All You Need to Know about Bowel Incontinence
Bowel incontinence is a condition where a person experiences an involuntary excretion of bowel due to the loss of control of bowel movements. In this case, the stool generally leaks out of the rectum at unexpected times. This disorder is variable according to severity. It can range from an instance of occasional leakage to the total loss of bowel control.
The condition of fecal incontinence is an embarrassing situation for anyone who experiences it. One should not be shy while speaking about it with the doctor. Bowel incontinence can occur due to many causes. It carries a lot of complications which a patient may face too.
This condition is experinced by women than in men. It is a wrong belief that bowel incontinence is not treatable. Though it can affect people who are older, it does not mean that all old people can mandatorily have fecal incontinence.
Causes of bowel incontinence
The causes of bowel incontinence are diverse. One can develop this disorder due to a number of reasons like:
- Diarrhea
This is an important and one of the most common reasons why bowel incontinence is caused. In this condition, the stool becomes looser which causes fecal incontinence frequently.
In the cases of chronic constipation, the impacted stool present in the rectum gets dried up. They form into massy lumps which are unable to pass through the anus. The muscle of the rectum and the large intestine weakens due to prolonged stretching. As a result, the watery stool leaks out from the impacted stool. Constipation often causes nerve failure which may also cause fecal incontinence.
An injury to the muscles of the anal sphincter may cause the bowel incontinence disorder. It occurs due to episiotomy or forceps delivery during childbirth.
A damage to the nerves which detects the stools and controls the anal sphincter muscles can cause bowel incontinence. The main reasons why nerve damage is caused are childbirth, stroke, spinal cord injury, and strain during bowel movements. Diseases like sclerosis and diabetes affect these nerves and can lead to bowel incontinence.
An anal hemorrhoid surgery and treatment of veins in the rectum can cause muscle damage, leading the patient to fecal incontinence.
Rectal prolapse is a condition where the rectum gets exposed and drops down from the anus. In this case, the disorder of bowel incontinence may happen. Women can experience rectocele if the rectum gets exposed through the vagina.
Symptoms of bowel incontinence
The symptoms of bowel incontinence are experienced by most adults only during the bout of diarrhea. Passive incontinence occurs when a person is unable to hold the feces and it gets discharged continuously. Urged incontinence occurs when the patient is continuously feeling the urge to defecate. It happens suddenly and most of them don’t get time to reach out for the toilet in time. The main reasons why the above kinds of the situation may occur are diarrhea, gas, bloating, and constipation.
Treatments for bowel incontinence
There are many ways in which the condition of bowel incontinence can be treated. Doctors generally choose medications such as the application of Loperamide, bismuth subsalicylate, psyllium, and laxatives. Any patient can benefit from bowel training on the recommendation of the doctors. Pelvic floor exercises can also help to cure bowel incontinence.
