Taking care of business, daily

Does everyone need to poop once a day? Many people feel that they should.

Does everyone need to poop once a day? Many people feel that t they should.

PETALING JAYA: When her children were younger, television programme distributor Leng Lai, 60, said that she would feel anxious when her kids did not pass motion at least once a day.

“It is normal for both my husband and I to pass motion daily, so that is what we considered normal,” she said.

She shared that she would keep an eye on her children’s bowel movement patterns, especially after her son suffered an eight-monthlong period of constipation when he was just four years old.

“He lost a lot of weight at that time. He turned from a burly fouryear-old into an emaciated child, with his pelvic bones sticking out,” she said.

“As his faeces hardened after being in the colon over a long time, it became painful for him to pass motion.”

She said that he tried to stop himself from passing motion in order to avoid the pain.

“He would stop eating and drinking because he didn’t want to stimulate any bowel movement. He starved himself, which is why he became so thin.

“When he couldn’t hold it in, he would poop all over the house in small bits and pieces.

“But since he did not complete his bowel movement each time, faeces accumulated in his colon,” she said.

Rectal suppositories were inserted into his anus to relieve his constipation, and he was brought to various doctors, but the treatments they suggested did not work.

“What worked in the end was acupressure. The acupressure practitioner rubbed the soles of his feet, which is believed to have certain spots that are linked to the body’s internal organs.”

Leng said that ever since that experience, she is on high alert when her children have irregular bowel movements.

Investment banker Daniel Lee, 27, also believes that the normal frequency is once a day.

“Otherwise, it should be once every two days, but that’s also considered really bad actually.

“I will get quite alarmed if I don’t pass motion for three days,” said Lee.

Lee shared his experience with haemorrhoids, which led to surgery.

“At that time, when I had to pass motion, the sensation was like having shards of glass exiting your anus.

“I got worried because it was so painful that I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t sit down,” he shared.

He explained that the cause of his haemorrhoids was eating very little fibre, drinking little water, eating too much spicy foods, drinking too much coffee, drinking alcohol, and sitting for too long.

“All the things I consumed drained the water out of my system and made passing motion super difficult.”

Tech specialist Carmen Ong, 25, makes sure that she passes motion at least once every day.

“I think that taking a dump once a day is healthy.

“Sometimes when I don’t eat vegetables or when I’m stressed, I will poop once every two or three days,” she said.

She remembers taking laxatives on one occasion without a prescription because she was worried when she didn’t defaecate after a while.

“But in the middle of the night, at about 3am or 4am, my tummy started to hurt a lot.

“It was churning and grinding. I broke into a cold sweat and couldn’t sit straight.

“I rushed to the restroom, and this happened a few times throughout the night. I was only able to pass motion after so much pain,” she said. *Some names have been changed to protect the identities of interviewees.