Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional bowel disorder meaning that it is due to unknown causes but is not related to any disease process. It is 2 to 3 times more common in women than men in Western nations which is in stark contrast to Asian countries like India where 70% to 80% of IBS sufferers are men. IBS is a condition marked by episodes of abdominal pain with changes in bowel habit broadly labeled as constipation or diarrhea. It is a chronic ailment that can cause severe discomfort and have a wide degree of psychosocial impact but is not life threatening and not associated with an increased risk of more serious diseases like colorectal cancer.

Constipation is a symptom and not a disease. It can be a symptom of various diseases, not only those affecting the gastrointestinal tract. However, constipation can sometimes occur in a person with no underlying disease. Even more frustrating for some, particularly females, constipation can occur in otherwise healthy women who are health conscious and strive hard to maintain their fitness. It appears that constipation is not due to a single factor but rather several lifestyle and hormonal factors that makes it more frequent in females.

Constipation is a fairly common bowel  irregularity that is more often seen in women. It may be exacerbated or even start up in pregnancy for a number of reasons that are not applicable in women who are not pregnant. However, treating constipation during pregnancy needs to be done with caution – the safety of the fetus and the mother is paramount and the mother’s body may react differently to otherwise innocuous remedies. The complications of severe constipation and treatment of it can even adversely affect pregnancy. It is therefore imperative that pregnant women seek medical advice if constipated rather than waiting for it to pass or attempting to self medicate.

Many young women, prior to their first pregnancy, suffer with severe constipation and anemia, which are often seen as unrelated symptoms. The anemia or low blood iron stems from the loss of blood due to menses while constipation is a gastrointestinal (gut) disorder resulting in difficulty in passing out feces (stool). However evidence suggests that both anemia and constipation may be linked to a common hormonal cause that plagues many menstruating women.