Didn't poop before DRE

Went with my husband for his physical yesterday. He normally poops early every morning like an alarm clock. He didn't. We woke up late and were in a hurry to get to the doctor's office. He admitted in the car that he was extremely anxious because he was always given a prostate exam and was very worried the doctor was going to encounter ‘something’. So yes, the doctor bent him over the table and went in deep. Said his prostate felt normal. We went home and then my husband had to poop. Anyone else experience this?

Actually, might not be so bad. My doc would combine doing a prostate check with trying to get a bit of poop out to do a fecal occult blood test - so I would purposely not clean myself out beforehand.

Any doctor that does DREs as encountered everything from squeaky clean to big lumps of hard and liquid poo, and maybe even toys. It goes with the job.

Many women here report being given digital rectal exams at the gynecologist even if they had not anticipated this. I suppose physicians are used to what they may find. On a similar note, I've read midwives report feeling poop through the rectal/vaginal wall.

My first DRE was given by a gorgeous young PA in training, being supervised by a frumpy, old, male physician. It was an entry physical for the Army. Once she had her finger in my anus, the doctor asked her if she felt anything (or something like that). I recall she said, “I can't feel anything but some hard stool.” No one told me to expect that procedure, so I was a bit embarrassed.

Luckily, I haven't experienced this. If I wasn't able to have my normal poop before I was given a DRE, I would be mortified. I mean, I normally feel so undignified and embarrassed during a rectal exam, but that would really take the cake. I think I would feel dirty and uncomfortable.

Don't think stool was ever an issue when I got a DRE. A couple of times the doctor did a swipe and made a smear on a test card to send to the lab, but I don't think he encountered any fecal material.

I had my first rectal prostate examination in a military medical examination. I was emptied that day. I wasn't expecting a rectal exam. After the examination, I needed a bowel movement. As soon as I left there I went to the toilet. I think the rectal exam and the petroleum jelly have stimulated my intestines.

Many of the boys who came back from the examination before me rushed to the toilet. You may have a bowel movement before the test and feel the need to have a bowel movement afterwards. Just like taking a temperature in the rectum, many people feel the need to pass their stools.

@Reman Rectal temperatures are a way to trigger defecation in some children (I know this is not advised today, but back when I was a small child this was done, and later my mom said that she had used this method on me). My wife, after anal sex, tends to have a urge to go poopy even though she knows there isn't something to expel.

LOL, well, unless the doctor tells someone to enema before they come for the checkup, examination, or whatever…. l hardly think the doctor is surprised or baffled if / when they encounter "anything" in a rectum when doing a digital rectal exam, if they were surprised they obviously missed their calling and may need to see a certain kind of doctor their self…

Actually the only time l had a digital rectal examination performed on me, the doctor also took a sample of what she “encountered”, yes, with her gloved finger…. ironically she found hidden blood and suggested either a barium enema or a colonoscopy, which at that age l was at the time, twenty-one years old in back then, l never followed up even if the fetish aspect would have been tempting. l guess it was a non issue as thirty-five years later l have no bowel issues whatsoever. lol.

LOL, well, unless the doctor tells someone to enema before they come for the checkup, examination, or whatever…. l hardly think the doctor is surprised or baffled if / when they encounter "anything" in a rectum when doing a digital rectal exam, if they were surprised they obviously missed their calling and may need to see a certain kind of doctor their self.

If I had been thinking quickly, when the PA said that she felt hard stool, I would have said, “Yeah. Well, that's where I keep it until I'm ready to let it go.”

@Kab Agreed. Unless you specifically tell the patient to have a bowel movement before the examination, or a least that a rectal examination was explicitly indicated beforehand, you cannot complain that there are feces where they are supposed to be stored.

When my wife gave birth, the maternity ward advised her to take a glycerin suppository and have a bowel movement at home before departing for the hospital. That's reasonable.

In an old book on health, I remember reading the instruction for women, going for a ob/gyn exam, to take an enema if they have not had a poo the morning of the exam.

I’m a 70 y/o retired US MD, veteran of many many DREs I did on countless patients starting in 3rd year medical school In 1986. Most docs will give you instructions if they really need you cleaned out, either just by defecating or specifically by enema. As we’ve read here, DREs are mostly for 1) stool sampling for cancer, blood, etc., 2) prostate measurement of size and consistency for CA or BPH diagnosis, and 3) presence of other abnormalities like tumor or abscess. The stool is usually smeared on a card sensitive to blood, but sometimes you can detect blood even with minimal or no obvious stool on the finger.

I once saw my Internist/GI doc at age 22 because I had bad painful reflux (GERD). He wanted a sigmoidoscopy also as well as DRE, and told the nurse to give me an enema before the procedure. She gave me 2-4 oz. Fleet bottles leaning over the exam table. Success.

Eric

As @ericmacson says, the dreaded DRE has multiple purposes - prostate check, fecal sample procurement and abnormalities. So, I usually don't make any special prep for it. I once had a female English doctor request that I have an enema at home before the appointment because she was tired of stinky fingers. Could have been "making funny" or just something she didn't like doing. Or maybe she just didn't like me for whatever reason. I was glad to have the opportunity to “need” an enema, though!!

Couple years ago I had a physical and thought it was about over when the nurse practitioner asked if she could do a prostate exam. She had me lower my jeans and underwear and bend over the exam table after she removed her finger from my butt she asked the nurse for a card to place a smear of poop to check for blood. First I was a little embarrassed but figured this was nothing new they do this all the time with rectal exams

Couple years ago I had a physical and thought it was about over when the nurse practitioner asked if she could do a prostate exam. She had me lower my jeans and underwear and bend over the exam table after she removed her finger from my butt she asked the nurse for a card to place a smear of poop to check for blood. First I was a little embarrassed but figured this was nothing new they do this all the time with rectal exams

@Mustanng95,

What specifically was potentially embarrassing to you? You’re exactly right - a prostate exam is virtually the same or at least usually included as part of a normal rectal exam = DRE.

Eric, MD

Honestly, it has never occurred to me to clean out my bowels before a DRE. I figure if they stick their finger up there they must know what they will most likely find up there.

Yep sometimes there is no way around it. And, even having a BM prior to an appointment does not guarantee there will not be issues. Maybe that's where the expression, “Shit Happens" comes from!

OP asked:

“Anyone else experience this”

Women also get rectal exams. Any thoughts from any of the women here on this topic?

I can’t say I have had a DRE stimulate me and make me want to go.

I honestly can't believe there is any “mystery” about this .

I honestly can't believe there is any “mystery” about this .

I think it’s been covered pretty well in this thread. It’s mostly learning what your doc is looking for and how they do the search, and whether they ask for any minimal to extensive prior evacuation. And understanding that the doc is pretty much experienced and unlikely to be radically surprised by anything they find. And that while your doc may in fact find something that YOU aren't expecting or delighted by, there’s very little if any reason to be embarrassed either before or after your exam.

Though never my favorite test, I never shied away from realizing how important DRE’s were for my patients, and doing every one indicated. And though a large %’ge of them were negative, like many other docs I did discover many significant abnormalities in prostates, blood clotting, tumors and infections very important for the patients to investigate.

Eric, MD

I honestly can't believe there is any “mystery” about this .

LOL There shouldn’t be. It isn’t known as the poop chute for nothing! 😁