Irregularity is a condition that affects both men and women. For some it can be overactive bowel: for others it can be constipation. Focusing on overactive bowel, the symptoms can be frequent stools or it can be diarrhea. It is very bothersome through the aging process. There are many diseases that cause overactive bowel, for example: Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diverticulitis or diverticulosis, polyps and even constipation.
These bowel conditions require careful diagnosis. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis can be serious chronic conditions and can develop at very young age. These diseases can be treated or be in remission, but depending on the severity of the illness, and how your health is affected, a colostomy may be necessary. If you notice any symptoms such a mucous- looking stool, blood in the stool, watery stools or even a pattern of diarrhea and constipation you should consult your physician.
Gatroenterologists, doctors that specializes in problems of the digestive tract, agree that fiber helps your digestive system function regularly to prevent overactive bowel. There are two types of fiber: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber slows digestion: it forms a gel when it mixes with water and will make loose stools more solid. In addition, it binds to fat in the digestive system to help eliminate them. Some examples are oatmeal, nuts and seeds, dried beans, peas, lentils, strawberries, blueberries, apples and citrus fruit. Insoluble fiber adds bulk to stools to help food move through your digestive system. It holds water so it softens stool to prevent constipation and promotes regularity. Insoluble fiber is found in foods like seeds, popcorn, wheat bran, whole grains (such as, whole wheat bread and brown rice), and most vegetables including carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes.
You should include both types of fiber in your diet. However, if you are using fiber to treat overactive bowel symptoms talk to your doctor about how much of each type of fiber you need. Normally, you need 21-38 grams of fiber per day depending on your age and sex.
The amount of fiber in foods is listed on the “NUTRITION FACTS” label of all foods. It is part of the carbohydrate category. You should add fiber to your diet gradually increasing a small amount daily to avoid bloating, cramping or gas. You need to give your body time to adjust. It is also important to increase the amount of water you drink as you increase your fiber intake. So there you have it, a way a natural way to treat overactive bowel.
As you are adjusting your diet to improve your symptoms remember that DryForLife offers a discreet and completely confidential solution to all your incontinence needs. We are here to help, and we have been providing incontinence products for over forty years.
Archive for October, 2009
Overactive Bowel – Irregularity and Fiber
Friday, October 30th, 2009What is Mixed Incontinence?
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009You may think that incontinence is incontinence, but there are many reasons why you may find yourself suffering from incontinence. Stress incontinence is urine leakage that occurs when pressure is placed on the bladder like sneezing or coughing. Urge incontinence is caused by involuntary bladder muscle actions, and it may be caused by nerve damage, disease or illness. Mixed incontinence is when you have a combination of the two; so you may find yourself in trouble when you sneeze or laugh, and then you may notice that you have to go suddenly and unexpectedly.
To properly diagnose mixed incontinence you will want to discuss your symptoms with your doctor who can then properly diagnose which type of incontinence you are dealing with. Your doctor may wish for you to keep a bladder journal to track when you urinate, and how many leakages occur daily. You doctor will tell you what to include on your chart, but normally it is a pretty basic journal of liquid intake and output.
The treatment for mixed incontinence is usually a two-part treatment, one for each type of incontinence. For the stress incontinence portion of the problem the solution begins with Kegel exercises. The urgency problems are not as straight forward, and they may require long-term medication to help correct the problem. While you may also need biofeedback or surgery to alleviate your symptoms, it is always a good idea to start with the most basic fix and work from there.
Regardless of which therapy regime you follow, you will want to get through your ordeal with the help of good quality incontinence products. DryForLife offers a discreet and completely confidential solution to all your incontinence needs. Your concerns are very much our concerns; we have been providing incontinence products for over forty years, and we are here to help.
Dealing with Frequent Urination
Monday, October 26th, 2009Frequent urination while inconvenient does not always indicate a serious problem. If you find that you have to urinate more often than you usually do, you are suffering from the symptoms of frequent urination, which is also known as urgent urination. Sometimes the need to urinate is sudden and urgent, and sometimes it is a gradual, growing discomfort in your bladder.
If you suffer from the symptoms of frequent urination during the night, it is called nocturia. You should generally be able to sleep for about eight hours without needing to go to the bathroom.
There are many things that can cause frequent urination like illness, pregnancy or enlarged prostate. Simply drinking too much liquid right before retiring for the night can cause you to suffer from nocturia. If you have an occasional occurrence of frequent urination, then you may not need to give it much thought, but you should contact your doctor if the problem persists.
You will want to check in with your doctor sooner rather than later if you have any other symptoms at all including pain, nausea or fever. You may want to keep a log of what times you go to the bathroom to help you determine the cause of your urinary frequency problem.
Then as you are treating the underlying cause of your frequent urination, even if it is for a short time, you may wish to use incontinence pads to alleviate your worries or having an accident. They are available at DryForLife in many different absorbencies and sizes, and they will help protect skin from irritation as well as protect clothing and furniture.
Why Is Adult Incontinence Underreported
Monday, October 19th, 2009Have you ever noticed that even with the most terrible of diseases, celebrities line up to be a spokesperson for the cause? It is a strange phenomenon that the biggest and brightest celebrities literally elbow each other out of the way to grab their moment in the spotlight representing diseases like cancer and diabetes. While the diseases are not very glamorous, the celebrities are.
And, if a famous person has actually battled the disease and emerged victorious, they shout it from the rooftops for all to hear. Even with less dramatic medical challenges, if they have overcome it or simply found a way to live with it, they can hardly wait to share their triumphant story with the entire world.
So this begs the question, which celebrities are championing the cause for adult incontinence? There are lists of celebrities talking about diabetes including Nicholas Jonas and Halle Berry. Other celebrities, like Wynonna Judd, want to make sure that everyone knows about serious health problems like asthma and even allergies. Big names line up to claim everything from breast cancer, dyslexia, Crohn’s disease and even aids, but not a peep for incontinence until Ulrika Jonsson stepped up this past March to talk about her experience with light adult incontinence after the birth of her fourth child.
Before Jonsson, speed skating champion Bonnie Blair lent her name to the cause back in 2004, and the campaign took off like a herd of turtles. One in twelve women suffer some sort of adult incontinence, the involuntary leakage of urine, and it is often associated with childbirth. One survey found that about half of the women were too embarrassed to seek medical help for over five years. But the question that just seems to hang in the air is that with so many celebrities having babies these days, why hasn’t anyone claimed this cause as their own? Surely associating with a cause like incontinence is not nearly as horrible as aligning oneself with a disease like cancer, or is it?
While only a single, brave celebrity is currently speaking out about incontinence, droves of celebrities are lining up to speak up about everything from aids to colon cancer. Why then is the subject of incontinence so frightening? It seems that anyone who is lucky enough to live a long life has a pretty good chance of having at least a brush with incontinence. Incontinence does not only strike women after childbirth, but about 40% of women and 20% of men over the age of 60 will have to deal with this affliction. Only about half of these women and about one fifth of these men ever seek out help. Again, why?
Study after study has been done to try to understand why this problem is so underreported, and the general consensus is that it is simply and deeply embarrassing and maybe even a little infantile. This condition is shrouded in shame, and as a result many people suffer in silence rather than get help. Herein lies the real tragedy, because most cases of incontinence are treatable with relatively high cure rates.
Of course to be cured, first you have to be diagnosed, and unfortunately this requires a trip to the doctor. There are several different types of incontinence, and there are many causes. Everything from a malfunctioning body part to weakened pelvic muscles can cause incontinence, and each specific cause has a specific treatment. Treatments can be as simple as instituting a new exercise routine and as complex as surgery; so a proper diagnosis of the specific cause for each individual case of incontinence is essential.
This is where celebrities speaking out about the problem can really help so many people. By talking about the condition it becomes ordinary and accepted as a normal part of life. Over time the taboo slips away, and incontinence becomes just another normal problem that you may have to deal with in your lifetime, like getting reading glasses as your eye muscles weaken or monitoring your blood pressure. The misapplied shame will be stripped away from this condition and all of the people who are suffering in the shadows can step into the light of day and get some much needed help. For many of them, the problem can be cured, and for others their condition can certainly be improved.
So hats off to the Bonnie Blairs and Ulrika Jonssons of the world. Perhaps as they continue to share their stories with the public, they can not only begin to erase the stigma shrouding the subject of adult incontinence but also encourage other celebrities to join their ranks and help normalize this condition even more quickly.
Can Exercise Cause Stress Incontinence?
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009How annoying to get yourself motivated, out of the house and off to the gym only to find out that your “step class” is very likely contributing to your stress incontinence. Studies have shown that about 28% of women who work out suffer from stress incontinence, and that percentage rises as high as 66% if only evaluating elite athletes. Stress incontinence is a result of straining the pelvic floor muscles while training or working out. This muscle strain can occur either as a result of a rigorous workout or improper form.
When working out it is incredibly important to use good form to properly align and support muscles. More and more young women are putting themselves at risk of damaging the muscles of their pelvic floor permanently through high-impact aerobics or weight training. When lifting weights proper body form is paramount and proper breathing techniques are important to help engage the stomach muscles to protect the muscles of the pelvic floor. If the stomach muscles are not properly engaged they will likely strain the muscles of the pelvic floor causing it to sustain some slight damage and become weaker. If this process continues, then eventually stress incontinence will occur.
The pelvic floor muscles can also be compromised by any activity that has a high impact component to it such as running or aerobics. Genetics plays a big part in this predisposition to weakening pelvic floor muscles, so while some women can be runners their entire lives and suffer no ill effects, other women are not so lucky.
Something as simple as a sit up, if done improperly, can contribute to the demise of the pelvic floor muscles; therefore, it is important to cross train with a carefully constructed workout to reduce any risk of accidentally developing stress incontinence.
Other exercises, like pilates and yoga, can do wonders to build and strengthen core muscles as well as the muscles of the pelvic floor. However, it is important to have a trained instructor demonstrate the proper techniques, because just like weight training, improper form can actually cause permanent damage to the pelvic floor muscles by straining them instead of making them stronger.
While the threat of stress incontinence may make a woman think twice about her workout routine, it should not stop her from getting the exercise that she needs to be healthy. She simply needs to take the time to build a quality workout routine. By including low impact alternatives like cycling or swimming, and having a trained professional guide her through proper techniques, any woman can stay healthy and active for many years to come.
Am I Incontinent?
Saturday, October 10th, 2009Urinary incontinence is the involuntary leakage of urine resulting from a loss of bladder control, and any number of different factors can cause it. If you suspect that you may be incontinent, it might be a good idea to understand exactly what incontinence is.
There are four basic areas of incontinence, urge, stress, overflow and functional. Each has a different set of symptoms.
Urge incontinence occurs when the bladder contracts or spasms when it should not. You may feel a sudden and intense urge to urinate. You could also have to go to the bathroom much more frequently than usual, or you may be bedwetting at night. The urine leakage may range anywhere from a few drops to a larger amount.
Stress incontinence occurs when the muscles around the urethra are weak, and something causes pressure on the abdomen like laughing, coughing or sneezing which forces urine out of the bladder. This normally does not occur at night, and any amount of leakage may occur.
Overflow incontinence happens when the bladder does not contract properly or the muscles around the urethra are too strong giving you the sensation that your bladder is not empty even right after you go. This problem results in either bedwetting, frequent bathroom trips or small amounts of fairly constant leakage.
Functional incontinence happens when a person is either physically disabled or suffers from dementia making it difficult for them to manage going to the bathroom. It generally does not occur at night and is normally not a direct problem with the urinary system.
If one of these incontinent patterns fits your situation, contact your health care professional for a checkup. The symptoms can frequently be remedied with anything from medication, to exercise to surgery. The sooner you have your incontinence problem diagnosed, the better your chances are of finding a speedy solution.
There are many different types of incontinence pads available today to make dealing with incontinence easier than ever before, and your purchases can even be delivered discreetly and directly to your door.
Staying Active with Light Adult Incontinence
Thursday, October 8th, 2009The numbers are all slightly different. In one study, 3 million adults and a half of a million children suffer from incontinence, while another study sites one third of women over the age of 30. Regardless of how these data are presented, one thing is certain. Light adult incontinence is a widely shared problem across all ages and genders, and with only a fraction of the people getting the proper medical attention that they require, its victims largely suffer in silence.
Incontinence can be brought on by any number of things including, genetics, injury, pregnancy, obesity and even exercise. Especially in recent years, there have been extraordinary advances in medicine that can help with incontinence, and depending on the cause of incontinence there are many different treatment options available. There are surgeries to help repair broken body parts, and there are exercises that help strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor. There are medicines and weight loss programs all of which work extremely well. The problem is that without visiting your medical professional, you will never know which option can fix your problem.
For most people discussing incontinence is uncomfortable and embarrassing at best and impossible at worst. This medical condition can affect people’s daily lives in very real ways by causing them to physically limit activities, and have low self-esteem or even depression. The really sad thing here is that most causes of light adult incontinence are treatable, or at the very least they are quite manageable. In many instances the problem is completely reversible; so the continued suffering from this condition itself, as well as from the feelings of stress, shame and embarrassment that can accompany it, is completely unnecessary.
Whether problems with incontinence are just beginning or have been occurring for a while, remember that not only have the medical treatments improved but so have the incontinence products. So when you muster the courage to discuss your problem with your doctor, as you are working through solutions for your incontinence, you can rest easy because there are so many excellent products on the market today. All of these incontinence products are designed to help you stay confident and active and fully engaged in every aspect of your life while you are having to deal with the problems of light adult incontinence.
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