Doctors remove 30 pounds of feces from man who was constipated since birth

You know the feeling when you gotta go, but just can't? Imagine having that feeling for 22 years.

That nightmare was a 22-year-old man's reality before doctors relieved him of nearly 30 pounds of feces.

The unnamed man, who had reportedly been constipated since birth, had 30 inches of enlarged bowel removed by surgeons at the Tenth People's Hospital of Shanghai in China.

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According to Inverse, the man was diagnosed with Hirschsprung disease, a congenital condition that causes the bowels to swell due to a lack of nerve cells that are supposed to control the gut.

Dr. Yin Lu of the Tenth People's Hospital of Shanghai, where the surgery was performed, told a local Chinese outlet, The Paper, that the man's abdomen looked as if he was more than nine months pregnant because of the painful backup.

The patient told doctors he had always suffered from constipation and was forced to resort to laxatives, which he added only brought him slight relief.

After years of agony, he eventually went to the hospital, where Dr. Yin Lu said medical experts had determined he had years worth of feces lodged inside a portion of his colon.

Dr. Yin Lu said the procedure to remove the large body took three hours.

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Hirschsprung disease affects about 1 in 5,000 children born in the United States and 1 in 10,000 around the world.

Signs and symptoms of the condition are usually visually noticeable shortly after birth, but sometimes they are not apparent until a child is a little older.

For babies, the most obvious sign is the failure to pass a bowel movement within 48 hours after being born. Other red flags in babies and older children include a swollen belly, gassiness, diarrhea and vomiting green fluids.