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Stool hardness, stool dryness, or small stool is often really a form of constipation (see also constipation). Hard stool, dry stool, or constipation can mean many possible medical conditions. Some people distinguish hard stool from constipation by defining constipation as difficulty with bowel motions rather than hardness of stool. However, the two issues are deeply related and the medical definition of constipation usually includes a spectrum of stool hardness. Similarly, soft stool is usually considered part of the spectrum of diarrhea. Seek prompt professional medical advice about such symptoms....more »
» Review Causes of Hard stool: Causes | Symptom Checker » | Assessment Questionnaire »
Home medical tests possibly related to Hard stool:
Listed below are some combinations of symptoms associated with Hard stool, as listed in our database. Visit the Symptom Checker, to add and remove symptoms and research your condition.
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Some of the possible treatments listed in sources for treatment of Hard stool may include:
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Real-life user stories relating to Hard stool:
Symptom specific forums: The following patient stories in our interactive forums and message boards relate to Hard stool or relevant symptoms:
Various tests are used in the diagnosis of Hard stool. Some of these are listed below :
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diagnostic tests for Hard stool
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Some of the comorbid or associated medical symptoms for Hard stool may include these symptoms:
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Research the causes of these more general types of symptom:
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Research the causes of these symptoms that are similar to, or related to, the symptom Hard stool:
During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques to assess the symptom: Hard stool. These will include a physical examination and possibly diagnostic tests. (Note: A physical exam is always done, diagnostic tests may or may not be performed depending on the suspected condition) Your doctor will ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to openly share any pertinent information to help your doctor make an accurate diagnosis.
It is also very important to bring an up-to-date list of all of your all medical conditions, medications including dosages, and names of numbers of any specialist you see.
Create your printable checklist here.
See Hard stool Assessment Questionnaire (17 listings)
Chronic digestive conditions often misdiagnosed: When diagnosing chronic symptoms of the digestive tract, there are a variety of conditions that may be misdiagnosed. The best...read more »
Intestinal bacteria disorder may be hidden cause: One of the lesser known causes of diarrhea is an imbalance of bacterial in the gut, sometimes called intestinal imbalance. The digestive system contains a variety of...read more »
Antibiotics often causes diarrhea: The use of antibiotics are very likely to cause some level of diarrhea in patients. The reason is that antibiotics kill off not only "bad" bacteria, but can also kill the "good" bacteria in the gut. This leads to "...read more »
Food poisoning may actually be an infectious disease: Many people who come down with "stomach symptoms" like diarrhea assume that it's "something I ate" (i.e. food poisoning). In fact, it's more likely to be an infectious diarrheal illness (i.e. infectious diarrhea...read more »
Mesenteric adenitis misdiagnosed as appendicitis in children: Because appendicitis is one of the more feared conditions for a child with abdominal pain, it can be over-diagnosed (it can, of course, also fail to be diagnosed with fatal effect). One of the most common...read more »
Celiac disease often fails to be diagnosed cause of chronic digestive symptoms: One of the most common chronic digestive conditions is celiac disease, a malabsorption disorder with a variety of symptoms (see symptoms of celiac disease). A variety of other chronic...read more »
Chronic digestive diseases hard to diagnose: There is an inherent difficulty in diagnosing the various types of chronic digestive diseases. Some of the better known possibilities are peptic ulcer, colon cancer, irritable...read more »
Read more about Misdiagnosis and Hard stool
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Rare types of medical conditions and diseases in related medical categories:
Conditions that are commonly undiagnosed in related areas may include:
The list of organs typically affected by Hard stool may include, but is not limited to:
The list below shows some of the causes of Hard stool mentioned in various sources:
See full list of 3 causes of Hard stool
This information refers to the general prevalence and incidence of these diseases, not to how likely they are to be the actual cause of Hard stool. Of the 3 causes of Hard stool that we have listed, we have the following prevalence/incidence information:
See the analysis of the prevalence of 3 causes of Hard stool
The following list of conditions have 'Hard stool' or similar listed as a symptom in our database. This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete. Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause of any symptom.
Select from the following alphabetical view of conditions which include a symptom of Hard stool or choose View All.
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This information shows analysis of the list of causes of Hard stool based
on whether certain risk factors apply to the patient:
Depending on the seriousness of the onset of Hard stool, you may want to consult one of the following medical professionals.
Important:In extreme cases, always seek advice from emergency services :
Medical Conditions associated with Hard stool:
Stool symptoms (2508 causes), Constipation (726 causes), Digestive symptoms (5299 causes), Bowel problems (2509 causes), Bowel movements (2383 causes), Intestinal symptoms (5299 causes), Lower abdominal symptoms (3048 causes), Abdominal symptoms (5930 causes), Digestive system symptoms (5299 causes)
Symptoms related to Hard stool:
Bowel movements (2383 causes), Constipation (726 causes), Diarrhea (2312 causes), Stool symptoms (2508 causes), Stool color changes (387 causes), Stool odor (69 causes), Stool softeners, Dehydration (284 causes), Water loss, Fibre diet, Laxatives
Doctor-patient articles related to symptoms and diagnosis:
These general medical articles may be of interest:
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Medical research papers related to Hard stool include:
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