When I was young, I had a problem with 'holding it in' instead of going to the bathroom. I eventually ended up going to the doctor, and I was told that I had a lot of hardened stool backed up inside of me, but it wasn't bad enough that I needed any surgery. I started going more often, though often only once a week, sometimes twice. I drink a lot of water, but my diet has very little fiber, which I'm sure is the cause.

Anyway, I want to start taking fiber supplements to help with having bowel movements more often. However, I'm afraid there might still be hardened stool inside of me, and if there is, I really don't want to have to pass it all at once. If I start taking fiber supplements, will it soften the stool already inside of me? If not, is there anything that can help?

Another thing that might be strange, I do get constipated, probably once every two months. It's accompanied by abdominal pain, a few minutes on the toilet, and then a big bowel movement. At the same time, I also experience diarrhea probably just as often as I do constipation. There have even been times where I had diarrhea on Monday, then was constipated on that Saturday. Is it normal to ever experience the two in such short time of each other? They seem like they would be opposite conditions.