There’s a dozen reasons why we’re likely to feel constipated.
And it ain’t pleasant. It can leave you feeling heavy, bloated and bent over with cramps. Thankfully most cases are due to something temporary, like diet or medication, but now it seems there’s another cause that only affects women.
A rectocele is a bulging of the rectum into the vagina. According to Self, It happens when the wall between the rectum and vagina becomes weak, and the rectum starts to press internally against the wall. This causes massive discomfort for women though ASCRS states more than 40% of women will feel no other symptoms. It’s for this reason that rectoceles are after undiagnosed until a physical examination occurs.
“As you can image, it can be an embarrassing topic, so we actually don’t have a really good estimate of how many people have this,” says professor of colorectal surgery Dr. Kyle G Cologne.
The good news is that not all rectoceles require surgery.
“There’s a variety of things we can do just from a physical therapy standpoint, or oftentimes in conjunction with a gynecologist,” said Dr. Cologne.
The most important thing is to get to a doctor if you have persistent constipation.
“It’s obviously a complex issue,” Cologne says. “The most important thing is getting to the right specialist to diagnose and treat it. Oftentimes, that’s going to be more than one person.”
