Gut Foundation encourages everyone to review their poo

Hirepool Palmerston North hosted the Review Your Poo Portaloo last week. Pictured are Laurence Powell (left), Matt Pearson and Harris Nilsen. Photo / Judith Lacy

We all do it but few talk about it, let alone notice changes that could mean something is wrong.

Gut Foundation general manager Margaret Fitzgerald says the charitable trust will do whatever it takes to raise awareness and get an earlier diagnosis for gut diseases.

A painted portaloo is travelling the length and breadth of New Zealand this year, encouraging people to review their poo. In May, Hirepool is taking it from branch to branch until it reaches Auckland. The portaloo was in Palmerston North last week.

Jason Yikes with the portaloo he painted for the Gut Foundation. The artwork, which also covers the toilet and hand basin, is based on the inside of a human gut. Photo / Supplied

It was painted by Christchurch street artist Jacob Yikes. He says the artwork is based on the inside of a human gut.

"It is a representation using colour and motion to give the sense of how the internal system might look with elements of gut enzymes. The idea is when you walk into this installation you are walking into the internal gut system."

The Gut Foundation recently funded a piece of qualitative research. Forty-four South Islanders were asked about their journey to diagnosis of a gut disease.

The research found people have difficulty understanding what is normal and abnormal gut behaviour and when they should see a doctor. People may believe their disordered gut behaviours are "normal for me" and delay seeing a doctor.

Seeking care and communicating gut symptoms to a doctor effectively can be difficult because gut behaviours are awkward to talk about and difficult for laypeople to describe in medically meaningful language, Fitzgerald says.

The Gut Symptom Investigation Te Waipounamu Study, led by University of Otago Associate Professor Lee Thompson, found Māori with gut symptoms face barriers to healthcare access because family needs may take priority over personal needs.

Talking about gut behaviours can be difficult and Māori frequently felt brushed off when they talked to doctors about their gut behaviour. Complaints of gut problems were shrugged off over repeat visits, Māori told the researchers.

Fitzgerald says New Zealand has one of the highest rates of bowel cancer in the world.

Problems of the large bowel that is made up of the colon and rectum are common although most symptoms do not turn out to be bowel cancer. However, if you have any of the following symptoms that persist for more than a few weeks, talk to your doctor:

- bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo
- a change in bowel habit lasting three weeks or more
- unexplained weight loss
- extreme tiredness for no obvious reason
- a pain or lump in your tummy.

Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and coeliac disease are some of the other diseases of the gut.

The foundation has information on its website about how to get to know your normal and a chart to review your poo for a month so then you can watch for any changes in bowel movements.

The foundation's social media has a variety of puns and ditties on it encouraging people to review their poo.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
If you were a poo
Then I'd review you

For more information visit thegut.org.nz/reviewyourpoo