Chronic Constipation Your Health
Treatment Options
Treatment Options for Constipation
Managing constipation includes dietary and lifestyle changes, medications, and behavioural techniques such as biofeedback. Sacral neuromodulation may be recommended by your doctor if standard treatments do not work well for you. It’s been used to treat more than 65,000 people worldwide since 1994. If your life has been disrupted by bowel problems and other treatments have not worked for you, talk to your doctor about how you can gain back control.
Behavioural Techniques
Some people can reduce the symptoms of bowel control problems with healthy lifestyle habits. These include eating more fibre and drinking more liquids. Bowel training may also be used. It involves training the bowel to empty at a certain time each day.
Medications
Medications may be prescribed by your doctor to help soften your stool, making it easier to pass.
Sacral Neuromodulation
Doctors may suggest this approach to people who have not been helped by standard treatments, or whose constipation is caused by nerve or muscle damage. This reversible treatment uses a small neurostimulator that is placed under your skin and sends mild electrical pulses through thin wire to the nerves in your pelvis that control your bowels; this helps your bowels to work as they should.
Permanent Surgical Procedures
Removing parts of your colon may be necessary in very rare cases.
Information on this site should not be used as a substitute for talking with your doctor. Always talk with your doctor about diagnosis and treatment information.