Constipation
Introduction Constipation is a very common symptom where public walks into a community pharmacy looking for self-treatment. Symptoms of constipation commonly include: Difficulty passing stools A feeling of incomplete evacuation Abdominal discomfort and bloating Gather Patient Information As a community pharmacist, the three things that you should do are: To establish the patient's current bowel habit compared with normal Constipation involves the passage of hard stools less frequently than is normal. "Normal" can be anything from two or three times a day to two or three times a week; it is the change that is important! To identify if there is any indicative of referral Longer than 14 days' duration with no identifiable cause Pain on defecation that might cause the patient to suppress the defecation reflex Constipation alternating with diarrhoea Blood in the stools Infants under the age of 3 months - to exclude organic causes such as Hirschsprung's disease Then co...