Faecal impaction in the elderly

Dr Leila Abouzekry came from Egypt and was working in a geriatric hospital in Doncaster. She wanted to carry out a research project in her patients. I admit to some feelings of guilt in suggesting she study the physiology of faecal impaction, but nobody had done it before. Her results... Read more »

Constipation; the thief of time!

"Constipation is the thief of time, diarrhoea waits for no man!" The literature suggested that idiopathic constipation, which mainly affected young women, could, like faecal incontinence, be caused by one of a number of possible defects. This was not true. Although our studies showed that a range of abnormalities, delays in... Read more »

Rectal Sensitivity

Irritable Bowel Syndome (IBS) is characterized by increased sensitivity of the rectum. We showed that rectal sensitivity is quite variable and identified how stress, inflammation and sleep deprivation could enhance sensitivity while hypnosis, relaxation and a new class of drugs that blocked serotonin receptors could diminish it. The latter became... Read more »