What Causes Bowel Movement Changes?

Bowel movement changes can have various causes, ranging in severity from 'worrying' to 'generally fatal'. Finding the true cause means ruling out or confirming each possibility – in other words, diagnosis.

Diagnose your symptoms now!

understand what's happening to your body
have a doctor review your case (optional)
learn what you should be doing right now

Diagnosis is usually a complex process due to the sheer number of possible causes and related symptoms. In order to diagnose bowel movement changes, we could:

Research the topic
Find a doctor with the time
Use a diagnostic computer system.

The process is the same, whichever method is used.

Step 1: List all Possible Causes

We begin by identifying the disease conditions which have "bowel movement changes" as a symptom. Here are eight of many possibilities (more below):

Poor Small Intestine Health
Stress
Increased Intestinal Permeability
Diverticular Disease
Candida / Yeast
Fecal Impaction
Colon Cancer
Aspartame/Neotame Side-Effects

Step 2: Build a Symptom Checklist

We then identify all possible symptoms and risk factors of each possible cause, and check the ones that apply:

wearing dirty dentures all day

severe left iliac pain

disturbed sleep

recent death of a loved one

weak appetite

medium-term abdominal pain

coughing up white/yellow curds

deep chest pain

recent oily hair

poor tolerance of sugars

tetracycline use

occasional painful urge to defecate

... and more than 130 others

Step 3: Rule Out or Confirm each Possible Cause

A differential diagnosis of your symptoms and risk factors finds the likely cause of bowel movement changes:

Cause	Probability	Status
Aspartame/Neotame Side-Effects	91%	Confirm
Diverticular Disease	24%	Unlikely
Fecal Impaction	19%	Unlikely
Candida / Yeast	3%	Ruled out
Poor Small Intestine Health	1%	Ruled out
Increased Intestinal Permeability	0%	Ruled out
Stress	0%	Ruled out
Colon Cancer	0%	Ruled out

* This is a simple example to illustrate the process

Arriving at a Correct Diagnosis

The Analyst™ is our online diagnosis tool that learns all about you through a straightforward process of multi-level questioning, providing diagnosis at the end.

If you indicate irregular stools, The Analyst™ will ask further questions including this one:

Do you suffer from significant variation in bowel movements? This would include alternating constipation and diarrhea, or changes in pattern.

Possible responses:

→ Don't know
→ No / just the occasional diarrhea or constipation
→ Yes, it changes several times a year
→ Yes, it changes several times a month
→ Yes, it is always changing, daily or almost daily

Based on your response to this question, which may indicate no unusual bowel movement variation, occasional bowel movement changes, frequent bowel movement changes or constant bowel movement changes, The Analyst™ will consider possibilities such as:

Allergy to Foods (Hidden)

Aspartame/Neotame Side-Effects

Colon Cancer

In general, you should see a specialist if you are over 40 and have the following symptoms:

A change in normal bowel habits towards looser and/or more frequent stools that has lasted for over 6 weeks
Any bleeding from the rectum.

Diverticular Disease

Effects of a Low Carbohydrate Diet

In a study funded by Dr. Atkins himself, 70% of the people that could stick with the diet lost the ability to have a normal bowel movement. The May 2004 Annals of Internal Medicine study showed that most of the Atkins Dieters had significantly more diarrhea, general weakness, rashes and muscle cramps.

Fecal Impaction

Chronic constipation followed by watery diarrhea that suddenly leaks out is a sign of fecal impaction.

Giardiasis Infection

Gluten Sensitivity / Celiac Disease

IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)

IBS causes variations in the amount of time that stool remains in the intestines, thus changing its water content and giving it a consistency ranging from loose and watery to hard and dry. About 20% of patients with IBS experience alternating periods of diarrhea and constipation.

Increased Intestinal Permeability / Leaky Gut

Ovarian Cancer

Poor Small Intestine Health

Stress

Yeast / Candida Infection

Concerned or curious about your health? Try The Analyst™