Constipation is a common problem during pregnancy

15 July, 2012

If you are among the unfortunate persons suffering from constipation, then you must go through this article. Besides the regular treatment, we have enlisted some traditional ways to cure the disease.

CONSTIPATION CAN be defined as a bowel movement which is painful as well as frustrating. This is a problem, which is suffered by almost all the people at some occasion during their lifespan. If you are having fewer than three bowel movements in a week then you are suffering from constipation. A healthy person can have three to twenty one bowel movements per week. The different types of constipations are severe constipation, acute constipation and chronic constipation depending on the degree of severity.

Constipation is common during pregnancy, because the hormones like progesterone relax during pregnancy and slow down the movement of your intestine, the bowel movement is also affected. The other reason can be the lack of exercises and using medications like iron tablet during pregnancy, according to babycenter.in.

The other most common causes of constipation can be:

- Poor diet – eating food, which is low in dietary fiber and rich in animal fat like dairy products, eggs and meat.

- Less intake of fluids – taking inadequate amount of water can cause formation of hard and dry stools. The fluid, which you take passes the required amount of water to make the stools soft, but if you don't drink enough water, the intestine will not be able to absorb the required amount of water.

- Caffeine and alcohol – these two substances increase the urination which may lead to dehydration which increases the intake of water from the intestine. This leads to constipation due to insufficiency of water.

- Poor bowel habit – if you ignore the desire of constipation then, after a period of time the person may not get the desire of bowel movement, which may lead to progressive constipation.

- During travel – while traveling you may have many changes in your life style like eating fast food, less intake of fluid etc; this can be the cause of constipation.

- Medication – use of some medications can also cause constipation.

- Age – older people mostly suffer from constipation because of poor diet, less exercising, using medications, prolonged bed rest, poor bowel habit etc.

The natural ways of treating constipation are:

- Taking isabgol with a glass of water, before going to bed.

- Drinking the milk, boiled along with turmeric and figs can relive you from constipation.

- Drinking milk with two spoons of castor oil relives severe constipation.

- Lemon juice added in warm water, taken 2 to 3 times also relives constipation.