Vaginal discharge increases when pooping?

September 24, 2018 2:46 AM

Does your normal vaginal discharge (mucus, period blood) increase when pooping? Does it ever feel gurlgey or queefy?

I often get increased discharge when pooping, but I think I just had my first bearing-down-caused-me-to-queef moment. I've never queefed before. I get super scared about health stuff and now I'm halfway convinced I have a fistula despite being in none of the risk categories for it

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

Since giving birth, yep. I also have bladder prolapse and wear a pessary which I think adds to it. If you haven't recently given birth or anything ask your doc - could be any number of things YMMV & iamyd and all. But yeah there's many different kinds of prolapse which can be caused by physical activity or age and are often treatable with a little physical therapy and may be causing that kind of weirdness (which I definitely recognise).

(My prolapse was caused by giving birth to a 9lb baby in 3 hrs on pitocin. I also had 2nd degree tearing fwiw... I would be shocked if you had a fistula.)
posted by jrobin276 at 3:41 AM on September 24, 2018

Yes, with the caveat I have an enlarged uterus due to adenomyosis. If I recall my amateur research correctly, similar prostaglandins regulate contractions of both the uterus and the GI tract...
posted by I claim sanctuary at 3:48 AM on September 24, 2018

My understanding is that it's normal for your pooping efforts to also push out more of your discharge. For instance, when monitoring discharges for the purposes of monitoring fertility, it's supposed to be easier right after pooping.


So IANAD YMMV etc, but not necessarily something to freak out about.
posted by cacao at 6:59 AM on September 24, 2018 [9 favorites]

Re the queef, with the increased pressure around the area, it's pretty common in my experience.
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:58 AM on September 24, 2018

Yes. Bearing down like that is enough to push a baby out of you. It is certainly enough pressure to squish out discharge/air that happens to be hanging around.
posted by goggie at 9:34 AM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

Yes, this happened to me both before I gave birth and also after. Pushing out a bowel movement uses your pelvic floor muscles, and that's all connected to your vaginal area too. Pushing out a baby uses the same muscles. But if you are concerned, definitely talk with your doctor, and they can put you at ease.
posted by FireFountain at 9:38 AM on September 24, 2018

Not to be gross, but haven't you ever noticed when working through some constipation that you pee a little without really trying to? Different canal, of course, but they're all in the same area and getting squeezed together.
posted by praemunire at 9:51 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh yeah, the more discharge happens all the time with pooping - and related but different, when peeing if I pass gas my pee stream will get stronger. There's only so much room between all of that.
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 11:39 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Yes, perfectly normal.
posted by Lynsey at 2:06 PM on September 24, 2018

Before they were surgically removed, I had uterine polyps that were causing excessive fresh bleeding all the time, esp. when I bore down, like for pooping. If I really am straining during a bowel movement it still happens, but far less often, and far less significantly.
posted by mcbeth at 5:36 AM on September 25, 2018