Here is a quick mnemonic “CONSTIPATION“ to remember about Constipation & Its Causes
This can be valuable for patients as well as medical doctors, nurses & students doing their clinical rounds. You can also find it very useful for med exams like USMLE, NExT Medical Step 1&2, MBBS, NEET PG, INI-CET, FMGE,MCAT & NCLEX exams
Constipation & Its Causes : How To Remember Easily ?
C – Clinical complaint:
“Constipation is a common complaint in clinical practice and usually refers to persistent, difficult, infrequent, or seemingly incomplete defecation.”
O – Often misunderstood:
“Because of the wide range of normal bowel habits, constipation is difficult to define precisely.”
N – Not just stool frequency:
“Low stool frequency alone is not the sole criterion for the diagnosis of constipation.”
S – Symptoms analysis:
“The individual patient’s symptoms must be analyzed in detail to ascertain what is meant by ‘constipation’ or ‘difficulty’ with defecation.”
T – Time and stool consistency:
“Stool form and consistency are well correlated with the time elapsed from the preceding defecation.”
I – Incomplete evacuation:
“Many constipated patients have a normal frequency of defecation but complain of excessive straining, hard stools, lower abdominal fullness, or a sense of incomplete evacuation.”
P – Perception of difficulty:
“The perception of hard stools or excessive straining is more difficult to assess objectively.”
A – Assessing patient perceptions:
“The need for enemas or digital disimpaction is a clinically useful way to corroborate the patient’s perceptions of difficult defecation.”
T – Trigger factors:
“Psychosocial or cultural factors may also be important in understanding constipation.”
I – Inadequate intake or function:
“Chronic constipation generally results from inadequate fiber or fluid intake or from disordered colonic transit or anorectal function.”
O – Organic causes:
Constipation of recent onset may be a symptom of significant organic disease such as tumor, anorectal irritation, or stricture.
N – Neurogastroenterologic disturbance:
“Pathophysiologically, chronic constipation can result from neurogastroenterologic disturbance, certain drugs, advancing age, or systemic diseases affecting the GI tract.”
Mnemonic : CONSTIPATION
