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I have a confession to make that might make me unpopular at work. At the Mamamia office, we have a designated "Level Poo." We even call it that.

It's a communal toilet on a different floor, shared with other businesses. We go there because the performance anxiety of the stalls in our own office is simply too high.

Level Poo is the neutral zone; it's the floor where nobody knows your name, your deadlines, or your digestive transit time.

In the latest episode of Mamamia's podcast for Gen X women who need a laugh, Unleashed, resident straight-talker Dr Ginni Mansberg dropped a truth bomb that explains why so many of us are walking around feeling like a human beanbag.

"Women are full of sh*t, and we need to talk about it," Dr Ginni said.

Watch: Dr Ginni explains how women are pooping wrong on Unleashed. Post continues below.

It turns out there is a clinical name for that "can't go anywhere but home" feeling: Parcopresis. Commonly known as "Shy Bowel Syndrome," it's the psychological inability to defecate in public or near others.

We were first introduced to this via American Pie in the late 90s with the character nicknamed "Sh*t Break," who would only use the porcelain at his parents' house.

The Germans, who always have a word for our deepest neuroses, call it Heimscheißer. It translates literally to "home sh*tter."

I am a card-carrying Heimscheißer. I don't even use Level Poo; I go further afield. I go offsite, where complete anonymity can be protected.

I just don't want to make eye contact with a colleague while emerging from a stall. I want to keep the mystery alive, even if that mystery involves me being 27% more bloated than I need to be.

Listen: Dr Ginni unpacking the poo dilemma on Unleashed. Post continues below.

The anatomy of the 'Big Number Two'.

According to Dr Ginni, our polite silence is making us physically ill.

"I have a surgery full of women who are full of a BNT. It's a Big Number Two. Not a day goes by that I don't have a woman coming in to see me and talking about a large degree of bloating and abdominal discomfort," she explained.

"When I get her onto the couch to examine her, I know exactly what I'm going to find. It's on the lower left side. You can feel a lot of firmness, and a big sausage that you can roll your hand over."

It's a vivid image, isn't it? While studies suggest that 27% of women in Australia are constipated in midlife, Dr Ginni believes the number is higher because we've forgotten what "normal" looks like.

We're so busy being the CEOs of our households that we've relegated our bowels to a two-minute window between the school lunch prep and the morning commute.

"A lot of women allow themselves between 7:12am and 7:14am... that's the time that they've got," said Dr Ginni.

"Whereas men will go take their phone in, they'll watch all six seasons of Game of Thrones."

The Poo Protocols: Which one are you?

I polled the Mamamia office (anonymously, of course, because nobody wants "Frequent Flyer on Level Poo" on their LinkedIn) to find out how we're handling the pressure. Here are the tribes of the toilet:

1. The Vault (The Hardcore Heimscheißer).

"I have never pooed in public. Travelling is a nightmare. I held the urge for 13 hours the other day because I couldn't go at work. I went full loopy. I didn't go when my partner was home until we'd been living together for three years. Shy bowel syndrome will literally be the death of me."

2. The Tactical Transit-er.

"I take the saying 'don't sh*t where you eat' quite seriously. If nature calls outside my morning home schedule, it results in a private, off-site secret mission at a public toilet in the city, anywhere but my office building."

3. The Balcony-Barricader.

"My partner and I have a system. When one of us needs to go, we banish the other to the balcony, rain, hail, or shine. I play music at max volume just in front of the bathroom door, so there is no cross-contamination of noise."

4. The Cubicle Crusader.

"I used to be scared, and then I got into a 'stall stand-off' with two other people where we were all waiting for the others to leave. I just decided to let it rip. Since that moment, I'm no longer phased. I'm asserting my dominance in the cubicle."

5. The Confident Chaos Agent.

"I am a loud and proud pooper. I will literally poop anywhere. No shame. Everybody poops." (We are all envious of this level of confidence).

The quality vs. quantity dilemma.

The takeaway from Dr Ginni is that "going every day" doesn't mean you're in the clear.

"What I have realised is, when I ask women, 'Are you pooing regularly?' they always say, 'Yes, I go every day.' But I don't ask them enough about the quality instead of just the quantity," she said.

"If you're not obsessively documenting your daily bowel movements, that's good for your mental health. But note to self, if you hear 'plop plop plop plop' in the toilet, that's a warning sign,"

"That's telling me you're doing rabbit poos, not our coveted log! BIG plop girls, that's your nirvana!"

"We're talking about laying a cable. It's a proper log."

Dr Ginni's fail-safe flush: How to fix the jam.

If you've realised you are indeed a rabbit-poo producer, or are feeling clogged up, Dr Ginni has a step-by-step strategy to clear the pipes and end the abdominal agony.

"How to fix constipation; This is your fail-safe method;

Step 1. Stop sending traffic to your traffic jam. No high fibre foods. Imagine you've just had a gastro bug—or that you're heading for a colonoscopy. White bread, rice, pasta, steamed chicken.

Step 2. Macrogol — 1 scoop or 1 sachet. Turns the cement brick in your guts into plasticine to come out easily.

Step 3. Liquid paraffin. About 25mls before dinner—it's a stool lubricant! Helps the brick slide out.

This will create a magical moment. You'll be amazed at how much was lurking in your bowels!!

Then maintenance. 1 month of Macrogol and a HIGH FIBRE diet. Welcome lentils, chick peas, whole grain breads and salad into your world. Women need 25g fibre a day."

The bottom line? (Pun intended). Give yourself more than a two-minute window. If you need to head to Level Poo to find your Zen, do it.

The health information in this article, including quotes from Dr Ginni Mansberg, is provided as an information resource only. It is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. Please consult your healthcare provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition.

Feature Image: Dr Ginni Mansfield website.

You can connect with Dr Ginni Mansfield on Instagram and her website .