A Closer Look at Colonoscopy
A colonoscopy allows a closer look inside your large intestine (rectum and colon) to find out what is causing symptoms such as persistent diarrhoea, a change in your bowel habits,...
Basic Anatomy of the Digestive System
How well do you know your own body? Here, the basic anatomy of the digestive system is described.
Constipation
Constipation is difficult to define, and what one person regards as constipation, another person may regard as normal. Some people think they are constipated if they do not have a...
Diarrhoea
Occasional bouts of diarrhoea are a fact of life – we have all experienced them. This section is about acute diarrhoea, which usually clears up within a few days, as...
Faecal Incontinence
Bowel incontinence, also called faecal (fecal) incontinence or anal leakage, is the inability to control the bowels, resulting in the unplanned loss of liquid stool (diarrhoea), solid poo or flatulence...
Hiccups
Everyone experiences hiccups from time to time. However, some people get hiccups frequently for no apparent reason, and the attacks can last a long time and be distressing.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
If you think you have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), you are not alone. More than 1 in 10 people are likely to have IBS at some time in their life.
Strange Poo
Poo is made of water, bits of food that could not be digested, dead cells from the lining of the intestines, and dead bacteria – all the solids that the...
Wind
There are three main sources of wind: Everyone’s gut contains gas; carbon dioxide is produced by chemical reactions within the gut; some of the bacteria living in our intestines act...