Fortunately, pharmacists can offer patients a wide range of advice. They can help explore the causes of constipation and recommend simple lifestyle alterations, as well as point out the advantages and disadvantages of various nonprescription treatments. Definition Increasing pressure behind a fecal impaction can cause the colon to expand and even rupture. Constipation is a term used loosely by lay people, partly due to a misunderstanding of what constitutes normal bowel movement frequency.
Many people believe that the norm is a single daily bowel movement.
To reach this end, patients may strain at the stool when they think a bowel movement should be imminent, rather than awaiting the defecatory reflex. In actuality, the number of daily bowel movements is highly variable. Physicians define normal stool frequency as anywhere from three defecations daily to three weekly. Thus, one of the first things the pharmacist should try to discern is what a patient's normal defecation frequency is. If it was stabilized at three daily for a patient, a reduction to one bowel movement daily might produce hard stools that lead to constipation.