# What's the longest you've gone without pooping? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 15, 2004, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164 "2004-04-15T14:03:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/61 "2011-06-19T10:13:53Z")
I had food poisoning two years ago. I didn’t eat for three days. After the diarrhea stopped, it was EIGHT DAYS until the next squeeze. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/62 "2011-06-19T12:27:40Z")
I do a lot of fiber in my normal diet, so I go at least once a day, though after liquiprep I will have the runs pretty much constantly for about a week so I refuse to do any form of magnesium citrate or other bowel prep garbage. Longest without was post abdominal operation, and on a very restricted diet, just over a week. Not constipation, just nothing in my gut except the shedding intestinal wall cells and dying intestinal flora. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/63 "2011-06-19T12:35:32Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > zombie thread or not, I’m happy to have encountered the phrase “honk out a dirt snake.” That is an astounding phrase. I once went two days without crapping and when it happened birds were falling dead from the sky. ---
**Author:** ![Grey\_area](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Grey\_area](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey_area)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/64 "2011-06-19T13:11:09Z")
Around 2 weeks during basic training, and I usually go at least once (usually twice) a day. Almost everyone was constipated during basic though, presumeably from the radical change in lifestyle and environment, as well the generally sense of oppression. A few recruits went the whole 6 weeks without pooping. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/65 "2011-06-19T13:48:18Z")
Pretty much every day. For a couple of weeks recently I had the pudding shits - not quite diarrhea, but close and that was a 3-4 times a day. That was annoying. Plus I was never sure if it was a fart wanting out or a poop. Had to be careful. Longest I went was about a week following abdominal surgery. When I finally did go it was like there were a couple of big rocks in the way that had to get moved and then the big mudslide behind. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/66 "2011-06-19T15:31:35Z")
At least once a day. Usually twice. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/67 "2011-06-19T16:10:03Z")
From **Cabin Fever** > [@](#): > > “…honk out a dirt snake…” > “…doing a jobby…” > “…two enormous gaggers…” > “…a crap-factory…it felt like someone spackled by (sic) corn-shoot closed…” > “…snap off a twenty pound steamin’ log…” > “…I finally say goodbye to the little guy…” > “…it looked like the pretzel machine got stuck on “Open”…” > “…sprout the monkey tail…” > “…poopitats…” > “…slip out…” > “…to get the brown turtle to poke his head from his shell…” > “…zombie poops…” > "…Smooth Move tea… > “…beam down a Shatner…” Where else in the Known Universe can one get this sort of information? Go Straight Dope!! ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/68 "2011-06-19T17:02:16Z")
Abdominal surgery for me too. I was a week post-op before I …(Insert any one of the tasteful phrases mentioned upthread :p) ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/69 "2011-06-19T17:57:35Z")
> [@Naxx78](#): > > @ YouNeverGuessed, Your friend must be a horrible Doc, 3 or more a day or you may have a problem, nothing would ever get done we’d be pooping all the time. From what I read the average is between 1-2 times a day to once every 3 days. It just depends on the person and what they eat. I’m a 1-2 times a day and sometime only once every other day, I can’t even begin to think how bothersome it would be to have to go 4-7 times a day, not to mention the anus burn you’d get from wiping that much! Also their are some people who really worry when they get constipated, so telling them there might be something wrong with them if their not pooping 3 or more times a day is just mean, but I guess I’d be mean if I was dropping into the turd slide that often too. jk:eek: I think the Doctor is saying: If you go more than three times a day Or More than three days without going at all Then you have a problem (in either scenario). ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/70 "2011-06-19T18:04:50Z")
A couple of days. It was due to anesthesia given for my gallbladder surgery. Also, I was given no fluids by mouth for quite a few hours post-op, just the I.V. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/71 "2011-06-19T22:18:33Z")
Ca me fait chier. Seriously, maybe a day or two – when I visit my mother, she makes me, er, retain, not fluids, but solids. And you ask how I became such a dazzling urbanite. I kill … nothing, back in the cage. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/72 "2011-06-20T01:53:30Z")
I can’t recall going a calendar day without taking the browns to the super bowl. Hell, I’m starting to crown right now… Joe ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/73 "2011-06-20T19:03:45Z")
After I had my wrist injury, I was given percoset for the pain. I did not know they were constipating until I realized I really needed to go, but couldn’t. I called my friend who is a GP and she told me to get some glycerin suppositories. I think it was 4 days and I was really backed up. I felt like I lost 10 pounds after that experience. Since then, anytime I have had to use percoset, I will take a stool softener at the same time I take the painkiller and avoid all constipation. Normally, I am a once a day kind of girl. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/74 "2011-06-20T19:52:29Z")
> [@Grey\_area](#): > > A few recruits went the whole 6 weeks without pooping. When I think about how massive my morning download is - every day - this stretches credulity. I’m trying to imagine how someone could store, in their digestive tract, **42 times** the amount of one of my daily dumps. After all, this is basic training, not a hospital, so one assumes they were eating a “normal” diet. Do some people’s digestive systems actually make _less_ poop than other people, when fed the same quantities of food? _That much_ less? ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/75 "2011-06-20T20:04:07Z")
Two weeks. I was 12 and on vacation and just couldn’t do it in a “strange” toilet. I was really uncomfortable and sort of became obsessed with pooping somewhere in the second week. Of course as we were driving home I started feeling “rumblings,” and as soon as we pulled into our driveway and my Dad turned off the car I flew into the house and into the bathroom, where I experience sweet relief. Thank FSM I am much more regular now. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/76 "2011-06-21T07:52:44Z")
Once a day, sometimes twice. Wifey goes once every 3-4 days. Yes, wifey and I have discussed this topic before. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/77 "2011-06-21T12:56:00Z")
Due to an unfortunate incarceration I went about a month. Of course, I ate practically nothing for the duration so it wasn’t that much of a stretch I guess. I like to bring this up when people insist "if you’re hungry enough you’d eat anything "(nope) and “when you gotta go you gotta go” (I beg to differ, senor). ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/78 "2011-06-21T13:25:41Z")
Are we limiting this to poo coming through your bum hole? Because if so, the temporary colostomy I had meant I didn’t poo for six months. Pooing for the first time in six months is an unusual experience. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/79 "2011-06-21T13:27:22Z")
After surgery last year, I think I went 3ish days - between the narcotics, and the fact that the innards were pretty traumatized. During those 3 days I was consciously loading up (heh) on high fiber foods and fiber supplements because I knew that otherwise, it was NOT going to be pleasant. In the normal course of events, I might go 48 hours if I’m travelling - for some reason, the guts always shut down on the first day of travel. In the normal course of events, I’m a 2-3 times a day person. Hell, I had a poop less than 24 hours after a colonoscopy! I guess there was nothing standing in the way of that late lunch! ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164/80 "2011-06-21T13:48:51Z")
> [@Tentacle\_Monster](#): > > I usually honk out a dirt snake about twice a day. > > The longest I’ve gone without a dump was in Basic. I went a few days when I first got there (probably from the shock, there’s likely an evolutionary advantage to not shitting in hostile areas). Then again in Basic during Warrior Week, I think I went the whole week with just one tiny little dump about the size of a egg. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: A MRE is a bowel plug in a bag. Yup. Didn’t go for the first 2 1/2 weeks at Lackland. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-pooping/240164.md?page=5)