Let the patient eat a mixed diet, well and suitably cooked, taking what he fancies in reason, masticating everything thoroughly, and gradually eliminating foods which experience teaches him are difficult for him to digest.
CHAPTER XIV
CONSTIPATION
"Causing a symptom to disappear is seldom the cure of any ill; the true course is to prevent the symptom."
Rings of muscle cause wormlike movements of the bowels, and so propel forward food and waste. Weakening of these muscles or their nerve controls from any cause, results in a "condition of the bowels in which motions occur only when provoked by medicines or injections". In some cases though motions occur freely, food ingested is retained too long in the digestive tract.
The blood extracts what water it needs from the fluid waste in the large bowel, but when the weak muscles allow this to remain too long, an excess of moisture is removed, leaving hard, dry masses, painful to pass.
When the fæces reach the anus, they cause an uneasy feeling, which directs us to seek relief, but if we neglect this impulse the bowel may become so insensitive that it ceases to warn its owner of the need to evacuate. Meantime, the muscles which expel the fæces get weak, so that every motion needs a strong effort of will, and much harmful straining.