meal. Use metamucil.

Cheese

Too much cheese is a huge danger for me. I find it makes the stool thin, rubbery, and squishy.

For me this consistency is as bad as a really hard stool. It feels like when you try to push it out, the rectal muscles just squish or indent it, instead of helping it slide along. One time I ate an extremely delicious and oily four cheese pizza, and when I had to go 2 days later, I just couldn't get it to move, and this stool just sat in my sphincter, I had to push, and bang, haemorrhoid.

A good analogy is squeezing toothpaste. When the container is full its easy. But when there is only a little bit left its really hard to squeeze it out. Obviously not exactly the same because we are ideally dealing with lumps not paste. But when you have thin stool, its much harder to push out.

I find especially mozzarella and cottage cheese. I also find it happens with strained yoghurt like Chobani or Skyr.

When eating a lot of cheese in Spain and France, I usually manage to make myself constipated. I think part of it is not drinking enough water because hot weather, and constantly being on activities. When pee is not clear then its danger time.

I'm currently trying to chew the cheese a lot, eat a lot of bread with it, and drink a lot of water. But it still causes some constipation I find.

Milk

I used to like drinking whole milk. But it would always lead to constipation because of the high fat content. I avoid it now. Also gives me too much wind. Excess wind can be a cause of hemmroids.

Seeds

I find adding Chia seeds to porridge produces flaky stool that is harder to parse, and ends up with seeds getting stuck in the anal canal which is uncomfortable. This sometimes causes an unfinished feeling and the urge to push to remove it. It's best to just clean in shower. But I tend to avoid them.

Chewing

Chew your food a lot. Try 20-30 chews per bite. Helps with digestion as your stomach and small intestine don't have to break it down as much.

Wind

This can be a cause of hemmroids. Avoid things that make you gassy. Milk, cheese and the rest. I don't find drinking soda water to be a problem, its more about the number of times you need to fart. When I drink milk I will have really bad farts over like 30mins to 1hour contantly arriving. When it's normal air its okay because it can be passed all at once in a few times. But when you constantly have small farts that you need to squeeze your sphincter to stop its bad.

When you are passing wind, there is a technique to it as well. As always, you don't want to push. You want use the pulling motion instead. But for this you need to relax the sphincter first, and then pull upwards. I find squeezing my sphincter and then leaning back in an office chair can be useful technique to avoid pushing. But again, freedom of movement is the key to avoiding this pushing.

The "reverse fart" technique is actually useful to relieve bad farts. It can help clear out your system and prevent the need for much squeezing.

Incomplete Evacuation

Sometimes after a good BM I will experience the intense urge to continue to evacuate, even though the stool that comes out is not completely processed. Its like the contractions in the colon don't stop.

I find that if I jump in a hot bath, the contractions stop. So its generally good to have a bath ready. Otherwise, standup and put your pants back on. It seems like its a mental thing. Your body needs the signal that pooping time is over.

Anal spasm

Sometimes I will get an intense pain around the anus for around 30 mins. I think it's called "proctalgia fugax". It usually occurs in 2-3 waves. The pain is a very intense, teeth-gritting pain. I take paracetamol immediately. I've found the child's pose position helps relieve the pain a bit. Usually happens late at night when lying in bed.

I always thought the pain was related to the sphincter but I have realized it only appears like that. It seems massaging just below the tail bone on either side where there is a bone seems to hone in on the source of the pain.

I think it's caused by long periods of sitting and also seems to occur after sex sometimes.

Sex and Masturbation

Sadly too much sex is a bad thing.

There is definitely a correlation to masturbation. Keep sessions short. Once per day max. Never wank when you can't get hard easily - e.g. you are just bored and not super horny. If you keep going soft and then hard again, this change in pressure can contribute to it. And also be careful after you have been standing up for a while. And after drinking is bad too. Usually standing and drinking go together at a bar. Have a warm bath after a session if possible - don't immediately sit. Sitting in a chair is bad.

Long sitting

Sometimes if I am up late working it has caused them.

Stress

Can definitely cause them but usually coupled with long periods of sitting.

Standing

I used to stand at my standing desk all day. I developed a large one that left a skin tag. I had a lot of wind at the time, and this was coupled with some constipation too. Then I went on vacation and was walking around and standing for long periods of time, and it took much longer to disappear than previous ones. It could have been a variety of factors though such as how large it initially was. But generally, not a good idea to stand too longer in one position.

Exercise

You should exercise every day.

UPDATE (01/08/2022) - a few more notes:

When in the cow yoga position, while pushing your stomach out, try doing a small pushup motion by bending your elbows. I find this helps to progress things along. Just make sure your are splaying your feet outwards and your feet are flexed - that is, the balls of your feet touch the ground.

Splayed means toes pointing outwards and heels inwards. I also find you can open up further by rolling your ankles outwards but its harder to hold this position.

When I am resting on the edge of the toilet seat, I find that my arms are actually inside my knees, and my elbows/upper warms push/rest against the inside of my knees for support.

UPDATE (23/08/2022):

I've recently started using a variation of the posture. Touching knees and thighs together, while splaying feet outwards such that heels are pointing outwards and you are on the balls of your feet. Very important to take pants and underwear off completely to allow feet to be set wide enough.

I'm not sure why this works yet.

Your thighs in front of your abs help provide something to push against with your stomach to redirect force downwards.

UPDATE (23/01/2023):

Mooing like a cow works REALLY well. When you strain normally in the valsalva maneuver, your throat is fully closed which forces pressure down on your diaphragm. When you slightly open your throat, it allows some of the pressure to release, which allows you to control the pressure much more smoothly.

Also, I found when on the floor on your knees in puppy pose, you want to roll your knees outwards. This helps to open up the hips and relax the anus more.

that I just pushed so hard it cracked my back. Good day.

And I don't mean at the same time. Like you poop, then pee, etc.... One of my coworkers said that pooping and peeing are separate events and no man should pee while sitting down. I don't always pee when I poop, but it happens more often than not.

Edit: not looking for a psych analysis for my coworker. He's a cool guy (who knows, he could be trolling me). Just was curious.

Original by fishbulbx

Whatever you have hemorrhoids , anal fissure , constipation or your ass hurts when and after pooping , take a 15-30 min bath before pooping, it reduces the pain in the ass , for me it reduced it about 40-50% .

I'm not generally one to talk about my shit but last week I had an experience so horrid I actually feel the need to share it, in hopes that some poor soul can avoid having to go through what I did.

If you eat reasonably healthily, do not, I repeat do not just suddenly go on a fortnight long junk food binge.

It will fuck you up.

I went to the toilet expecting to take a normal dump, something that for me is like a 2 minute process. I was there for an hour and a half.

It started off normal enough but then quickly became apparent I was in trouble. It was so big, and so fucking solid that no amount of clenches was going to lighten the load for me.

When all was done, I was shaking and drenched in sweat. It hurt so much and felt like I had passed something so big, that I decided to stand up and take a look.

It was almost perfectly square and it filled the entire circumference of the toilet bowl. The texture looked like sun dried clay. Rock hard and full of cracks.

It took an hour and a half because there is no action you can possibly do, that will help you pass a brick through your arse hole. You just gotta let gravity do its thing.

This shit has cured me of my fear of child birth. It was that bad.

If someone stumbles across this because their feeling a bit blocked up. Imagine having to shit an actual brick. Then go eat an entire pack of all bran.

For the love of god do not put your body through that pain.

side note I somehow accidentally submitted this to ask reddit. Please feel free to find my embarrassment funny.

If you’re like me and have been dealing with chronic anal fissures, bleeding, cuts, scrapes, and itching for weeks, months or years on end, then you’re gonna want to hear this.

I’ve been dealing with these symptoms for 5 years now. I’ve been to multiple colorectal doctors who have attempted to treat me with creams, ointments, Botox injections and all of them told me I would need a sphincterotomy if all those failed, which they did. The side effects of the sphincterotomy procedure were scary. A risk of permanent incontinence. Um no thanks. So I put it off for years, literally. I dealt with the itching and burning, the pain. No cream or ointment or warm shower or warm bath helped.

I had nowhere to turn and started to feel like this was just a problem I would have to deal with the rest of my life. And when you have something that is a literal pain in your ass, it gets depressing, it keeps you from wanting to go outside and do things that you normally do, it makes you want to lay in bed all day because the pain is too much. It hurts to walk let alone run or exercise. The culprit for all of this was simply just because I have a very tight anus. Every time I took a shit it felt like passing a cucumber through a keyhole. I’ve tried every method in the book, from putting Vaseline on it so the poop slides out easier from taking a sitz bath before to help relax the anus and make it more pliable for the bowel movement to occur. Drinking at least 64 - 120 ounces of water every single day along with a fiber supplement.

Sure some of these methods helped but they weren’t fixing the root of the problem. It wasn’t until I saw a urologist for another problem entirely that led me to where I am now, which is a clear path to healing and getting my life back.

I went to see a urologist because I have been experiencing intermittent burning sensations at the tip of my penis post ejaculation for over a decade. Why did I wait for over a decade to see a urologist you’re probably asking? Because my primary care doctor ran STD tests, urine tests, blood tests and found absolutely nothing wrong with me. It wasn’t until I requested to see a urologist this year that actually made him give me a referral.

So I go to my urologist, he gives me a cystoscopy, which is probably one of the most painful things I’ve ever experienced and I do not recommend doing but I really had no other choice because like I said, I was clean of STDs, my primary care doctor didn’t know what else it could be except for prostatitis, chronic prostatitis that is because I’ve been dealing with it for over a decade. The urologist found nothing wrong, no prostatitis and sat me down and just told me “you just have a tight pelvic floor”. I said “a tight pelvic what?” He said “tight pelvic floor muscles, I’m going to give you a referral to a physical therapist that specializes in tight pelvic floor.”

At this point it was pretty disheartening that he didn’t find anything in the cystoscopy, like why couldn’t he just find chronic prostatitis, give me some antibiotics that would cure my pain in my dick and give me some good news? But no. I now have to go see a physical therapist which we all know can take months to see results and healing.

So I made an appointment to see this pelvic floor specialist in my area and I told them my problems I was experiencing including all of my bowel problems. The PT looked me dead in the eye and said “you’re in the right place. All the symptoms you’re experiencing are connected to the tight pelvic floor and most people don’t even know these group of muscles exist. And most doctors do not even acknowledge that physical therapy for pelvic pain is a real thing”.

She took out a skeletal model of the pelvic floor showing the surrounding muscles in the groin area and how they are all connected from the pubic bone all the way to the anus. She told me all of my muscles there are tight which is causing the difficulty in bowel movements and all of my problems there as well as the burning sensation that I experience when I ejaculate because as you ejaculate your muscles clench and tense up and if they’re already tight in that area then that explains the burning sensations.

Treatment for this problem involves weekly one hour long sessions where she massages the muscles in that area and in your legs, groin and buttocks. Pulling the skin and releasing the tight layer of facia covering your muscles is part of the therapy and it gets better and easier after each session. She then does internal work, inserting one finger into the anus and gently massaging the internal muscles to become more pliable. She said mine are very tight in that area and explains all of the issues that I’ve been dealing with for over five years. But I am five sessions in to this treatment and my pain and itching and everything I’ve been experiencing is dramatically improving. They give you foam rolling exercises and stretches and diaphragmatic breathing exercises to do daily between your visits and it is helping me dramatically.

I can’t tell you enough how important it is to see if there is a physical therapist in your area that specializes in pelvic floor, do yourself a favor and seek this out before ever considering a sphincterotomy. Which if you don’t know, is surgery where they cut a piece of your sphincter muscle out so it permanently relaxes. A major thing, where incontinence can occur. For those of you who have done the procedure, I hope there weren’t any complications and you’re getting your relief, but I am just glad I found this alternate option before I went through with surgery.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to be as detailed as possible because if any of you are struggling out there, I wanted to list out my experience to see if you related to any of it along the way.

TL;DR: if you’re experiencing chronic anal fissures, rectal bleeding, cuts, scrapes and pain, please seek out a pelvic floor therapist in your area. Your symptoms could be related to tight pelvic floor muscles. There are a lot of great, informative YouTube videos out there about this. Do your research about it and see if this might help you. It did for me and I’m getting my life back.

So it was first brought to my attention a few years ago that some adults use baby wipes or something similar to wipe instead of using toilet paper. I was reminded about a week ago while standing in line for something listening to a drunk guy ahead of me talking. One of his friends brought up him using baby wipes when he loudly responded, "Of course I use baby wipes! All you fuckers that don't are just smearing shit all over your asses with toilet paper." This got me thinking...

So, any of you out there have any experience with baby wipes or something similar? If so, is it that much better/worth it?

occasionally, i have to poop WHILE i'm eating.

Constipation is terrible. It’s horrible and 99.9 percent of the time it doesn’t need an ER visit. It is cruel, it is uncomfortable and quite literally feels like giving birth through a whole you are not prepared for. Some helpful things to have on hand are stool softeners, enema squeeze bottle, enema bag and solution, miralax, and citrusil.

If your stool is too large to pass, you will eventually pass it. It will be uncomfortable, there might be some ripping, and bleeding. Bright red blood , not in stool is typically caused by hemorrhoids (internal or external) anal fissures, or slight tearing. If you are passing dark red blood, and dark red blood in your stools please see a doctor as this is indicative of higher internal/GI bleeding.

If you are already impacted/constipated please do not take bulking fiber. Fiber is great and all but when you’re constipated you do not want to bulk up your hard dehydrated stool. Speaking from advice, if you’re constipated/having trouble going. Take a lot of stool softeners, an example being docusate sodium. You cannot overdose on stool softeners, but you can get very dehydrated so make sure you drink a lot of water.

Another complaint I hear a lot on this sub, is the mass feels too big to pass. If it’s small pellets stuck together it can be helpful to wear a glove and attempt to break off pellets to allow some smoother passing. While taking stool softeners, if you have a full blockage and are taking a lot of stool softeners be prepared for some leakage as the diarrhea and the watery stool go around the blockage which will help lubricate the large stool to pass. It’ll hurt, but itll pass.

ENEMAS. They have the squirt bottle enemas, but I’ve heard that those aren’t as helpful as the bag version. Make sure you lay on your left side with your leg bent as it relaxes your colon. If it’s a first make sure you instill the liquid slowly, if you feel cramping you can lower the bag a little, if that doesn’t help you can clamp the solution and then continue. Try to instill at a slow and stead rate, and continue. Make sure the solution is warm to the touch, similarly to bath water.

If you have any questions my DMs are open, whether it be for shitting advice, or any questions that you’d feel comfortable /or even uncomfortable asking your nurse about. I feel like sometimes we withhold information due to embarrassment... but I’m here for yaal !

I have relatively easy bowel movements, on average twice a day. However at night my stomach feigns the need to poop once again. When I sit upon the throne, all I do is let loose thunderous farts. I know this is funny. But it is also embarrassing. Any advice would be appreciated.

I had my first roid attack at at age of 16, I was OMG MORTIFIED because it was embarrassing as a youngster and hurt like hell. Since then I have had some occurring off and on over the years. Here is a few things I have found to counter the butt hurt. This is just from my personal experience, I hope some ones ass finds it useful.

• Shit or get off the pot. If you have IBS (like myself) after shitting remove yourself from the pot do a once over as to not drip fecal matter down your legs and just stand there, moving can help but again don't sit on the pot until you need to.

• Do not wipe more than 3 times. If you need more cleaning get in the shower, if you are not at home you can do a few things. 1. Carry baby wipes. 2. Wet a piece of toilet paper and dab like you are cleaning wine out of carpet. 3. Do like Jim Carry in the movie "Me myself and Irene" and prop your ass up in a sink.

• Never force a turd. Do not push! Seriously wait for the deuce to come knocking and let it fall out.

• This last one may be completely bullshit and in my mind but it has seemed to help big time in the last 5 years or so. If you take a shit and feel a pain in your inner rectum or start to feel some pressure like you may get a grape on your ass try to use your ass muscles to push it back up into the colon. Inner hemorrhoids in my opinion are a lot less painful than a grape or marble hanging on your sphincter.