I'm so fed up with this and hope someone can help me with where to start. Namechanged but am a regular - MNHQ can confirm. (BTW I have no idea when this username is from, it's one of my old ones, but seemed apt so I have used it!)
I seem to have issues emptying my bowels properly. I will basically constantly feel like I need to wee, but what is actually happening is that I need to poo. Once I get the poo out, the feeling of needing to wee goes away. I can always do some wee though when I have this feeling (often quite an astonishing amount!)
When I can poo, it's not usually hard like constipation, in fact it's often soft and difficult to move (almost like because there isn't very much substance to it?) I quite often find when doing a wee a tiny little bit of poo will come out at the same time.
I am regular and poo in the morning after drinking coffee. I also take stimulant medication which can have a laxative effect but this doesn't seem to have changed the pattern (it predates that medication). This is generally normal (though can be a little looser since starting that medication). But it's the fact that something always seems to be "left behind" and then throughout the day I'll keep doing these little micro-poos or feeling like I need to wee/poo urgently, and these are the ones which are softer or I can't get the whole thing out at once.
I get the usual constipation before my period (and then the opposite on the first day of period) but this pattern that I'm explaining is the rest of the month.
Where should I start? Diet? Or is it normal and I just have to put up with it?