Alcohol and Constipation – Things you need to know

Alcohol and Constipation – Things you need to know

Alcohol and Constipation

Some people are used to drinking alcohol every night. When they quit, they sometimes end up with constipation. The guy wanted to know whether alcohol had to do anything with it. Well, the doctor said that this was nothing but a short-term reaction to the change in the consumption of alcohol and in the reduction of fluid ingestion. Eat fruits and some vegetables if you’re caught with such a problem. Drink more fluids and water than you normally do. The body should rapidly adjust back to the usual bowel movements. There are some more things you need know about alcohol and constipation.

First of all, alcohol tends to dehydrate the body just as much as sauna does. That’s the reason why the drinker’s mouth feels awfully dry the morning after. Care to learn the cause and effect? When the body turns dehydrated, it has to work harder for recovering fluids and/or electrolytes from anywhere possible, even from your bowel contents. As a result, stools turn dry, hard, and really painful to pass. Do not get surprised because of the stool getting extremely dry. Alcohol tends to suppress the intestinal peristalsis. It is notorious for killing the urge to keep the bowels moving.

There is more that links alcohol and constipation that you need to know. If you fail to have a bowel movement as per your natural schedule, the stool tends to get enlarged, impacted, and hardened up. The already dry stool becomes next to impossible for you to pass without putting immense strain and causing some sort of anal or rectal damages.

These are, by the way, 2 key problems that usually precede chronic constipation. Alcohol consumption results in the loss of electrolytes like sodium, potassium and other minerals, which are much needed to efficiently retain the moisture in your stools. Hydration of the body and stools calls for sodium and potassium. Then again, the minerals that are known simply as electrolytes are not stored within the body in the same long-standing way as calcium and magnesium. As alcohol stimulates plentiful urination, and, oftentimes, diarrhea or vomiting, such valuable minerals get drained out fast.

As a result, your body is able to recover the lost electrolytes off the stools. This makes them harder, drier, and more abrasive. Could you even imagine how you can pass such stools? It is painful and can cause damage to your rectum and anus.

Excessive alcohol can cause vomiting. This precipitates the above mentioned conditions. Alcohol tends to inhibit your stomach’s digestion power. It can also cause late stomach emptying, which is a condition that is known widely as gastroparesis. And after 8 to 10 hours of staying in your stomach, the undigested proteins begin to rotten. The extremely poisonous byproducts coming off the rotting can provoke some violent vomiting, which causes a general loss of essential fluids or electrolytes. This is a big jeopardy for the body triggered by alcohol.

Now you know all about alcohol and constipation. You should definitely limit your alcohol consumption as much as possible to avoid having such problems.

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