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Bowel Incontinence

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 1:56 pm
by Guest Posts
I was hospitalised for over a year following a brain surgery. In that time, I became incontinent of both urine and faeces and became dependent on pads. Now I'm aware of when I need to use the toilet but I've been assessed as having urge urine incontinence by the incontinence nurse. I was too embarrassed to tell her that I suffer from faecal incontinence too. She's told me to train my bladder to treat the urge urine incontinence. I would also like to train my bowels. Please could you tell me how I should do this? I hardly go out because of the incontinence issues because when I do go out, I can't control any of the urges and need a toilet nearby. I hope you can help me.

Re: Bowel Incontinence

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 12:49 pm
by Dr Claire Mansfield
I would really encourage you to speak to your nurse again. It's really difficult that you felt too embarrassed to tell her, and understandable because these aren't things that in daily life we share with each other. However, your incontinence nurse has specialised in this area and talks about this every day, so to her it is very normal. If you think it is impossible to tell her, is there another professional that you would feel more able to talk to? Or would it help to write it down and give it to the nurse rather than to tell her? Or could somebody else you trust speak to the nurse on your behalf? I think that once you have managed to start the conversation you will find that it becomes much easier to talk about. You don't need to go through this on your own and you may find that the expertise that your nurse can offer you ensures that you have a faster recovery and allows you to do the things that you want to do without having to worry about this. Good luck.