Losing Sensation Have Bowel Movement?

Posted , 2 users are following.

Hi - wondering if anyone has advice or can help.

To make a very long and frustrating problem simple, I seem to lose the sensation/ability to have a bowel movement during the work week, whereas I can have normal bowel movements on the weekends. I'm a creature of habit and definitely have OCD, so my morning routine and diet throughout every day of the week remains the same with the exception of one key detail. 

On the weekends, when I wake up, I will leisurely have something small to eat, such as a banana and peanut butter, and then maybe an hour later go to the gym. About 20 minutes after I eat, I effortlessly have a bowel movement, and I feel fine the rest of the day. 

During the work week, due to my work schedule, I wake up around 5:30 AM and immediately go to the gym without eating anything (or, if I eat anything, it's not leisurely and it's very small). Despite having some gas and feeling that I have enough waste to produce a bowel movement, I never go in the morning before the gym. However, the frustrating thing is that after the gym, my sensation to have a bowel movement is totally gone, yet I continue to have gas throughout the day, despite how much I eat and despite how much I try and stick to my weekend routine. Normally I will end up having a bowel movement later in the day but not until 8-9 PM after being bloated and gassy all day. 

Further, even if I try to get up much earlier during the week to mimic my weekend routine, it doesn't seem to work. If I do have a bowel movement before the gym, it's not substantial, and i'm still gassy throughout the day. 

What's even more frustrating is that this developed in me over the past 4-5 years. Previously, my bowel movements were the same no matter what day of the week it was. Despite only being 27, I went to the doctor and has a colonoscopy to ensure I didn't have colon cancer or something and i'm perfectly fine. 

Does anyone have a plausible explanation as to why my BM's are different on the weekends versus the work week? Thank you

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2 Replies

  • Posted

    Sounds very much down to diet! Maybe you need to plan different eating habits, lots of fibre and water! Also, perhaps you are much more relaxed at weekends than you are during the week, particularly if your job brings stress! Exercise is good, yes, but regular healthy eating is more important! 
    • Posted

      Ruari, thank you for your reply. The only reason I do NOT think it's diet related is because I will quite literally eat the same thing every day. For example:

      Monday-Friday: Banana w/ peanut butter for breakfast, no bowel movement

      Saturday-Sunday: Banana w/ peanut butter for breakfast, easy bowel movement. 

      The only difference is the timing of my eating, on the weekends it's when I wake up, on the weekdays it's 3.5-4 hours after I wake up and after the gym. 

      What I will say is that my job is in fact extremely stressful, I typically work 12-13 hours a day when it's not busy and that can stretch to 20 hours when it is busy. So when I have weekends off it is admittedly very relaxing. But I can't believe that stress would do this to me...

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