Best way to diagnoses of the constipation

Constipation is not a disease as such but rather a symptom that, given its enormous frequency, raises a number of visits to the family doctor and in the worst case the digestive specialist. It is important to know that constipation also may be a consequence of a disease or condition such as thyroid problems with liver, gallbladder, menopause, pregnancy and bowel obstruction. It is also reality that constipation is a symptom usually benign, that is easily solved if caught early and if not due to specific disease it causes, which is the most common.

Careful medical history, asking about dietary factors, sociocultural, toxic habits, suffer diseases and their treatments and characteristics of constipation, are often sufficient to guide the diagnosis.

How we can diagnose the constipation?

The key factors of diagnose the constipation are a vast subject but some important factors are as following:-

 It is important to assess the duration and age of the patient is not the same as the occurrence of constipation in children than in adults. In children, chronic constipation is almost always functional etiology.

It is also important to investigate the characteristics of stool and if they are or not accompanied by abdominal pain. Scybalous issuing or "pellets" with mucus is characteristic of spastic constipation, while the emission of blood or stool suggests hemorrhoids, proctitis or tumors.

It is important to determine where the fecal transit disorder and it is important for the history (interrogation), asking the patient whether or not bowel movements.

If you have a bowel movement but can not expel stool, think in an anorectal disorder.

If you rarely feel like defecating, think of a colon disorder. In these cases the feces do not reach the rectum.

You can also request a blood test determining blood glucose, ions, thyroid studies, serum calcium and fecal occult blood that will allow us to focus some common causes of constipation.

The main maneuver rectal examination is an essential part of the physical examination, and you should never miss as to identify mechanical problems or anal sphincter tone.

A diagnostic test that may be ordered is the colonoscopy, which involves inserting into the anus of a probe light provided to visualize the inside of the large intestine. It also has the colonoscopy that uses a probe further than the previous X-rays and contrast, such as the Opaque Enema (radiography year after the introduction of a special solution to view intestine) so as to reveal lesions that obstruct the bowel .

Only in very special cases other tests ask you refine or confirm an initial diagnosis: rectal manometry, electromyography, defecography, etc.