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AIBU?

Doctors/nurses/HCPs! AIBU to ask you about male/female bowel movements?

118 replies

LaContessaDiPlumpOnSea · 29/10/2016 11:03

Is there some great difference between males and females in bowel terms that inevitably leads to male shits taking a minimum of 20 minutes while female ones always take 10 min or less? I am constantly amazed at how long DH takes on the pot.

The loo is very close to our kitchen so it's not exactly an oasis of peace, plus we have intrusive small children and no lock on the door. I can't see why he'd actively choose to set up home in there (wifi reception poor in there too!). We eat the same baseline diet (I'm vegan; he adds meat and dairy to his meals) but I don't remember taking this long even when I ate those things as well.

Please can someone advise as to any biological reason why his poos take forever?! I've quizzed him as to whether all men are like this but he's remaining reticent on the issue Grin

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EBearhug · 31/10/2016 14:10

You're right, Contessa. I'll be putting in a request to HR to review managers'working environments forthwith.

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CreepyContessaDiPlump · 31/10/2016 11:21

I don't know Ebear - I think it's very considerate of him to make sure his boss has a comfy place to sit Grin

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EBearhug · 30/10/2016 23:12

he will also take a stool in so he can rest his boss on it

I thought child labour was mostly a thing of the past. And that's really taking micromanagement to a whole new level...

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FurryLittleTwerp · 30/10/2016 20:03

in my BM days (Before Mirena) I used to be bunged up for a few days before my period started & then poo frequently for the first couple of days - never loose, just frequent.

I always need a poo 45 minutes after the first thing I've eaten that day, regardless of when that is, & even if the thing I've eaten is very small, even as small as one chocolate at work having had no breakfast - even following licking the spoon after serving yoghurt to someone else!

Apologies if TMI Smile

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tupperwareAARGGH · 30/10/2016 20:02

My DS has been taking books into the loo (or when sat on potty) since he stopped using nappies. In fact nowadays he will also take a stool in so he can rest his boss on it and will spend ages in their. He is 6.

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LaContessaDiPlumpOnSea · 30/10/2016 19:32

Interesting note about hormones affecting frequency - I do get a bit of a runny tummy (as DH puts it) on my first day of full flow, without fail. I do also tend to need the loo myself at 2.45 precisely on work days; I have put this down the impact of all those tea breaks on my system Grin however my occupation of the facilities is usually quite brief!

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FurryLittleTwerp · 30/10/2016 19:25

Sadly not a wind-up Shining

He is a law unto himself & always right. His family a bit obsessed about regular bowels but I cannot imagine MIL putting up with such behaviour.

Apparently her father would disappear to the loo just as dinner was served - DH has form for this, but we just get on without him these days - too many "kept warm" meals in the past though, before I started to "grow a pair".

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Shiningexample · 30/10/2016 17:55

My DH spends several hours a day in the toilet, especially at the weekend - more time available then. He has the laptop plugged in with the cable under the door, his phone, car magazine. It's comfortable apparently confused

He also takes off all his clothes (or if it's cold, all but his t-shirt / shirt) as he finds them restricting

He'll wander in & out a bit sometimes, meat & two veg swinging free, to collect a coffee, new magazine etc

Shock
speechless
please tell me you are winding us up FurryLittleTwerp
has he always been like this?
was he brought up in a family where this was the norm?

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FurryLittleTwerp · 30/10/2016 17:33

My DH spends several hours a day in the toilet, especially at the weekend - more time available then. He has the laptop plugged in with the cable under the door, his phone, car magazine. It's comfortable apparently Confused

It drives me nuts. He also takes off all his clothes (or if it's cold, all but his t-shirt / shirt) as he finds them restricting, which I think fucking weird.

He'll wander in & out a bit sometimes, meat & two veg swinging free, to collect a coffee, new magazine etc. Hmm

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ChocolatyClair · 30/10/2016 17:10

I bet if a woman in an office disappeared for half an hour every day, she'd be brought in for a little chat from her boss about work hours being for work
My brother spends so much time in the toilet at work that his colleagues refer to it as his office

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Brankolium · 30/10/2016 16:43

I have wondered if there's a hormonal element to it as my bowel habits do change at different points in my cycle.

But it's probably largely habitual as bowel moment habits can be formed relatively easily. A lot of men have deemed a protracted and relaxing poo as 'normal' and therefore adopt the same pattern.

Women have been socialised more to think of toileting as an unspeakable thing to be embarrassed about, so the quicker the better (I mean, you wouldn't want anyone suspecting you'd been pooing in there Shock). Men are more likely to claim the stink. So whilst any embarrassment or macho-ness may have long since passed, that message sunk in during formative years, leaving you with whatever bowel pattern you established early on.

Oh, and maybe a bit pelvic floor differences thrown in. I've been much quicker on the loo post babies!

Those are just my guesses though, no studies to back any of it up!

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GinAndOnIt · 30/10/2016 16:39

Can I just say though, DP is bloody quick when he goes to the loo. Probably because half the time he has to poo in a field. I do, however, like to have a sit for a while and close my eyes on the loo if I'm out of an evening, just for a break from socialising.

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rawsienna · 30/10/2016 16:09

Asked OH why he takes so long doing a poo.

'''It takes time to contemplate doing it''
what the fuck What's to contemplate?

'''You feel like you're going to explode - It's a relief getting rid of it.'' [


Maybe I need to buy him the book:

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway! Grin

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CockacidalManiac · 30/10/2016 16:00

it gives them a little bit of pleasure due to the rubbing of the colon against the prostrate (a strong erogenous spot that we don't have).

I'm a man, and that really is bollocks.

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rawsienna · 30/10/2016 16:00

They could probably push one out in 5, but they don't want to.
They want to prolong things. Shock

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rawsienna · 30/10/2016 15:59

it gives them a little bit of pleasure due to the rubbing of the colon against the prostrate (a strong erogenous spot that we don't have).

Bingo!
There's your answer.
It Gives Them Pleasure. What a surprise.

I knew it wasn't anything to do with what they eat. My OH eats healthier than me, yet he spends half and hour on the bog and I'm in and out in 5 minutes.

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ChocolatyClair · 30/10/2016 15:34

Hmm can't help feeling Gok Wan's targeting his special go-faster yoghurts at the wrong demographic

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CockacidalManiac · 30/10/2016 15:01

It's because it can be so warm and comfortable in there.

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HappenstanceMarmite · 30/10/2016 14:55

Knocking one out. Simple.

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2kids2dogsnosense · 30/10/2016 13:49

Choclateyclair

outside, unheated privies
That's basically a shed with a toilet in it - if we'd have had one of those growing up my Dad would never have wanted to come into the house

Tea coming down my nose here Grin

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2kids2dogsnosense · 30/10/2016 13:45

The most annoying thing is that the cats respect DP/DS1/DS2's toilet time

Respect it . . . or are totally repulsed by it . . . .?

The cats seem attached to me for some reason. Whenever I have a bath they're always sitting round the bath watching me. At least it's not as bad as the dogs, who try to get in the bath with me.

This happens to me, too - cats gently batting the bubbles and dogs leaping in with me and then out again . . . and in . . . and out . . .ad bloody infinitum. (Yes - I could shut them out, but then they all sit and cry/wail and claw things)

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OzzieFem · 30/10/2016 12:28

Oops. Perhaps I need gender realignment? Unless it's urgent I generally end up taking something to read or do a Sudoku while on the loo and can be in there for 20 mins. My niece is the same, (but no Sudoku), however she can take up to half an hour. Apparently her dad is just the same in length of time spent in the little room and does a stinker with splatter every time.

Drives my sister nuts, as she complains when she is in there for a poo, someone always wants to use it so she has to rush.

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DropZoneOne · 30/10/2016 12:20

My DH does this too. Asks if anyone needs the toilet before he goes in, then gets mightily fed up if, 20 minutes later, DC bangs on the door. She's 8, she doesn't know she'll need a wee at some point in the next half an hour. What's clear though is that he's done his business and is just sitting there reading because after much grumbling, the loo will flush and he'll come out.

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GinAndOnIt · 30/10/2016 12:12

EBear GinCat will happily sidle up next to where I'm gardening to..ahem..relieve himself, but I can't help but feel a bit embarrassed and refuse to look at him Grin

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EBearhug · 30/10/2016 12:03

my cat sits in front of me looking up at me

We had one which did this - however, if we ever came across him in the garden when he was doing his thing, he'd get all huffy and turn his back. He definitely considered it a private moment when he was doing it, but humans weren't allowed the same respect. (He was a male cat, yes.)

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