Having constipation can be very painful plus often times frustrating. It can be something that could last for weeks at a time, or months if the problem is not dealt with. Understanding and knowing what causes constipation can really save someone, not to mention help them feel better once they have figured out exactly what the problem is.
What causes constipation can really vary depending on why the person has it and so here are a few things that can cause constipation: not drinking enough water, not having enough fiber, having lots of products that have dairy in it, some kind of disuption in a diet and routine such as traveling, stress, using to many laxatives, trying to fight having the bowel movement and that is sometimes caused by hemorrhoids, medicines that are antacid and have both aluminum, and calcium in it, hypothyroidism, depression, medications, narcotics, iron pills, antidepressants, pregnancy, eating disorders, and the list goes on. This is actually a very small list compared to all of what causes constipation.
Usually there is not testing needed in order to know that it is constipation. There are actually just a small amount of people that have a medical problem that is serious when they have constipation. You can tell if it is something that you should be worried about if you have it for over two weeks or around that. Sometimes colon cancer might cause constipation and seeing the doctor could help with early detection.
If a doctor must do some tests here are a few of the tests that the doctor might do: if there is an imbalance that is hormonal then blood tests might be done, the colon might sometimes have obstruction so barium studies would be done and a colonoscopy. Between these tests the doctors should be able to know what causes constipation and can help with being able to bring relief to you. It might take a few days before the patient is able to really experience relief depending on the type of treatment the doctor gives. The patient might have to go back a few times until the doctors have everything sorted out. Once the doctors have determined what causes constipation then the patient is usually able to recover fast but if a patient delays seeing the doctor it could make the actual recovery time longer or could cause the situation to get really bad.