Personal Impact Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal Impact - Term Paper Example It is a condition where a patient suffers discomfort in emptying their bowels (defecation) and may include abdominal pain and loss of appetite (Rogers, 2011). The disorder typically occurs when the water from the food that the patient ate is absorbed too much by the colon. When the colon absorbs too much water from the food, it will dry up the bowel and consequently result to its slow movement in the digestive tract and thus the constipation disorder. Patients who are suffering from constipation may feel severe pain in the excretion of their bowels especially when the feces are very hard. In extreme cases, it is not only the feces that cannot pass out of the rectum but also the gas that makes the disorder an obstipation (Medical News Today, 2009) In most cases, constipation is caused by the colon’s too much absorption of water from the food. In the case of children however, many of the children’s constipation is caused by functional or idiopathic problem (if the disorder cannot be explained by anatomical or physiological abnormalities) which is more psychological than biological. Unlike in adults whose disorder is primarily caused by their unhealthy eating patterns and lifestyle and mainly physiological in origin, the contributing factors that causes constipation in children can include psychological issues, difficulty in their toilet training and even heredity (Rogers, 2011). In addition to children, old people are also prone to constipation. It is because age related changes in the patient’s body can affect the gastrointestinal tract that would hamper their regular bowel movement though studies were not conclusive that older people are more likely to be affected by constipation than younger people (Woodward, 2012). The report of Medical News Today hypothesized that the reduction of the speed of an old patient’s metabolism may be the reason why older people get constipated which is typically a result of a