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Posts Tagged ‘bowel incontinence’

Common Causes of Bowel Incontinence

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Bowel incontinence, also known as faecal incontinence, can be caused by numerous conditions, such as diarrhea, constipation, nerve damage to the anal sphincter, muscle or nerve damage to the rectum and anus and surgical procedures. Identifying the cause of bowel incontinence is important when determining the correct treatment for the condition.

Diarrhea: It is much easier to “hold” your bowels when stool is solid. When an individual experiences frequent diarrhea, the ability to control bowels may be partially or completely absent. Diarrhea itself can be caused by many conditions, such as chronic laxative use or abuse and gastrointestinal disorders, such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Getting to the bottom of what is causing the diarrhea may aid in regaining bowel control.

Constipation: It may seem incongruous that constipation can lead to bowel incontinence, but constipation can actually be a common cause of bowel incontinence. When constipation occurs, stool can become trapped in the rectum, which causes stool behind the impaction to leak around the impaction, resulting in the leakage of liquid stool.

Nerve damage: Nerve damage to the anus or rectum may result in incontinence. Nerves supplying the anus or rectum can interfere with the ability to sense when a bowel movement is imminent, and may also prevent the anus from closing properly as it should between bowel movements. Nerve damage may occur in an individual who has Multiple Sclerosis, stroke, diabetes or spinal cord injury.

Muscle Damage: The muscles surrounding the anus, which prevent stool from exiting the body without conscious control, can become damaged resulting in bowel incontinence. Childbirth is one event that can lead to muscle damage. These muscles may become damaged by giving birth to a large infant, especially if forceps are used or an episiotomy is done.

Surgery: Surgery performed to treat hemorrhoids may result in damage to the anus or rectum, causing bowel incontinence. Surgery to treat anal or rectal cancer may also result in bowel incontinence.
Many of the causes of bowel incontinence can be easily identified and treated, making it imperative that anyone suffering from bowel incontinence seek advice from their physician.

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Finding a Successful Bowel Incontinence Treatment

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

When you are not able to control your bowels, you are suffering from a condition known as bowel incontinence. You may experience unexpected leakage when you pass gas, or you may not be able to hold the urge to have a bowel movement until you can reach a toilet. Any time you are having problems with bowel incontinence it warrants a discussion with your doctor, because bowel incontinence treatment is available, and the proper treatment will depend on the underlying cause of your incontinence.

When your doctor is diagnosing your problem he or she will perform a physical exam, run some tests and get your health background. Depending on what they uncover in this rudimentary exam they may refer you to a specialist for further evaluation. These tests may measure the tightness of your anal sphincter, which is the muscle that holds the stool in place until it is time to void. They may include a look at the rectum to see what volume it can hold and how well it evacuates. The lower colon is sometimes checked for inflammation, scar tissue, tumors or any other sign of disease. Another area that may be checked is nerve damage, which is not uncommon for women after childbirth.

Depending on the diagnosis your treatment can range from a simple dietary change to surgery. Sometimes, in more complex cases, a combination of treatments are in order.

The food that you ingest plays a huge factor in the consistency of your stool. If you are having problems with loose stools, then eating more fiber will add bulk to your stools making them easier to control. However, fiber also works to keep you regular, so you may find that fiber actually exacerbates the problem by making you have to go to the bathroom more frequently. Foods containing caffeine actually relax the internal sphincter, so you should avoid foods like chocolate, soda, tea and coffee.

Adjusting your diet may offer some relief from your problem, and to measure what does and does not work, you may want to start keeping a food diary. Simply log what and when you eat along with when you go to the bathroom or have accidental leakage. Then you can look for patterns where your condition improves and the foods that you are eating during that time. You may also identify foods that you should stay away from, and using this information can help you manage your problem.

Sometimes a bowel incontinence treatment will involve medication. Bulk laxatives are often used to help incontinence sufferers get their bowels working in a healthier pattern. On the flip side medication to slow the bowel may be in order to help manage the problem.

Bowel training is another technique that physicians use to develop healthy evacuation patterns. This training may consist of muscle building, or it may involve getting in the habit of evacuating regularly at a certain time of day. Some people have had success using biofeedback along with Kegel exercises to strengthen their pelvic floor muscles. These muscles support your internal organs, and are an integral part of maintaining continence. In virtually every case of incontinence these muscles are weak, and using biofeedback lets you know if you are properly engaging the muscles to strengthen them.

For some people who have clear damage to a muscle, surgery is the best bowel incontinence treatment. For example, repairing a defect in the anal sphincter may make surgery the best choice of treatment for a patient. There are times when all other treatment methods fall short of helping the situation and a colostomy may be necessary. This procedure disconnects one end of the colon and empties it into a pouch on the outside of the abdomen. This procedure can be taken as a temporary measure, or it can be a permanent solution for bowel incontinence.

As you are working with your doctor to find the proper course of bowel incontinence treatment for your situation, make sure that you have access to the proper incontinence products, because that will make handling your problem with incontinence much more manageable.

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Nobody Wants to Think About Fecal Incontinence

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Nobody likes to think about fecal incontinence, but it happens. And when it happens to you there is no choice but to think about it. If you are having trouble controlling your bowels, or if you have stool leaking as you pass gas, you are experiencing fecal incontinence.

While fecal incontinence is certainly more common in older adults, it can occur at any age. However, even in older adults, fecal incontinence should never be considered a natural byproduct of aging. When any type of unexpected leakage from the rectum occurs, it warrants a discussion with your doctor.

Fecal incontinence can severely impact a person’s life in that there may be embarrassment or shame connected with the condition. Many people, who where very social, withdraw from friends and family for fear of being humiliated. The thought of a public accident is enough to keep many fecal incontinence sufferers home. This isolation is a tragic byproduct of bowel incontinence, and it is why you want to discuss this problem with your doctor sooner rather than later.

With the help of your physician many times your symptoms can be lessened or relieved. There are many different causes for fecal incontinence, and your doctor can help you sort out the cause and recommend a course of treatment.

One of the top causes for fecal incontinence is constipation. This condition causes the rectum to become overloaded with hardened stool, and as this mass becomes lodged in place watery stool can seep out around it. This condition can stretch the rectum’s muscles weakening them so that they cannot confidently hold stool, and this results in fecal incontinence. At the other end of the spectrum from constipation is diarrhea, which also causes incontinence. When the stool is loose, it fills the rectum faster and leaks out. While you can suffer from diarrhea as a result of an illness like the flu, when the problem becomes chronic, it is considered to be fecal incontinence.

While constipation can cause muscle damage to the rectum, there are sphincter muscles at either end of the rectum which can sustain damage and also cause incontinence. These sphincter muscles can be damaged in childbirth and hemorrhoid surgery among other things. Along with muscle damage, nerve damage can also cause fecal incontinence. When the nerves, which sense the stool is ready to pass, do not send a message to the brain, you will never know that you have to go to the bathroom. Nerve damage can occur from injury or illness, which can also cause diminished storage capacity and incontinence.

If you are working with your doctor to manage fecal incontinence, there are some practical things that you can do to make your life a little easier. Always have a backpack with a change of clothes with you. Hopefully you will not need it, but if you ever have an accident, it can be a lifesaver. Know where the restrooms are in your day to day travels, so that when you need to relieve yourself, you know exactly where to go. Then to reduce the likelihood of needing an emergency toilet trip while you are out, always go to the bathroom just before leaving your house.

When you think an accident may be likely, wear disposable incontinence pads designed for fecal incontinence. By having the proper incontinence products available, you will be able to go about your day confidently. At DryForLife we have been helping people choose the best incontinence products for their particular situation, and we are always here to help.

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Leaking Bowels Can be a Lot to Manage

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

If you are experiencing a decreased ability to control gas or stool, poorly controlled bowel motions or leaking bowels, then you are dealing with faecal incontinence or bowel incontinence. The symptoms for faecal incontinence can vary from an involuntary passing of gas to a complete loss of control. Affecting both women and men this type of incontinence can cause a great deal of anxiety in those suffering from it.

It can adversely affect your daily life and cause problems with your social life, your work life and your life in general. In elderly people, it is one of the most common reasons that they are placed in a nursing home. Even though this condition is relatively common, there is still a lot of reluctance discussing it, so many people never find the proper help that they need to manage the condition to their best advantage.

Passing a stool involves two sphincters, which are the muscles that hold the stool in the anal canal. There is an involuntary internal sphincter, which you do not consciously control, and there is a voluntarily external sphincter, which you can control. You can consciously squeeze the external muscles to prevent leaking bowels when you sneeze or cough for example. While ageing is certainly a contributing factor to faecal incontinence, there are other factors that can cause this condition as well. For example, in women childbirth is one of the biggest contributors to this type of incontinence. Small injuries to the sphincter muscles can occur from tears, infections, eposiotomies or a prolonged labor and may not show up for years. Then as the muscles weaken with age, the injury becomes an issue causing leaking bowels.

Abnormalities of the rectum can also cause this type of incontinence, whether from disease, genetics or injury. Other injuries like spinal cord injuries can also result in leaking bowels. Any time the nerve function is damaged, you can lose the ability to feel when you need to have a bowel movement. Suddenly it is impossible to tell the difference between the need to pass gas or a stool. As with any type of incontinence the treatments depend on the causes of the condition. Sometimes just a change in diet or simple medication can take care of the problem, and in other cases physical therapy to build muscle strength or to sense a stool can take care of the problem. Even surgical repairs are successful in correcting injury to anal muscles and restoring faecal continence.

So the first person that you want to consult, if you are having problems with leaking bowels, is your doctor, because your medical professional is the one who can help you efficiently resolve your problem. While you are working with your doctor to manage your bowel incontinence using the proper incontinence products can help you to stay active and engaged socially. DryForLife offers a complete line of incontinence pads and products, which can be ordered online or by phone and delivered discreetly right to your front door.

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Incontinence Protection Lets You Continue to Live Confidently

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

If you are suffering from any type of incontinence, either urinary incontinence or bowel incontinence, then it is important to have the right products for incontinence protection. By being familiar with the products that are available in today’s market and knowing which ones work best to help you manage your situation, you can keep incontinence from interfering with whatever lifestyle you choose.

Incontinence can range from light incontinence to heavy incontinence, and managing each level brings with it its own challenges. For example, stress incontinence happens when stress is exerted on the bladder causing urine leakage. So if you do not cough, laugh, exercise or lift something heavy, you will not have a problem. However, you cannot predict when a sneeze is going to sneak up on you, so it is better to be prepared with the proper incontinence protection, than it is to be caught off guard.

Sometimes you may be taking a medication that has a heavy diuretic side effect that can lead to urge incontinence. Other factors like caffeine, a bladder infection, pregnancy, an enlarged prostate or even alcohol consumption can cause this type of incontinence as well. So if you are prone to having an incontinence issue, it is a good idea to have the proper protection available when you need it.

Heavier types of incontinence occur with overflow incontinence, where the bladder overfills then literally overflows, and reflex urinary incontinence where voluntary bladder control is gone. In this case, you do not know when your bladder is full, so nothing triggers to to head for the rest room.

Each type of incontinence has a cure or at least a management technique that you can use to deal with it on a daily basis. Newer incontinence products and incontinence pads are more absorbent and have improved barriers to help prevent leakage. New materials help to wick moisture away from the body and keep skin dry even if you are sitting down. These pads also help you stay fresh for at least several hours.

So if you are dealing with any type of incontinence problem, make sure to look into proper incontinence protection to make dealing with your situation just that much easier. From pads to pants to mattress protection, you can find whatever products you need to help you live confidently. DryForLife has been helping people deal with their incontinence issues for over forty years, and if you need some guidance or advice on which products may work best for you simply give us a call or drop us an email. You can order from the privacy of your own home and have your products delivered directly to you.

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Overactive Bowel – Irregularity and Fiber

Friday, October 30th, 2009

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.

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Episiotomy and Faecal Incontinence

Friday, August 28th, 2009
An episiotomy is a medical procedure in which the muscular tissue between the vagina and the rectum is cut. An episiotomy is performed when there is a need to enlarge the vaginal opening during childbirth, and is usually done when there is a perceived need to “speed up” the delivery process. Women are more likely to have an episiotomy done during first deliveries than during subsequent ones.

Performing an episiotomy, however, is not a benign procedure. There are risks associated with an episiotomy, such as bleeding and infection. By far the most serious complication of episiotomy is tearing of the tissues into the anal sphincter, which may result in anal, or faecal, incontinence. In addition to uncontrolled passage of faeces, women may also pass wind uncontrollably, which may be equally distressing.

If you have had an episiotomy and suffer from incontinence, whether urinary or faecal, one of the most important things you can do is to perform Kegel exercises routinely. Kegel exercises will help to strengthen the damaged pelvic floor muscles. In addition, you should see your physician and discuss your incontinence with him/her. If you are planning to give birth, episiotomy is something you may want to discuss with your physician to clarify under what conditions an episiotomy may be done and other methods that can be tried first to speed delivery if the need arises.

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