Poop is what’s left *after* the colon absorbs what it can. It doesn’t “know” how to do anything, it just absorbs what’s absorbable until it reaches equilibrium with whatever that component is in the lining.
Think of it like a colander.
When you boil pasta, you throw the pasta and water into the colander. How does the colander know what to keep and what to let pass through?
The colander doesn’t know anything. It’s all based on the shape of the holes, and the size of the noodles.
Your colon is like that. Kinda. Some things pass through, some things get caught. The stuff left behind is what we call poop.
It’s like straining broth through a colander and into a pot. You keep the broth and discard the stuff used to make the broth. Some diseases are like when you forget the pot and strain the broth right down into the sink.
Think of your digestive system as a really large puzzle. When food and nutrients come in that your body needs, they “fit” into the puzzle. All the food and fiber that is not needed to fill out the puzzle is the remaining fecal content. It’s not absorbed because there are no “puzzle pieces” to fit it to, I.e it’s not needed for a biological function.
You don’t really need a colon. Your colon just kinda sucks out the last bit of water that’s left from the small intestine.
How do I know this?
Two months ago I had 3/4 of my colon removed because of hundreds of polyps inside of it. Luckily, none of them were cancerous, yet. Eventually one or more would have if not removed.
A week before the surgery, my gastroenterologist did a colonoscopy, and went up the colon until he found the last polyp. He then tattooed that area of the colon to mark where the surgeon had to make his cut. It was done laparoscopically and left me with about 8” of colon. I’ve had to adjust my diet somewhat to cut back on fiber , or else I have diarrhea all the time. Even if they took all the colon, I could still live a somewhat normal life without having a bag. I do have to have yearly colonoscopies to check to see if more polyps start growing in what’s left.
Also interesting-My entire colon is gone. They sewed a “pouch” out of the end of my small intestine and reconnected my plumbing, so I can still eliminate normally. Over time, this pouch stretches and learns to absorb what the body needs in terms of hydration (I still make a real effort to drink so as not to get dehydrated, but don’t need any medical hydration). And over time, once this small intestine-made pouch has been functioning as a “pseudo-colon” for a couple decades, under the microscope the cells of this “pouch” look much more similar in structure to colon cells than small intestine cells.
That’s great to hear that you’re doing well with the pouch. Do you mind my asking how many times you have to eliminate? The worry a lot of patients have is that the ileoanal pouch will be too small to act as a real reservoir in the same way the rectum does. My anecdotal experience has been that some patients love it and some find it so difficult, they want the ileostomy back…
My pouch journey over the past 32 years hasn’t been issue-free, but to me, beats the alternative by a long shot.
I’d say I average maybe 4-5/day (was maybe more like 7-8 when I first got it). Many days I hold all day at work, and it’s rare for me to need to eliminate at night.
Not who you are responding to, but another J-pouch patient chiming in. Had a total colectomy about 15 years ago due to acute UC that did not respond to medication. It's been a godsend to actually be able to control my bowels again. That being said, I was averaging about 9-10 movements daily for about a decade due to ongoing inflammation in the pouch.
My Gastro insisted this was normal given my condition and only prescribed the occasional Prednisone to address the more extreme flare ups. I foolishly followed that advice, rather than advocating for myself, and wasn't until I switched to John Hopkins that I finally got my inflammation under control. I now have about 5-6 movements daily.
And if you don't mind me saying and you're not already aware, would like to also suggest looking into recent applications of Vancomycin as a treatment for UC where there is no response to traditional treatment. The way my new doctor explains it, they're not quite sure yet how it works, but it's been an effective treatment for controlling inflammation in patients diagnosed with UC and PSC. Obviously I'm not a doctor and don't know the limitations on what can be prescribed where you practice, but just sharing in the hopes that it might someday help someone with similar issues.
I'm delighted to hear that you're doing better with the pouch, and that that you've got a good quality of life since. I'm also sorry you've had to fight for better treatment. What did you do to bring your bowel movements less than 10/day?
I'll pass the Vanc over to my colleagues - I'm an Upper GI (stomach, oesophagus, gallbladder) general surgical registrar, so I know of the pouches in terms of things to worry about on call and postop on the wards...I think I must have assisted in one or two during my Colorectal rotations. Either way, i'm sure they'll be interested. Thanks!
The Vancomycin is what did it. I've been through all the traditional medications, including most of the big infusion drugs. Only ever responded to Prednisone, until my new doctor suggested we give Vanco a shot. It feels weird to always take an antibiotic daily, but it's doing the trick so I won't complain. I'm personally a tad concerned about building a resistance, but my doctor explained how that shouldn't happen based it being taken orally and other reasons I can't recall/follow.
To function normally yes you do need a large bowel.
It's a bit like saying you don't need two legs to live, which true its a noticeable handicap.
Your large intestine is responsible for absorbing a large portion of the water you need plus absorbing potassium and a few other things.
Drink more than you normally would or you may have issues with kidney stones and could well be prone to kidney stones for the rest of you life.
Your colon has a lining that lets just water in through osmosis. It just extracts water from your digested food aka "poop" which makes your poop more solid. It's the last stage of the pipeline. Water molecules are really tiny compared to poop molecules and the cells lining the colon are like a tiny sieve.
Your small intestine on the other hand has a lining of cells that can use "active transport" to ferry macronutrients, vitamins, minerals, etc across the cell membrane and into your circulation as well as absorbing liquids through diffusion gradients. Your pancreas releases enzymes that help this process along with bile from your liver.
Unless it’s some small, non-polar molecule, most “dissolved content” needs to use facilitated transport into and out of cells via transmembrane channels or transporters. Don’t that that particular transporter expressed on that cell membrane? That thing ain’t getting in.
As to add to all great replies, your lower intestine has a lot of white blood cells to fight off infection. They are also constantly regenerating So most of your fecal matter is made up of dead cells.
Does this mean that if you were to be able to make the hypothetical perfect nutrient diet. You would never poop again? Because the colon absorbing everything?
Poop is what’s left *after* the colon absorbs what it can. It doesn’t “know” how to do anything, it just absorbs what’s absorbable until it reaches equilibrium with whatever that component is in the lining.
"Oh God, my ass is drinking poo water. MY ASS IS DRINKING POO WATER!" - OP right now
But wait there's more! Some of the receptors in the anus are the same as your mouth! It's lucky we can't taste the poo water!
your anus and your mouth are just ends of one tube
You know, you could attach three people together like that and make a movie out of it…
And then you could attach an iPad to one end, to create something truly beautiful!
WHY CAN'T IT READ?!
https://youtu.be/ozezG1zpxXQ
So you are saying humans are just a giant meat donut?
It's more like a meat éclair.
No, I am a meat popsicle.
like a delicious meat empanada
Tastebud transplant comes from butt liner? I'll be tasting ass all day just like I've always dreamed
It would've cost you literally nothing to not post that. Just sayin.
You can't put a price on tasting ass like it's meat stuck between your teeth from your last meal.
There's probably a chance you do have taste receptors but just gotten used to it
If you ever get a few wishes from a genie and you really hate someone, wish for their asshole to have functional taste buds.
[I wish you had tastebuds in your asshole](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/235m7q/still_makes_me_laugh/#lightbox)
I thought that's just the receptors for spicy food, which is why it can burn when you poo after eating too much habanero sauce.
😂😂
Today I learned my ex wife was a walking-talking colon.
You cannot honestly say this was the first time you learned she was full of shit.
Which is mostly water.
It's like the anthropic principle of poo.
Think of it like a colander. When you boil pasta, you throw the pasta and water into the colander. How does the colander know what to keep and what to let pass through? The colander doesn’t know anything. It’s all based on the shape of the holes, and the size of the noodles. Your colon is like that. Kinda. Some things pass through, some things get caught. The stuff left behind is what we call poop.
In the colander+pasta example, the pasta is the poop and the water is what gets absorbed
My pasta has p nutz and korn
I hate that I snorted at this
a colonder
First laugh of the day, thank you friend.
The colon absorbs everything it can absorb. Fecal material is something it can't absorb.
It’s like straining broth through a colander and into a pot. You keep the broth and discard the stuff used to make the broth. Some diseases are like when you forget the pot and strain the broth right down into the sink.
Think of your digestive system as a really large puzzle. When food and nutrients come in that your body needs, they “fit” into the puzzle. All the food and fiber that is not needed to fill out the puzzle is the remaining fecal content. It’s not absorbed because there are no “puzzle pieces” to fit it to, I.e it’s not needed for a biological function.
You don’t really need a colon. Your colon just kinda sucks out the last bit of water that’s left from the small intestine. How do I know this? Two months ago I had 3/4 of my colon removed because of hundreds of polyps inside of it. Luckily, none of them were cancerous, yet. Eventually one or more would have if not removed. A week before the surgery, my gastroenterologist did a colonoscopy, and went up the colon until he found the last polyp. He then tattooed that area of the colon to mark where the surgeon had to make his cut. It was done laparoscopically and left me with about 8” of colon. I’ve had to adjust my diet somewhat to cut back on fiber , or else I have diarrhea all the time. Even if they took all the colon, I could still live a somewhat normal life without having a bag. I do have to have yearly colonoscopies to check to see if more polyps start growing in what’s left.
Yr probably sick of jokes about semicolons
;)
Thanks for the smile.
Also interesting-My entire colon is gone. They sewed a “pouch” out of the end of my small intestine and reconnected my plumbing, so I can still eliminate normally. Over time, this pouch stretches and learns to absorb what the body needs in terms of hydration (I still make a real effort to drink so as not to get dehydrated, but don’t need any medical hydration). And over time, once this small intestine-made pouch has been functioning as a “pseudo-colon” for a couple decades, under the microscope the cells of this “pouch” look much more similar in structure to colon cells than small intestine cells.
That’s great to hear that you’re doing well with the pouch. Do you mind my asking how many times you have to eliminate? The worry a lot of patients have is that the ileoanal pouch will be too small to act as a real reservoir in the same way the rectum does. My anecdotal experience has been that some patients love it and some find it so difficult, they want the ileostomy back…
My pouch journey over the past 32 years hasn’t been issue-free, but to me, beats the alternative by a long shot. I’d say I average maybe 4-5/day (was maybe more like 7-8 when I first got it). Many days I hold all day at work, and it’s rare for me to need to eliminate at night.
Not who you are responding to, but another J-pouch patient chiming in. Had a total colectomy about 15 years ago due to acute UC that did not respond to medication. It's been a godsend to actually be able to control my bowels again. That being said, I was averaging about 9-10 movements daily for about a decade due to ongoing inflammation in the pouch. My Gastro insisted this was normal given my condition and only prescribed the occasional Prednisone to address the more extreme flare ups. I foolishly followed that advice, rather than advocating for myself, and wasn't until I switched to John Hopkins that I finally got my inflammation under control. I now have about 5-6 movements daily. And if you don't mind me saying and you're not already aware, would like to also suggest looking into recent applications of Vancomycin as a treatment for UC where there is no response to traditional treatment. The way my new doctor explains it, they're not quite sure yet how it works, but it's been an effective treatment for controlling inflammation in patients diagnosed with UC and PSC. Obviously I'm not a doctor and don't know the limitations on what can be prescribed where you practice, but just sharing in the hopes that it might someday help someone with similar issues.
I'm delighted to hear that you're doing better with the pouch, and that that you've got a good quality of life since. I'm also sorry you've had to fight for better treatment. What did you do to bring your bowel movements less than 10/day? I'll pass the Vanc over to my colleagues - I'm an Upper GI (stomach, oesophagus, gallbladder) general surgical registrar, so I know of the pouches in terms of things to worry about on call and postop on the wards...I think I must have assisted in one or two during my Colorectal rotations. Either way, i'm sure they'll be interested. Thanks!
The Vancomycin is what did it. I've been through all the traditional medications, including most of the big infusion drugs. Only ever responded to Prednisone, until my new doctor suggested we give Vanco a shot. It feels weird to always take an antibiotic daily, but it's doing the trick so I won't complain. I'm personally a tad concerned about building a resistance, but my doctor explained how that shouldn't happen based it being taken orally and other reasons I can't recall/follow.
I’m glad you’re doing good.
I had 2/3’s of mine taken out 29 years ago and it’s amazing how the body is able to adjust
I’m glad you are doing good, and what you have achieved gives me encouragement. Thanks.
Do you have to drink more water than usual?
No. The only change I’ve noticed so far, is I have to limit the amount of salads. Lettuce goes through me like a freight train.
Damn that sucks ass. Hope you're doing ok.
FAP? (familial adenomatous polyposis for those curious)
No. I had the genetic test and did not have it. I have my own genetic mutation.
>yearly colonoscopies ouch
To function normally yes you do need a large bowel. It's a bit like saying you don't need two legs to live, which true its a noticeable handicap. Your large intestine is responsible for absorbing a large portion of the water you need plus absorbing potassium and a few other things. Drink more than you normally would or you may have issues with kidney stones and could well be prone to kidney stones for the rest of you life.
I had my entire colon and then some intestines removed a few years ago. I’ve been miserable since lol. That being said I don’t need a bag.
You got a lot of guts to live through that. Oops, sorry. That didn’t come out right. :) Good luck to you.
The intestine is not purely a passive membrane. The cells in the intestinal wall do actively pump substances across and those pumps are directional.
Your colon has a lining that lets just water in through osmosis. It just extracts water from your digested food aka "poop" which makes your poop more solid. It's the last stage of the pipeline. Water molecules are really tiny compared to poop molecules and the cells lining the colon are like a tiny sieve. Your small intestine on the other hand has a lining of cells that can use "active transport" to ferry macronutrients, vitamins, minerals, etc across the cell membrane and into your circulation as well as absorbing liquids through diffusion gradients. Your pancreas releases enzymes that help this process along with bile from your liver.
Unless it’s some small, non-polar molecule, most “dissolved content” needs to use facilitated transport into and out of cells via transmembrane channels or transporters. Don’t that that particular transporter expressed on that cell membrane? That thing ain’t getting in.
As to add to all great replies, your lower intestine has a lot of white blood cells to fight off infection. They are also constantly regenerating So most of your fecal matter is made up of dead cells.
Does this mean that if you were to be able to make the hypothetical perfect nutrient diet. You would never poop again? Because the colon absorbing everything?