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Summary: Due to international migration, Chagas disease, endemic in Latin America, has become more common in non-endemic areas. Chronic Chagas disease can cause damage to the digestive system leading to constipation. However, a range of factors influences constipation and a better understanding of the role of non-Chagas related factors is required to improve management of Chagas-related digestive problems. This study explores perceptions of constipation and changes in food and exercise habits amongst Bolivians in Barcelona, Spain. Bolivian migrants attending the Tropical Medicine Unit (Hospital Clínic, Barcelona) were interviewed about their food habits in Spain and Bolivia, migratory experience, work and leisure activities. Chagas seropositive participants also received radiological examinations. Bolivian migrants experienced dietary changes, influenced by work-related factors, which included reductions in quantities of food and liquid consumed. Almost half the participants reported changes in digestive rhythm since arriving in Spain. Constipation, which was common, in some cases was only recounted during interviews. Bolivian migrants’ constipation may be associated with chronic Chagas disease or migration-related dietary changes. Careful questioning using the Rome III criteria is however required to ensure its diagnosis. Radiological studies are also required to confirm the role of Chagas disease and identify potentially serious intestinal damage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article examines the emotional and health impacts that immigration to Spain has on Bolivian families. We explore transnational preventive and healing activities deployed in Spain and Bolivia to allay emergent anxieties, frustrations and illnesses. Although undocumented migrants have access to a universal public health system, they adopt pluralistic approaches to healing, combining traditional and biomedical treatments. An understanding of these healing strategies requires attention to how emotions and their embodiment are experienced in the context of immigration. We propose a theoretical framework which draws upon a constructivist approach to emotions and expand its potential by linking it to influences of transnational lifestyles and bifocality. Preoccupation and sorrow are considered key etiological agents for many illnesses in the Andes and therefore migrants are particularly mindful about how their own suffering abroad affects vulnerable relatives in Bolivia. Communication between migrants and relatives is permeated by white lies, non-disclosure or blatant suppression of information about illnesses or personal difficulties. Migrants rely on particular relatives to access transnational healing methods, while simultaneously concealing information about their health from others. A migrant's health experiences are thus constrained not only by difficulties with the public health system but also by emotional considerations that span informal transnational networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]