Constipation in the elderly.

I misunderstood the use of the word stool there for a minute! Imagined a little turd in front of the loo!To rest her feet on!

Me too! Cracking up here. Was that deliberate?

So did I because we used to call those little stools a cracket, legacy of pit villages

My Sis-in law, a GP, also has one of those (just to inroduce a note of seriousness for once ) Are they reckoned to help?
Re the elderly not drinking enough. Is that not also to do with bladder control and not always being able to get to the loo? My mother cut down on fluids for that reason and very quickly developed a urinary infection which had her hallucinating - and my poor father thinking she had dementia.

Oh dear i could write a book on this subject as it took up so much of my nursing life - its a problem that can have serious far reaching consequences. Primarily in an otherwise healthy gut its insufficient fluid that is the problem and then the right amount of fibre for that individual (it will vary). As to the small piece of furniture, leaning forward is supposed to be a better position to evacuate in than leaning back.

I have always though that squatting is the natural way to evacuate and also to give birth! Why not use gravity when you can?

One of my grannies used copious doses of something called liquid paraffin, though don't think this was the kind you use to light bonfires. My other granny used some preparation that included rhubarb. I was never tempted to try this during my forays into her medicine cabinet. As for me - plenty of fruit - stewed apricots for breakfast because I don't like pruned.

Observing my 98 year old MIL in the years before she died I noticed that she just couldn't drink for the sake of it, but only if it it was something she wanted. I think she must have been made to drink tonics or horrible things as a child. We should practice just downing a large glass of normal tap water without expecting a nice taste as a reward. Then, when we are older and no longer thirsty we can drink on demand.

My mother used liquid paraffin in later life - pharmacists were reluctant to supply it but she insisted. When I was a child I remember her making a 'tea' from senna pods.
For me a pear with wholewheat cereal then more fruit and veg through the day does the job perfectly.

Liquid paraffin is not prescribed now and not recommended - it smooths out the interior lining of the gut and stops it working naturally. Also everything passes through usually at speed giving rise to poor nutrition and diarrhoea. If medication is required then take the advice of health professional possibly starting with the pharmacist IF all other health problems negative. This is most important changes in bowel habit must be dealt with by your GP.

DH is prescribed Movicol for the constipation caused by his codeine and because of the importance of not straining his poor shortened colon. It is pleasant to take, gentle in use and works effectively.

It dissolves completely in a glass of water, and tastes of nothing. Much nicer to drink than those sachets of wallpaper paste you can buy over the counter.

The wallpaper paste is cellulose, "soluble fibre" as they call it. Same stuff you get in the walls of fruit and veg cells. less abrasive than bran but good for your colon. Nice salad made from grated veg has similar effect.
Ground flax seeds from H and Barrett are good because they not only contain healthy fats etc but they also contain soluble fibre. (if you soak whole flax seeds in water you can see it - they get covered in a kind of gel)
Squatting is undoubtedly the "physiological" position for defaecating so a footrest can be a half way to this. Given that squatting on the toilet seat beyond most of us, let alone the over 80s!

There are still plenty of 'hole in the ground' public lavatories, ( or in restaurants), in France and even in Switzerland. They are very difficult to use if you are wearing trousers - you have to roll the trouser legs right up to stop them getting wet. There is usually no peg to hang your bag (obviously designed by men) so picture me with my bag hung round my neck, my trouser legs rolled up to the knees, desperately trying to get up with no hand grips provided. I once pulled the down pipe off the wall by heaving myself up by it.
Women in Third World countries spend a lot of their lives squatting, whilst doing cooking outdoors for example, but we are just not used to it. My knees have strengthened through walking now, so it is getting a bit easier. If I am in the forest, I find leaning my back against a tree trunk is helpful.
(I wouldn't have dreamt of discussing anything so unromantic even 15 years ago - another of the advantages of age).

Went into one "hole in the ground" loo in France which clearly doubled as a shower for the cafe's owner. The chain connected with a shower head on the ceiling, and you had to stand well back when flushing to avoid getting soaked.

Its a strange thing but I only have to see one of those hole in ground loos to suddenly find I no longer need to go!!

We called them "squatty potties" in Thailand.