‘Tis the Season for irregular bowel habits — December is Constipation Awareness Month.

Think about it. The period between Thanksgiving and New Years is probably the time of year when our diets change the most. Seasonal holiday parties and social gatherings provide many opportunities for overeating, for eating at irregular times and consuming a variety of not-too-healthy holiday foods that are absent from our diets during the rest of the year.

This hectic and stressful time of year, with shopping and partying added to our regular activities, undoubtedly leads to fewer of us getting the exercise we need to maintain good digestive health.

No doubt that many of us, particularly wacky celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow, will be undergoing various types of cleanses in January as part of our New Years’ resolutions. But until then, how can we cope with seasonal constipation disorder?

4 Ways To Know If You’re Constipated

First of all, constipation is a symptom and not a disease. Doctors and patients can and often do differ in what they mean by particular terms. Health care professionals use the Rome Criteria for constipation. You have to have two or more of these symptoms for at least three months:

6 Ways To Get Unstuck

An important point to remember is that constipation affects almost everyone at one time or another. In most cases, following these simple steps will help prevent constipation:

3 Other Things You Need To Know About Constipation

One important thing to remember is that some medicines can cause constipation. Topping this list are prescription painkillers such as demerol. Did you know that constipation may have killed Elvis?

Constipation is very prevalent in elderly patients as noted by Hippocrates who said, some 2,500 years ago:  The intestines tend to become sluggish with age.

Constipation in children is common and rarely a sign of a serious health problem. However it can affect quality of life and cause emotional problems and family stress. If your child appears constipated, a digital rectal examination (DRE) should be performed by your pediatrician or primary care physician  prior to referring the child to a specialist.

Bonus: What Your Toilet Paper Says About You

Opioid painkillers like oxycontin have been implicated in the deaths of a number of celebrities in the past several months, including Michael Jackson and Danny Gans. Now it’s been reported that DJ AM had 9 undigested oxycontin tablets in his stomach and mouth when he died, raising speculation that his death was not accidental but a potential suicide.

Resounding Health(TM) Opioid analgesics (painkillers)

A number of sources are reporting that an injection of a prescription pain killer, Demerol, was administered to Jackson shortly before his cardiac arrest. Demerol is one of several opioid (chemically related to opium) analgesics (painkillers); others include Codeine, Darvocet, Dilaudid and Oxycontin. All are commonly abused drugs.

If the information about Jackson is true, and an autopsy and toxicologysupport this as a contributing factor in his death, it would be thesecond case in two months in which a celebrity died as a result of usage of this family of prescription drugs. Las Vegas entertainer, Danny Gans, died in his sleep on May 1, 2009. Autopsy findings released on June 9 caused the coroner involved in that case to conclude that the drug Dilaudid caused Mr. Gans’ death. The death was declared accidental because side effects of a normal dose of the drug were toxic due to preexisting heart disease.

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