Holding Your Poop In Can Have Serious (And Disgusting) Consequences

A 16-year-old girl named Emily Titterington from Cornwall, England died after a heart attack caused by a “massive extension of the large bowel” after her phobia of toilets left her holding her poop in for eight weeks straight!

While what happened to Emily may be an extreme case of holding in “number two,” a lot of us are guilty of not heading off to the porcelain throne when the need calls.

…even when you really need to go

Whether its due to lack of facilities, filthy facilities, embarrassment, constipation, or the hurry to go somewhere or do something, pooping may sometimes become an inconvenience, leading us to postpone the essential act of voiding our bowels until we are able to carve out some free time, or get to the comfort of home where only the familiar sight of our own “dump site” can induce the sensation of defecation.

However, considering pooping as an inconvenience and subsequently holding it in can pose serious consequences to our health if we do it fairly often. Not only is it unhygienic, but carries it with it more disturbing consequences:

#1. Dry, painful poop

Our poop is 75 percent water to make it easier for the waste to slide out of our large intestine. Unfortunately, holding it in there will cause the poop to gradually dry out, making it extremely uncomfortable, and sometimes downright painful when we finally allow it to make its exodus. Sometimes, dry poop passage can cause little tears called anal fissures in the skin around our anus, introducing dirt, infection, and eventually sepsis, that will require medical intervention.

#2. Hemorrhoids

Heaving out really old and dry feces will really cause you to strain hard to push them out, which can not only put stress to and damage your sphincter, but result in the veins around the rectal area to become inflamed and swell up painfully. Sitting down will become agony, and sometimes you will even bleed!

#3. Caca cocktail, anyone?

Remember how poop is mostly water? As it dries out, that dirty water needs to go somewhere, and so our system reabsorbs the poop water, which is actually the equivalent of drinking from an unflushed toilet. Ew.

#4. Constipation

Yes, this is a direct effect of holding in what needs to come out. So, you’re at work and too embarrassed to crap in the can, or you’re rushing for work and feel you have no time to dump your load. You’ve now essentially ruined what may have been a regular poop routine, and will suffer the consequences of constipation, thereafter.

#5. Toxic wasteland

Holding your wastes in can add to your body’s toxicity levels. It disrupts the healthy bacteria in your digestive system, and raises your beta glucaronidase levels, an enzyme that prevents your body from cleaning out the natural hormones and chemicals it absorbs from the environment.

#6. Bad day blues

Because you haven’t emptied your large intestine, you feel bloated, irritable, and uncomfortable, which leads to general frustration and a very short temper. In short, you’re bound to have a shitty day.

So if you feel you really need to go, then go! Holding it in really isn’t worth the aggravation.