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Bowel incontinence
I am 73 yr old femal with diagnosed Celiac, Microscopic Colitis and IBS. i don’t have diarrhea, BM’s are either soft formed or constipated small hard stool, but either way I can be incontenant of small amount of stool. I wear a pad in close knit underwear with legs, so nothing can escape. Any advice from people with same problem would be comforting and useful. I would like to know how you handled it on social occasions.
Thank you, Emyliander
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@kzsolheid I am sure if you do call on Mondays you will get in sooner. I always have them put me on a wait list and almost always do get in sooner.
Having gone through stool leakage myself I know very well the difficulties it can cause. I did have pelvic floor PT but what helped the most was discovering that I had become lactose intolerant. My anal sphincter is very weak and was severely damaged during the birth of my first child. He was big and should have been caesarean but the doctor substituting for mine was idiot. So it is still damaged but now that I stay away from lactose the very soft stools are not nearly as much of a problem.
I will be very interested in hearing what the doctor at Mayo says.
JK
@kzsolheid I get Harvard Health newsletter and they just had an article about this. I'm not sure what type of physical therapy you had, but a pelvic floor specialist might help. Also, in the newsletter they referenced various treatments including electrical stimulation, etc., which may increase muscle tone or somehow help. Keep trying - maybe it can be made better. Have you seen a neurologist, too, or the gastroenterologist, etc.? Just some questions for you to think about.
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2 ReactionsWell today I had my last PFPT and it has gone well. In the past 4 weeks I have had 2 very small bowel incidents, rather than daily. I am so pleased I can hardly believe it. There is so much information included with the therapy, I would recommend it for anyone with bowel incontinence. I’m going to make sure my doctors know about it so they will suggest it to other patients. Thank you for the help you give us. Emy.
This was for JK also. Thanks.
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1 Reaction@emyliander My PFPT told me to not skip more than two days or it will really set you back. I have to admit I have skipped much more than that because for some of the exercises I have to be on my side and after fracturing my femur I couldn't lie on my side. I do see that I have had a setback but it's not total. I have been resuming the exercises now.
I know, I could have done some of the exercises but I was in so much overall discomfort that I did not.
JK
Sorry to hear about your fracture, I can see that would set you back. One of the exercises was for relaxation, as she said being tense could make things worse. I had long suspected that. Also having a lot of fiber in your food is recommended, it seemed to help me to switch from cold cereal to gluten free oatmeal, with fruit and nuts in it. I’m sure I will continue to learn about other foods that will benefit me. It is important to keep up the exercises, and also easy to let it slide for various reasons, I do it myself.
Thanks for writing. Emy.
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2 ReactionsReply was for JK.
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1 Reaction@emyliander I generally have oatmeal about three or four times a week, with some nuts and some berries, generally blueberries.
Relaxing is definitely helpful too. Soft bowel movements do make it worse but occasionally even when not soft a very small “marble” will leak out.
JK
Yes I loose some marbles occasionally also. ( 😳 ) frustrating.
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2 ReactionsI got so sick of Harvard Newsletter pretending to educate and help people with dis-ease and then after a few sentences asking you for 💲💲💲💲. And the "pitch" is formulaic and treats you like an idiot who will fall for their products. I don't open these emails anymore.