BehindTheMedspeak: Your constipation is my normal

After two unpleasant days-long failed colonoscopy preps last year I realized what the problem was/is: the gastroenterologist's questionnaire I filled out asked if I had constipation and I answered "No."

Only after I pondered for a few days about what could possibly have gone so wrong — since I'd done everything according to the detailed preparation instructions I'd been given — did the penny drop.

                                     TMI ALERT

I poop about once every two weeks: it was around once a week after I started daily antidepressant medication in 1991 and now with my triad of lithium/Paxil/buproprion and being a geezer it's slowed down even more.

But to me that's not constipation — it's normal.

Words mean different things to different people.

I told the gastroenterologist it would be better if the questionnaire asked "How often do you have a bowel movement?"

He agreed.