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You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

Hey everybody, it's Mariel.

Question, have you ever been really, really constipated?

Like you haven't pooped for a few days or a week and your abdomen is getting fuller and you sit on the toilet but nothing comes out. Are you sitting on the

toilet right now? All right, just in case, we're going to start with a little pep talk.

Okay, here we go. You got this. Imagine that the poop is traveling and it's just waiting.

You're going to open those gates and allow for that poop to naturally flow out because it's ready and you're ready and you no longer want it in there.

That's Dr. Kumkum Patel. She's a gastroenterologist at Providence St. Joseph and St. Jude Heritage Medical Group in California.

Anyway, where were we?

So gently imagine it leaving your body.

Now gently push over a deep breath in and push all the way out.

Relax your bottom and let it come out.

Now I hope that worked for you and, you know, it might have because relaxation is one of the

things that can help you poop.

But sometimes it takes more than that, especially if you've got chronic constipation,

which can happen because of diet, medication, hormonal changes, and lots of other things.

So on this episode of Life Kit, we are going to give you a step-by-step guide for that SOS moment

when you're really constipated, and we will also help you make changes to avoid situations like that in the future.

A quick note here, we are talking about poop in this episode.

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