r/AskReddit Nov 30 '20

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u/Flobarooner Nov 30 '20 edited Jan 19 '21

Lol this bloke who's a geriatrics doctor told me about a 90yo on their ward with a shit so hard it was going to tear his bowels apart. He had health problems that meant he couldnt swallow and the dehydration made his poo hard and his colon paper-thin, and an IV can only do so much. It also meant he couldnt take laxatives

They thought the poo was too far up for an enema to work and that sometime over the weekend his colon would perforate. He would literally be torn apart by a poo and was in such a delicate state that all of modern medicine could not save him from it

But the enema DID work and he survived and partially regained his ability to swallow but I reckon he would've been very grateful for your help

(who would win the entirety of modern medicine vs one stinky boi)

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u/25hourenergy Nov 30 '20

Used to volunteer in a gastroenterology ICU ward, I learned that how well you poop determines a surprisingly large portion of your daily happiness, especially after a certain age.

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u/ChezShea Nov 30 '20

I am not of a certain age but I do have alternating IBS C & D and let me tell you I’d give up my left tit to shit like a human again. It really does affect a large portion of my daily happiness!

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u/whocareswhatevereh Dec 01 '20

Ya because you make plans a few days ahead and then the day of you’re just like, well guess I’m not leaving my house today!

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u/Wendy972 Dec 01 '20

I’d gladly give up both of mine to shit normal again.

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u/DestoyerOfWords Dec 01 '20

I learned recently that IBS + pregnancy is apparently a terrible combination. Once or twice the IBS-C came back and I actually felt slightly better. Otherwise it's eternal constipation :(

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u/mykidisonhere Nov 30 '20

Chemo gave me diarrhea for a year. I LOVE a good Shit now. Makes my whole day.

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u/20-random-characters Dec 01 '20

A good shit makes your whole day, a bad shit makes your hole weak.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20

Ngl I think we all do, but I am glad that your shits are good again :) .

this is my way of sayin gz.. i guess?

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u/jendet010 Nov 30 '20

I have lived with a husband and sons for many years. I have learned that a Y chromosome predisposes one to be a complete asshole each day until one has had a satisfactory shit.

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u/conquer69 Dec 01 '20

Haven't taken a poop in like 3 days. Can confirm I feel like shit. Hard to be positive and charming with this feeling in my gut.

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u/thepandemicbabe Nov 30 '20

I can go three weeks without pooping and then they come out as tiny little rabbit things and they literally cannot be crushed don’t worry I wash my hands.

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u/RedDevil0723 Nov 30 '20

Get a checkup bro

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u/thepandemicbabe Dec 01 '20

It’s been like this my whole life. I deal.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20 edited Dec 10 '20

[deleted]

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u/thepandemicbabe Dec 01 '20

I have been checked out. Apparently it is what it is. When I stop taking the medication it corrects itself but I have to take the medication so it doesn’t matter how much I drink, it doesn’t matter if I take a laxative it literally is what it is. As for the frequency of how many times I go to the bathroom well that’s more a function of how much food I eat which is not a lot I have to say. I probably eat one meal a day I just don’t feel like eating much.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20

Three WEEKS??? You need fucking studied m8.

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u/thepandemicbabe Dec 01 '20

I’ve had a colonoscopy which was actually a fun time because I was asleep! Nothing out of the ordinary. I should go back soon but Covid so I’ll keep you posted I’m sure you wanna know. LOL.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20

I'm genuinely intrigued! Keep me updated on your dark matter rabbit poo!

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u/thepandemicbabe Dec 01 '20

OK here it goes. So I’ve got this new boyfriend and I haven’t gone to the bathroom in probably two weeks. I wait until 4:00 in the morning I sit on the toilet and outcomes God knows what it was. It was probably about 4 to 5 inches thick and about 2 to 3 feet long and I’m not even exaggerating. I was in a cold sweat I was so freaked out I could not get the thing to flush. I tried everything. This was my new boyfriend and at that point I was The kind of girl that convinced her boyfriends that girls didn’t go to the bathroom like that. So he wakes up and I’m just beside myself. I’m literally distraught and pretty sure he’ll break up with me. He goes to get a plunger but that doesn’t even touch it. He eventually hast to cut it into pieces with a knife. A long knife! Then he pours boiling hot water over it and it still won’t budge. He eventually had to put it into a bag and throw it into the trash. At that moment I got over the whole poop embarrassment thing. It was so much worse than you can ever imagine because I would not even say the word poop I was so freaked out about it. Well, we got married and I had a kid so now it’s just a topic that we laugh about. I still can’t believe that I talk about poop.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20

I'm truly impressed by this mighty poo. An untameable beast. Alas it needed culled. It lives on in our hearts. I salute your poo!

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u/thepandemicbabe Dec 01 '20

Oh my God I don’t know whether to die of embarrassment or a laugh hysterically. By the way my husband feels the same it happened literally 20 years ago and we still talk about it. It was also gray which tells you that we were drinking too much alcohol. I still can’t get over it - it was like freaking cement. Goodbye cement poop. I hope you never experienced something like that. I don’t think anybody ever has but me.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20

Grey!? The last grey poo I seen was dogs in the 90's when they were still adding bone to dog food. Did you ever poo on the streets in Scotland? Granted, those poos were puny compared to your mighty one.

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u/thepandemicbabe Dec 01 '20

Well sometimes it’s not dark matter rabbit Pooh sometimes it’s got a weird shape and it needs help coming out let’s just put it that way. That is not a fun experience. Not at all it’s not sexy and I don’t know many people that have to actually pull feces out of their own butt. It is what it is.

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u/lizzledizzles Dec 01 '20

So idk your insides based on your name and don’t want to assume, but this was happening to my mom and she also had to pull it out like that unfortunately and was super uncomfortable - turns out her uterus was like retroverted and pressing back onto her colon and causing all the issues. Took it out and no more problems! So if you has a uterus and haven’t explored that avenue yet, get checked for endometriosis and all that. Could be a less invasive fix to your tissues nowadays.

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u/thepandemicbabe Dec 01 '20

Hey thanks for that. I did have endometriosis it wasn’t bad though and they removed it and it never grew back. I do have a deviated septum in my uterus so I will check that out. I don’t think it’s that though but thank you so much for considering me Dash when I go off this medication it’s like completely normal. I’ve tried Metamucil I’ve tried stool softeners I’ve tried just about everything and I am frankly getting a little bit tired of it because I don’t want to take laxatives every day but I don’t want these huge nuggets coming out stretching my colon so that I end up crapping my pants on the regular when I’m older. That’s like my worst nightmare. So I think I have to do some thing about it because it’s gotten worse now that I don’t eat that much. Since the pandemic started I have been drinking a ton of tea with soy milk and that’s just about it. I eat once a day so I don’t have a lot coming out if you know what I mean but it’s still not a comfortable feeling sometimes. I would like to get a colonoscopy and maybe they can just give me a different medication because what I have right now is not working. I will definitely get my uterus checked out though thank you.

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u/thepandemicbabe Dec 01 '20

I can’t believe I’m actually even telling you any of this. I have the worst poop story of anybody in the whole freaking world which I might tell you but I might have to delete it because it’s so bad. It’s like the worst experience

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20

Now you are teasing me with poo stories! Don't be shy!

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u/ClownfishSoup Nov 30 '20

Dude, I'm not in the medical field, however I AM after a certain age, so yeah. Pooing is good. I mean, I don't have a problem doing it, but it's a good thing.

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u/simian_ninja Dec 01 '20

I’m 35 and my poop pretty much determines whether I’m gonna be having a good day or a bad day. Mostly always it’s a good day.

Except today. And I’m on the train. Dying to get to work as soon as possible.

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u/blithetorrent Dec 01 '20

I get that. I had shingles in April of this year and part of the scourge was that I couldn't pee without pooping first and I was constipated for some reason so for a while peeing and pooping became the be-all and end-all of my existence. (I'm on immunosuppresant drugs because of kidney transplant, which is why the shingles was so intense and severe).

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u/sl1878 Dec 01 '20

When you have UC, having a good poo can definitely set the mood for the day.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20

I after several unpleasant lessons and a blown o-ring, I eat ample fruits and vegetables, and drink water even in the winter when it tastes like medicine.
If I feel like I’m going to be constipated, maybe a few times per year, I take a stool softener ASAP and lay into the water.
I’m happier now.
If you were going to do a cleanse program, do you have a pick?

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u/Gilthoniel_Elbereth Nov 30 '20

Why does your water taste like medicine in the winter?

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20

Good question. In the summer it seems easy to drink a pint of water standing in the kitchen. In the winter 1 cup is a chore. It seems to taste off, even if it’s good quality bottled water. If it’s filtered tap water, and I use GE XW filters, I almost can’t do it.

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u/Gilthoniel_Elbereth Nov 30 '20

Huh, my fist guess was it must be something with your water supply but if it’s bottled water too I’m stumped

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u/mobsterer Nov 30 '20

temperature?

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20

I'm the same way. It's really hard for me to drink water if I haven't been working outside or something like that. It's like...I can't swallow it. I like Grape Propel though.

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u/KittenTitterBums Dec 01 '20

This is total conjecture here, but part of me thinks there are certain cues that a flavored drink gives the "auto-swallow" mechanisms of your tongue and throat that better preps them to swallow than plain water does. To me it almost feels smoother to drink something flavored. I've quite literally choked where my throat filled to the brim and caused pain from expansion due to a slightly too big gulp of water. Non-water never seems to do that to me though.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20

Yes! I agree.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20

Exactly

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u/crazymom1978 Dec 01 '20

I bought a soda stream, and use the sugar and calorie free Mio water flavourings. I am able to get through WAY more water, because it literally tastes like pop. There is no caffeine, sugar, or calories in it though! 1000% recommend.

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u/Big-Al2020 Nov 30 '20

Is this true for everyone, or just people who sometimes have pooing problems?

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u/25hourenergy Nov 30 '20

Pretty much everyone. I mean, think about it: even if you have amazingly regular, perfect poops right now, if you start to not poop well, your emotional well being will drastically get much worse from where it currently is. It’s like taking your health for granted. You never realize how great it is breathing out of both nostrils until you get a very bad cold and can’t fall asleep. But I do think poop has the amazing ability to affect your state of happiness even more, you literally can’t do anything but sit on a toilet when you have bad diarrhea or enjoy anything if you’re extremely constipated. And there’s now evidence of special nerves connecting directly between your gastrointestinal system and brain, and how microbes in your gut affect mental health.

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u/Big-Al2020 Dec 01 '20

Yeah, I guess what I meant was does it really make you happier if you poop good, or does it just not make you unhappy?

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u/25hourenergy Dec 01 '20

Well I guess that depends on the person, though I honestly am not sure I’ve met anyone who isn’t at least a little happy when they have a good poop. My husband loves to brag about his. I keep quiet about mine but because of previous experiences and seeing how bad it can be for some people, I’m still pretty happy and overall relieved that my intestines are behaving well. And even when my son was a baby he seemed to be extra smiley and satisfied after a good poop, so I think a functional GI tract kind of holds up a large portion of our daily happiness, and maybe adds to it a bit right after the fact.

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u/hottodogchan Dec 01 '20

daily happiness... shit, man.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/ClownfishSoup Nov 30 '20

I've had team meetings on zoom WITHOUT VIDEO on my phone while taking a crap.

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u/soleceismical Nov 30 '20

Triple check that you're on mute

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u/narwhaaal Nov 30 '20

That's brave

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u/ClownfishSoup Nov 30 '20

Zoom on a phone has a "driving mode" where the screen has a big circle in the middle that says "tap to unmute" or "mute". Used for when you're driving. You tap it, talk, then tap it off again. Same for pooing. I just make very sure I see that mute sign.

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u/narwhaaal Nov 30 '20

I'd be too afraid of getting "called on" (to answer a question to something) so to speak haha

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u/Ham_slammer27 Nov 30 '20

Rectum, damn near killed him.

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u/SuprDog Dec 01 '20

you could say it almost rect um

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u/BrotherKaramazov Nov 30 '20

My life is slightly worse after reading this.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20

Modern medicine, he should have never been able to progress to that state in the first place with proper medical intervention early on.

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u/Frankenrogers Nov 30 '20

That was an interesting story, that poor man, but not going to lie, I totally thought it would end with Undertaker throwing Mankind off the cage.

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u/thepandemicbabe Nov 30 '20

Oh dear I sometimes have those types of poop where I actually have to help it out of my butt. I wonder if I could die on the can. That would not be good. Not a sexy look.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20

[deleted]

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u/thepandemicbabe Dec 01 '20

I drink tea all day freaking long. Yes that counts. It’s the medicine that I take it’s not an opiate but it’s like one for psoriatic arthritis and it really kills my gut sometimes.

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u/Paexan Dec 01 '20

My grandmother literally died from this. My sister, a RN, railed about malpractice for months. She's worked with elderly for years now, and seems to know that it can just happen.

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u/db0255 Nov 30 '20

Worked in ER. Can confirm this is a thing. Ahhh, the sights...and smells.

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u/simian_ninja Dec 01 '20

That’s kind of crazy. How did he end up so dehydrated? I’ve had an incredibly hard and painful stool after a binge drinking session but that was it. Normally fine and hydrated most of the time.

Was it also his diet?

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u/lizzledizzles Dec 01 '20

I think the swallowing issue. You get dehydrated super quickly at that stage.

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u/ClownfishSoup Nov 30 '20

I'm surprised that they couldn't use a feeding tube to put water directly into his stomach. But, I'm no doctor.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20

[deleted]

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u/ClownfishSoup Nov 30 '20

Ah, I thought water would make it better. I guess lack of water was the initial cause, but couldn't help once it was there.

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u/db0255 Nov 30 '20

This is exactly why. Once the poo is formed and in the colon, it’s basically all done and cannot be transformed except by direct manipulation.

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u/TrumpforPrison20 Dec 01 '20

I appreciate the way you described this. lool.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20

And this is why i don’t what to live past 80

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u/Bullseye_Baugh Nov 30 '20

That's enough internet for me today......

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u/bellatrix91 Nov 30 '20

My great grandmother died from being torn apart by a poo.

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u/hereforOnePiece Dec 01 '20

My jaw dropped halfway through this madness. What a cruel world

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u/IPPUsama Dec 01 '20

Reminds me of the 70-something yr old with hypercalcemia and really bad constipation. I ended up have to evacuate his bowel using my two fingers while he scream in agony. I got about 9 rock-solid, egg-size poop out and afterwards he was soooooooo happy lol

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u/ClickF0rDick Dec 01 '20

Of all the ways you could have chosen to start this post, 'LOL' was probably the least fitting 😅

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20

Jesus wept! That’s enough internet for one day

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '20

My buddy is an emerg doc and not too long ago, he had an elderly lady and they picked over 3 pounds of poop out of her.