You might experience an embarrassing (and painful!) situation if your poop is too big to come out and hurts while on the toilet. Sometimes, you might even find your poop stuck halfway out while straining and sweating to empty your bowels. This isn’t an uncommon situation and can be due to one of several factors. We will discuss these and their appropriate treatments in this article.
Why Your Poop Is Too Big To Come Out And Hurts
If your bowel movements are larger than usual and difficult, even painful, to pass, it could be any of the following:
Fecal impaction
The large intestine’s job in the body is to turn the byproducts of digestion into waste that you expel from your body. In doing this, it also absorbs any excess water from the stool, dehydrating it. Typically, this dried stool can pass easily through the large intestine due to the lining of mucus lubricating its path. However, delaying a bowel movement can cause stool to remain in the colon for longer, making it harder as the body absorbs more water from it.
This makes it difficult to pass stool and constitutes a fecal impaction. Over time, fecal impaction can cause serious damage to the digestive system. Symptoms include:
- Pain, bloating, or discomfort in the abdominal region
- Feeling the need to go to the bathroom but being unable to
- Loss of appetite, feeling excessively full
- Nausea
Visiting a gastroenterologist will allow them to diagnose and treat your condition.
Constipation
Constipation can result from various causes, such as food moving too slowly through the large intestine (which, as mentioned above, can excessively dehydrate it) or a blockage in the large intestine. Commonly, however, it happens due to a lack of fiber in your diet. It can result in hard lumps of stool that feel like pebbles and can be very difficult to pass. You might find yourself straining, pushing hard, and even finding trips to the toilet painful.
Treating constipation involves visiting a gastroenterologist who can examine your condition and suggest lifestyle changes, some of which we’ve indicated in the next section.
Bowel obstruction
Your bowels need to allow digested food and waste to pass through them at every step of the digestion process. If any blockage or obstruction occurs, it can cause severe problems down the line. Symptoms are diverse and may present as an inability to go to the bathroom, pass gas, or even diarrhea. Sometimes, it can be due to your nervous system causing muscles to contract or a twist occurring in the intestines. Other times, it may be due to fecal impaction.
Treatments to Make Passing Stool Easier
Doctors recommend making small lifestyle changes that can make passing stool easier, improving your quality of life. These include:
- Drinking more water and staying hydrated can soften your stool and make it pass easier.
- Eating more fiber, including insoluble fiber such as psyllium husk (Metamucil), can add bulk to your stool.
- Exercising regularly to keep your bowels moving.
- Eating a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Conclusion and When You Should See A Specialist
It can be challenging to distinguish between digestive disorders that lead to painful poops, and that’s why it’s best to consult a qualified specialist. A gastroenterologist specializes in treating the digestive system and can help solve your problem.
At the Gastroenterology Diagnostic Center, we have significant experience in treating gastrointestinal disorders. If you’d like to schedule a consultation with our board-certified gastroenterologists, please call us at (281) 357-1977. We will be happy to help you enhance your quality of life and show you why we’re the best GI in Tomball.