Adelaide constipation treatment. Constipation Naturopath Australia.
It may come as a surprise to many that we need to be moving our bowels 1-3 times daily! This ensures that waste products and toxins are being removed from our body effectively (rather than being reabsorbed).
A 2019 study of Australian adults found that 24% of us are living with chronic constipation - that’s 1/4 of the population. Thankfully there is so much that we can do to get things moving again. Let's break down the basis of our natural constipation treatment.
What is Constipation?
Reduced frequency of or difficulty passing bowel movements.
What are the symptoms? Infrequent bowel movements, straining, passing hard/dry stool, abdominal discomfort and/or a feeling of incomplete evacuation. Interestingly diarrhoea can sometimes be a sign of chronic constipation (where a build up of fecal matter causes a blockage and watery stool leaks around it).
Constipation testing options
Generally constipation is a symptom of an underlying condition, lifestyle and/or diet issue. We want to investigate and determine the underlying cause for you. We refer clients for a mixture of mainstream blood tests as well as offer functional pathology testing which may include a gut microbiome stool test.
"Don't be fooled by intermittent diarrhoea, this can often be a sign of more chronic constipation. "
Common causes of constipation
Poor diet
Sedentary lifestyle
Chronic stress/anxiety/depression
Gut microbiome imbalance - overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria, fungi, parasites
Food intolerance
Side-effect of medication
Under-active thyroid
Altered gut secretions - insufficient gastric acid, pancreatic enzymes, bile
Altered gut motility - movement
Quick tips for constipation
Increase fibre intake by aiming for 5 cups of vegetables and 2 serves of fruit every day to help speed up the transit time of food through the digestive tract and form soft stool that is easy to pass. Go to the toilet at the same time every morning (even if you don't need to go), try to allow yourself to relax for 5 minutes to help to create a new routine.
What does natural constipation treatment look like?
As you can see, there are a multitude of different causes of constipation, so the treatment approach for many of my clients with constipation varies greatly too. Usually constipation is not just isolated to the digestive tract, there are often many other body systems involved. On the whole, Naturopathic treatment will involve the use of targeted nutritional and/or herbal supplements with the long term goal to eventually ween off of all supplements and maintain your improved digestive health through lifestyle and dietary modifications.
Ready to address the root cause of your constipation?
Book a Free discovery phone call or to see Georgia for a Naturopath appointment.
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