How fast does food pass through your bowels?

[steve-H]

I think I mite be unusual in this sense but I feel it could somehow be related to my problems?

Sometimes I can eat and around 4 hours later I can be passing some of that food out in a BM and I never have diarrhea, this happens often atleast a few times a week.

 

[shamrock15]

I can have stuff move through in under half an hour. It does depend a little on what you eat - some foods have longer processing times. Fluids can also affect the rates.

 

[mrjohns2]

Here is an interesting Mayo article...
How Long Does Digestion Take?

 

[steve-H]

Interesting read.... with the average time 40 hours to pass through just the large colon. Damn I have problems!

 

[steve-H]

I can have stuff move through in under half an hour. It does depend a little on what you eat - some foods have longer processing times. Fluids can also affect the rates.

You can eat a meal and then 30 minutes later you could pass a BM with this food in it?

Have you looked into this at all?

 

[rrhood1]

40 hours? I don't think so - mine is about 8 hours on a good day. When I'm flaring, 1/2 an hour is all it takes.

Pity that they didn't look at people that had digestive problems for their study.

 

[Mlits]

During a rough time, I feel that, it might just be easier to eat on the potty! I know that's a disgusting thing to say, and of course I would never do it... but only folks like us would even begin to get the point...

Sometimes, its like this, "why eat at all?" So I don't. This doesn't help much, by the way, if the problem is bile-induced... yeah, well....yeah.

 

[ronroush7]

I had 6 cm. of my bowel removed in 2010 and with less intestine food moves through my system quicker.

 

[Kero]

Anywhere from 4 hours to 12 hours Usually dinner is coming through the next morning and I can pick out all I have eaten

 

[Dackelmann]

7 hours after my soup with garlicy vegetables for lunch today-lo, my roadkill poop smelled like my lunch.
The most embarrassing moment was taking a dump a while ago, when a friend visiting my apartment straight after the said event took a deep breath told me the curry that was I was supposedly cooking smelt great. I didn't have the heart to tell the truth I'd cooked it the night before and the kitchen was sparkly clean and yet it held all of its original aroma overnight before its heading for the departure lounge.

 

[UnXmas]

Prior to having an ileostomy I wouldn't have known how long, though I assume the time deteriorated significantly when I had my colon removed. Now with the ileostomy, anything with even a hint of fibre in it is visible in the stoma output - several hours after I've eaten it sometimes; e.g. if I eat some fruit at breakfast, it will be in the stoma output in the evening of the same day. But I can't eat much fibre at all, and the rest of what I eat I wouldn't be able to distinguish in the stoma output, so it may be that food is mostly going through me slower than that.

 

[GamerChick]

Unless I take ducolax (laxatives), I won't have a bowel movement for a month or longer.

 

[steve-H]

Unless I take ducolax (laxatives), I won't have a bowel movement for a month or longer.

I honestly think I would die if I went longer than two days.

 

[AJC - Australia]

interesting…i only know for sure after having those 'barium meals' in the hospital where you basically drink lead…and yes, under 20mins from mouth to anus. crazy fast. LIke your body is just trying to get it out of you ASAP. Makes me wonder…i have wondered over the years, could they slow down the metabolism, could that be part of the problem that the guts are out of synch….out of rhythm.

 

[steve-H]

interesting…i only know for sure after having those 'barium meals' in the hospital where you basically drink lead…and yes, under 20mins from mouth to anus. crazy fast. LIke your body is just trying to get it out of you ASAP. Makes me wonder…i have wondered over the years, could they slow down the metabolism, could that be part of the problem that the guts are out of synch….out of rhythm.

Arent you told to fast for the barium meals? So no wonder it goes through in 20 mins....

 

[AJC - Australia]

that probably makes it quicker….having fasted before hand.

I have eaten things and seen them in the toilet 20 minutes later…..hundreds of times.

actually make that thousands of times…

cheers

 

[mrjohns2]

I just looked at my small bowel follow through (barium meal) test. It took 2 hours from drinking until it hit the cecum. Now, the stomach didn't have to do any work, so I think it takes longer if the stomach has to do work. Then, from there, the colon has to do its thing.

I saw on something else, that that the stomach works on food for different times. 15 mins. for fruit juice on one end and up to 5 hours for pork on the other.

The link below says that "normal" colon transport is 30-40 hours.


This was interesting.
http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/basics/transit.html

 

[shamrock15]

I have had it looked at - some foods create a flushing effect. The colon gets irritated, doesn't absorb water and can even dump water in creating a real rapid transit time.

 

[sashaz]

If not well then pretty fast. However when I'm well I think it's just before 24 hours.

 

[hbrekkaas]

I've passed things in 20-30 minutes before, generally things go in one end and come right back out the other. But I have an awesome combo of Crohn's, "dumpng syndrome" (rapid gastric emptying) and a shortened bowel from surgery.

The only thing that takes awhile to pass is meat, but it causes a ton of pain at my surgery site and has caused partial blockages. So I don't eat it.

 

[PVail]

On average i would say 45 minutes before I have to go to the loo, usually sooner depending on the food.

 

[chicky402]

I think it depends on what kind of foods you eat and what agrees or disagrees with your body. Some foods I eat and I am running to the bathroom with in 20 minutes. I had a latte this morning and bad idea. I think with CD you just need to know what your body will tolerate. My thing is if I go on a date I am always nervous with what to eat and will I end up needing to run to the bathroom. Its crazy how a person's life can revolve around the bathroom. CD is still new for me, so I am still trying to learn what foods my body tolerates and does not.

 

[Crystal83]

I sometimes have to go to the toilet before I'm even halfway through a meal.. And I'm sure it's not the same food, but sometime it does make me feel like it's not even worth having meals!

I had a pill cam a few months ago and it went through me in 3 hours.

 

[Daddy119]

I'm going to say I am very variable. On good days - probably 20-24 hours transit time. On bad days - 6-12 hours. I definitely believe what you ingest affects the transit time. If I am eating a low residue diet, transit time is longer. When I indulge on fruits, rich foods etc., we are off to the races. In response to your original question of 4 hours transit time, I would be getting that checked out if it was constant. Have you tried a low residue diet to slow it down?

 

[Dackelmann]

And so last night I cooked a little bit of chicken with peppers in white wine with some rice and steamed some kai lan (Chinese greens)- this morning -12 hours after my little meal- I take a dump- lo, there are my deep green leafy greens in a little worse for their road trip but still still deep leafy green staring back at me. Did I get any nutrient out of these? How on earth did they not break down? Anybody else have this kind of malarky going on?

 

[Daddy119]

Indeed I do...lol. I think I analyze my excrements way too much though. I should just take someone else's advice and turn off the lights when I go and flush in the dark. No see, no worry. I'm sure if the average (non IBD person) checked out their toilet treats everytime, they'd see some strange and wonderful things too. As for the transit times, is there really a "normal", I don't know. What you need to figure out is what is normal for you and then when things go off, you'll know. Comparing to others is probably never going give you peace of mind.

 

[shawnagio]

So how do you know what foods to eat or not if I am not sure it is something I ate at lunch or 20 min ago??
Example ate oatmeal at 9 am. Felt yucky till 2 then had a surprise no clue even time to get bathroom.
Ate vegie flatbread at 7 and did not even finish and running to bathroom!
So how you know what meal bothered you. Does it affect you that quick???

 

[pink&green]

It depends on what hubby eats there are times he can't get through a meal then there's times he can go 1 day. He really likes salads but it does not agree with him lol.

 

[AJC - Australia]

this is a great thread discussion.
Chicky 402 - it was a long hard road but i managed to get rid of coffee from my life. That made a bit of difference.

With food - and I swear by this - i never put anything in my mouth that I know is potentially bad for me….i just avoid it all, gluten, dairy, meat, sugar, caffeine….i remember i used to be eating something and think 'maybe this is bad for me' and often it was (can of coke or fizzy drink, long black coffee, smoothie with cows milk, steak, chocolate, cakes, biscuits….white bread etc) Was it hard to stop taking them? HELL YEAH, was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY.

 

[shawnagio]

So what do we eat??? My GI swears food is not the problems and the meds will take care of it! yea right.... I just dont know how to start and to know exactly what food bother me. any suggestions on getting started??

 

[AJC - Australia]

one baby step at a time…give it a week and see if that feels better.
sugar and processed foods are the biggest shitty modern crap we put in our bodies, i would start with them and I dont mean a teaspoon of sugar in a cup of tea, i mean 20 in a can of coke or ten in a can of lemonade, or red bull……some foods are just mega hyped on sugar. Processed food are just the norm these days in the western world and crohns have sensitive tummies that cant handle it.

 

[Rocking on]

I have urgency almost always within 20 minutes of eating, usually sooner. For this fact I have always wondered about the allergic reaction side of Crohns.

 

[mrjohns2]

I think this is the best way to describe it. The urgency is within 20 minutes, that doesn't mean the same food is coming out.

I have urgency almost always within 20 minutes of eating, usually sooner. For this fact I have always wondered about the allergic reaction side of Crohns.