Symptoms of constipation can be summarized easily. It is when a person passes small amounts of hard, dry stool, often fewer than three times a week. Bowel movements are often difficult and painful. Other symptoms of constipation include being bloated, uncomfortable and sluggish. The person may also have a feeling that something is still there even after an evacuation. Infrequent or absent bowel movements over an extended period of time are also constipation symptoms.

Symptoms of constipation are often mislabeled. People experience bowel movements on their own schedule. Adults can go as often as 2 or 3 times per day or as few as 3 times per week. These symptoms of constipation depend on diet and circumstances in their daily lives. Constipation is often self-diagnosed if a person is having trouble with a hard stool or feeling bloated. Some stools will end up harder than others. And there will be times when a person may strain during expulsion. The medical diagnosis of constipation takes this to a higher level. When a person does not go for days on end and then the results are hard and dry, it is likely to be constipation.

Symptoms of constipation can actually be complications caused by it. Hemorrhoids are a common one. These happen when the muscles around the anal opening become strained. Anal fissures can be one of the severe constipation symptoms. This is when a tear happens in the muscles around the rectum. Both of these are normally treated with warm baths, ice packs and special creams to heal the area. Prolonged constipation can lead to fecal impaction. These severe constipation symptoms happen when fecal matter becomes packed into the intestinal tract and rectum so hard that regular bowel movements will not dislodge it. It is often treated with mineral oil and manual manipulation.

What symptoms of constipation should trigger an alarm?

- If you have a sudden and unexplained onset of symptoms of constipation or the problem lasts longer than three weeks, you need to get medical help.

- Chronic constipation can mask underlying problems.

- Change your diet and start exercising. If the bowel movements are still days apart with hard and dry stools or other constipation symptoms, this means that there is trouble.

- If you experience intense abdominal pain or blood in the stool, then a doctor's visit is needed.

- If symptoms of constipation alternates with diarrhea or you have an unexplained weight loss, seek medical help.

All of these are signs of a more severe problem that a doctor will need to help you sort out.

Bladder cancer can be of three main types, depending on which area of the bladder it forms in, and what type of cells are affected. There are no exact causes of bladder cancer but there have been many risk factors that have been identified to increase the chances of bladder cancer which include use of tobacco, infections or irritations in the bladder, age, gender and possibly family history. Use of tobacco is said to increase the chances of bladder cancer by two or three times. Although a person may show one or more of the above mentioned risk factors, they are not exact causes for developing the disease. Symptoms of bladder cancer include needing to urinate often, pain during urinating, and blood mixed with urine. These symptoms alone are not predictions of the disease, and so a more thorough check is necessary. Many types of tests can be taken to confirm the presence, or lack of, bladder cancer. Biopsies are considered a sure way of finding if bladder cancer is present or not. Want to improve your health?

There are four stages of bladder cancer, separated by how far the cancer has spread. The first stage, Stage 0, is the least invasive form while Stage IV, the last stage, is the most invasive. The three stages in between refer to how far the cancer cells have spread in the bladder or to the rest of the body, in their various levels.

Treatments vary according to each stage, with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and sometimes surgery, used. A blend of all these therapies can also be used. It is always better to ask for the doctor’s advice on which kind of treatment would work best for the patient. Loss of apetite and feeling nauseous are side-effects of some therapy, but making sure the right nutrients are given to the patient is a vital step in recovery. Talking to a doctor or dietician will give the patient more knowledge on the diet that the patient needs to follow, so that healing can be made faster and easier.

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