Dr. Trisha Pasricha

Maybe you've even tried a prescription medicine and it's not working.

Consider that you could be in that one in three, which is so common.

That's 33%.

Well, there should be four of us with constipation.

Four of us with constipation, then infinity.

And the beauty of it is, unlike a lot of medical conditions where the solution is going to be, I'm afraid you need this medication.

You're going to have to take it every day.

You might need to take it at the same time every day.

It becomes part of your lifestyle.

The solution to this is a certain kind of physical therapy called biofeedback.

That's the kind of therapy that's been proven.

We're talking about 8 to 12 weeks is what the studies have shown, that 80 to 90% of people get better.

But if you want to know a quick fix, if you're not ready for the PT, what one really important study found is that 1 out of 6 people

who seem to have pelvic floor dysfunction like this, one out of six, the entire problem could be solved just by raising their knees above their waist when they had a bowel movement, using something like a stool, a stack of books, a pair of nice stilettos, raise their knees above their waist.

So I want you to picture, so again, this is the cross section of the female anatomy.

So what I'm pointing out to you is this is the rectum.

Yep.

And this is the end of the colon.

And it's kind of curved as it comes down.

Now imagine that there is a rubber band around this last part of the tube that is choking it shut.