A normal, healthy stool is “sausage or snake-shaped”. Typically, its diameter resembles that of a banana and it has a soft, smooth texture.
Another characteristic of healthy stool is that it remains intact when you flush it. This indicates that the stool has an adequate amount of water in it.
When you have chronic constipation, you will most likely pass “hard” stool which could mean any of the following:
- Pebble-like stool. Having a pebble feces means you pass stool in separate, small, hard lumps. According to doctors, you may experience pain when you pass pebble-like stool because they have sat in the large intestine for an extended time.
- Lumpy, sausage stool. Do you have chronic constipation? You probably do if you see a “lumpy, sausage-like’ feces. This firm stool also resembles pebbles. But they don’t separate into small, hard lumps. In other words, this stool is lumpy but still intact.
- Cracked stool. At times, you may notice even, sausage-like stool, but it has a cracked texture. Cracked stool almost looks like healthy, normal poop, except you need to strain to pass it. And when you do, you may notice the presence of cracks on the surface of the stool. This kind of stool indicates that you may be having constipation due to your diet and lifestyle.
The sensation of incomplete evacuation
Aside from infrequent and difficult bowel movement, and the passage of hard, lumpy, or cracked stool, a sensation of incomplete evacuation is also one of the signs and symptoms of chronic constipation.
What it means is that you may have had a bowel movement, but you feel that “there’s still something left” and you still want to defecate.
What Are the Possible Causes of Constipation?
Comments
Share your thoughts
Be the first to let Hello Doctor know your thoughts!
Join Us or Log In to join the discussion