Good ideas on various ways to not get constipated. I will only add that if you need a relief now, use an enema.
It is not good for your health to be constipated, though so many people are chronically so, that the AMA adjusted their definition of normal frequency of bm to once every 3 days - frigging unbelieveble! Twice a day is best, and we used to know that.
And just as an aside, I did not find your question embarassing, nor would be embarassed to ask such myself. I don't believe there is anything inherently embarassing in any aspect of reality. But we've created weird social stories and great many people are embarassed or repulsed by normal body functions. Personally I find "embarassed" a totally useless emotion. It is a trained reponse to "what may they think" , a result of a form of brainwashing. You know not too long ago, girls were advised not to engage in sports or any vigorous activity because that could make them sweat, and that would be soooooo embarassing. Now we reduced that to a small area underneath the arms. It's good for several big businesses, not so good for us to be using antiperspirants, but embarassment is a powerful tool.
I once looked at a dog, doing what dogs so love to do - sniffing butt, and experienced a common human reaction of revulsion to that ("how can he do it? it's disgusting!") But what does a dog think? Does he sniff rear end because it is a pretty smell to him, like roses are to us? Probably not. And I realized a little truth. To a dog smell is not one enormous palette of judgments as it is to us, instead it is one enormous palette of information. Data, that's all. Some useful, some useless, but he takes it all. With his sensitive nose the dog will learn a lot about the animal or person whose butt he sniffed, and you know dogs can be trained to pass on some of that information to us, or as we humans like to say "trained to sniff out a disease", right? I found this little reflection also useful at comprehending a difference between discernment and judgment.
Take care of your bowel.
