Is it normal to have a bowel movement only every 5 days?

[AlexandraCamden]

I think this has always been somewhat normal from me but I have been getting upper abdominal pain & I had an x-ray which showed some constipation - anyone had anything similar ?

I would say no it’s not normal. My daughter had chronic constipation and the gastro doctor said a healthy bowel moves 1-2 times per day

I had constipation growing up too ,my doc said never go past 3 days without a bm,5 days is definitely not good,I'd try a suppository first ,then enema asap

There is a wide range of normal, anything from multiple times a day to once a week.

The key thing is what is normal for you, and do you have a healthy diet with sufficient fibre?

Have a look at the Bristol Stool Chart - you want your poo to be a type 3 or 4.

This is my normal, it has been my whole life though. Presumably if it's a change then it wouldn't be classed as normal?

Most of the population fall in the normal range of between 3 BMs per day and 1 BM every 3 days. There are outliers to this and loads of factors affecting BMs.
Knowing what is normal for you is a good starting point, and recognising change or difficulties.

That was normal for my son. Improved when he found out he was cow milk protein intolerant and changed to goats milk.

By 5 days the colon is going to get stretched out of shape ,then the brain doesn't get the signal to empty colon ,so the person doesn't feel urge to poop ,further compounding the constipation,I had an enlarged colon from age 15 to 18

Don't most people do a Pooh most days?

Wouldn’t be too unusual for me

This was my normal until I became pregnant. X

Drink lots of water, eat 2 or 3 prunes a day or drink prune juice, take a good probiotic and things should get moving more. If there’s not a major issue often these small changes can make a lot of difference.

Then it got better???

No, this is not normal OP. How much water do you drink? Do you eat a diet with enough fibre in it? I suffer from IBS (C) and so I have to really keep on top of both hydration and fibre intake and if I don't get enough even one day then I become constipated. If I hadn't been for five days, I'd be worried. Drink two pints of water and see if that helps. Eat an apple. Otherwise, I'd use a suppository as you are probably impacted.