Stool size and shape - Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Message Board

TaniaF · 10-25-2003, 05:20 AM

I'm confused what is normal or not with spastic colon?
I'm kind of a type A person, so anxiety and obsessed with my stool lately. I usually have my one BM per day first thing in the AM and although it's long and coiled--the size is dime or nickel size. Could this be because I do not take or eat much fiber, spastic colon squeezing, hemorrhoid at anus, or a rush transit time? Years ago I had such constipation that I had to give "birth" to a stool. Now stools range from more normal shape to a looser consistency and smaller in diameter. The dr says I have a hemorrhoid and fissure and wondered if this has an effect on the stool exiting?
I shouldn't be so obsessesd, but have always been curious how IBS affects other people. My husband has diareah most everyday and it doesn't bother him at all.
Can't figure him out.
Thanks friends,
Tania

Harry · 10-27-2003, 10:41 PM

Tania,
Diarrhea may not now show up right now but it eventually will. When nutrients are washed away, the results can affect all parts of the body--- eventually.

Your husband should take a bowel regulator like Metamucil--daily to bulk and firm up his stool. It's safe to take daily. Eating the proper type and amount of both soluble and insoluble fiber is not difficult but it does require more time than most people want to spent on it.
That's why digestive problems are such a major problem these days--- too much processed food.

All meat and dairy products contain no fiber and a person needs 20 to 30 grams daily for their intestines to function properly!!!

A normal stool size is tubular shaped and about a quarter in diameter according to Dr William Salts,MD book.

Take care---Harry