Bowel incontinence can be extremely upsetting and hard to cope with, but effective treatments are available and a cure possible, so make sure you see your GP.

Bowel incontinence is an inability to control bowel movements, which means that stools can leak uncontrollably from the rectum (bottom).

Bowel incontinence is also sometimes known as faecal incontinence.

Some people may just pass a small piece of stool when passing wind, while others may have a complete loss of bowel control.

It can severely affect a person’s quality of life, self-esteem and emotional wellbeing.

Bowel incontinence is much more common than most people realise. This is possibly because many people are unwilling to discuss the condition with family and friends.

Who is affected

Bowel incontinence is not a condition in itself. It is a symptom of an underlying problem or medical condition, such as muscle and nerve damage or dementia.

It can affect people of any age, although the condition is more common in elderly people. It is thought to be slightly more common in women than men. This could be because many cases of bowel incontinence develop as a complication of pregnancy.

The importance of seeking treatment

Many people with bowel incontinence do not seek medical treatment for their condition. This may be because of common misconceptions. Some of these are explored below.

• Bowel incontinence is not something to be ashamed of. Bowel incontinence is simply a medical problem that is no different from diabetes or asthma.
• Bowel incontinence can be treated. There is a wide range of successful treatments for bowel incontinence.
• Bowel incontinence is not a normal part of ageing.
• Bowel incontinence will not always go away without treatment. Bowel incontinence may go away without treatment in a minority of cases, but most people will need treatment to control their symptoms.

Outlook

In many cases, with the right treatment, a person can maintain normal bowel function throughout their life.

Treatment options include:

• lifestyle and dietary changes
• exercise programmes
• medication
• surgery

Even if a complete cure for bowel incontinence is not possible, most people’s symptoms improve significantly and they achieve a better quality of life.

Source : NHS Choices

Watch the NHS Choices Video here

Fico Centre are here to help. We arrange appointments with surgeons across the UK for the Secca Procedure. Call us now on 0844 561 6606 for further information.

 

The term incontinence means different things to different people and definitions vary even in medical literature. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines continence as: the ability to voluntarily control defecation or stool expulsion, maintain this control even during sleep, distinguish between stool and gas and to defer defecation to a socially acceptable time. Given the above, it therefore holds that in simple terms, faecal incontinence is the inability to achieve continence. It is noteworthy that the concept of faecal continence remains a co-ordinated and complex interaction of various physiological processes that include: consistency of stool, compliance or distension of the rectum to receive increased quantity of stool, a local reflex mechanism, normal anal canal sensation with normal functioning of the internal and external anal muscle sphincter mechanism. (Source : Total Health)

Here at Fico Centre, we manage a treatment called Secca Therapy. This is a non surgical option for the elimination of Faecal Incontinence and is delivered by  a low level electrical stimulation to the nerves & muscles of the lower bowel and sphincters.

Call Karen on 0844 561 6606 for further information.