These hardened feces may virtually occlude the bowel lumen, producing a fecal impaction. In some patients, this more liquid stool is pushed around the impaction due to the increasing pressure of stool behind. The result is an involuntary leakage of liquid feces from the anal sphincter, a condition known as paradoxical diarrhea. In humans, the resultant abnormality is known as megarectum or megacolon. Treatment Constipation may be treated via manual or pharmacological means.
Manual methods are useful for patients with motility problems such as with spina bifida.
The patient is instructed to facilitate evacuation by digital manipulation of the anal sphincter. The safest and most natural of the laxatives are the bulk-forming agents. They replace the fiber that the Western diet tends to lack due to the widespread ingestion of highly refined foods. Bulking ingredients include psyllium, bran, calcium polycarbophil, malt soup extract, and methylcellulose. This month's patient information page discusses adding fiber to one's diet and other methods of preventing constipation.