Frequent bowel movements

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Definition

By Mayo Clinic staff

Digestive Health

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There's no generally accepted clinical definition for frequent bowel movements. Bowel habits vary widely among healthy people. Some healthy people may have three bowel movements per week, while others may have three per day.

Frequency or pattern of your bowel movements may change over time. But if nothing else about your bowel movements is different — no loose, watery stools, abdominal cramping or bloody stool — the change is probably not a sign of any illness.

Causes
References
  1. Understanding constipation. American Gastroenterological Association. http://www.gastro.org/patient-center/digestive-conditions/constipation. Accessed Oct. 7, 2011.
  2. Irritable bowel syndrome. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/ibs/. Accessed Oct. 11, 2011.
  3. Sanjoaquin MA, et al. Nutrition and lifestyle in relation to bowel movement frequency: A cross-sectional study of 20,630 men and women in EPIC-Oxford. Public Health Nutrition. 2004;7:77.
  4. Fry RD, et al. Colon and rectum. In: Townsend CM Jr, et al. Sabiston Textbook of Surgery: The Biological Basis of Modern Surgical Practice. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/208746819-6/0/1565/0.html. Accessed Oct. 11, 2011.
  5. Cook IJ, et al. Colonic motor and sensory function and dysfunction. In: Feldman M, et al. Sleisenger & Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, Management. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/about.do?eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-6189-2..X0001-7--TOP&isbn=978-1-4160-6189-2&about=true&uniqId=229935664-2192. Accessed Oct. 11, 2011.
  6. Farrell RJ, et al. Celiac disease and refractory celiac disease. In: Feldman M, et al. Sleisenger & Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, Management. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/about.do?eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-6189-2..X0001-7--TOP&isbn=978-1-4160-6189-2&about=true&uniqId=229935664-2192. Accessed Oct. 11, 2011.
  7. Mandel SJ, et al. Thyrotoxicosis. In: Kronenberg HM, et al. Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. 12th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2011. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/191205553-3/0/1555/0.html#. Accessed Oct. 11, 2011.
  8. Wilkinson JM (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct. 11, 2011.
MY00786 Nov. 5, 2011

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