Muscle Damage

Two ring-like muscles – the external and internal sphincter – help keep faeces inside your rectum. Most of the time, they perform their jobs well and there is never a problem. However certain situations can cause damage to those sphincters, making them weak and susceptible to leaking feces. In most cases, haemorrhoid surgery and childbirth are responsible for sphincter muscle damage.

Constipation

Most people experience constipation – an inability to produce bowl movements – from time to time. Constipation is a major cause of fecal incontinence, which seems counterintuitive. However, the hard faeces that are unable to be expelled can become lodged in the rectum; looser stools can then slide out past the blockage, causing incontinence. Also, these hard faeces can sometimes cause damage to the sphincter muscles, making it more difficult for a person to make it to the bathroom in a timely manner.

Nerve Damage

When the nerves that sense stool in the rectum – or the nerves that control the external and internal sphincters – become damaged, faecal incontinence can occur. In the first case, your body is unable to warn you when faeces need to be expelled; many times, you only find out when it leaks out. In the second case, the nerves that are in charge of those sphincters don’t work properly, and incontinence occurs. Nerve damage in these areas can be caused by strokes, childbirth, a habit of straining exceptionally hard to pass stools, multiple sclerosis, diabetes and other conditions that affect nerves in the body.

Diarrohea

Since diarrhea is loose and watery, it is more likely to leak out unexpectedly. Most of the time though, this is only a short-term condition.

Reduced Capacity

Inflammatory bowel disease, rectal surgery or radiation treatment can scar the inside of the rectum, making it less elastic. The reduced capacity then makes faecal incontinence much more likely to occur, since the rectum is unable to stretch to accommodate faeces.

No matter what the cause, it’s important to consult your health professional should you experience ongoing faecal incontinence to receive the correct diagnosis and support for your own condition. Use of Disposable Incontinence products such as Tena Pants Plus or Tena Pants Super can assist in managing the condition and reducing the effect of leaks. However as no product has yet been produced specifically for the absorption of solid matter then it is always advisable to change any product as soon as soiling has occurred to maintain freshness and skin condition.

One person who has benefited is Yvonne De Los Santos, who had gone about her daily life for years without knowing she had a problem.

“I just thought, oh, I had an accident. I didn’t think to seek help,” Yvonne says.

Yvonne’s gynecologist eventually referred her to physical therapist Marlene Kuntz.

“Some women believe that this is normal. It is not normal to leak at any age,” Marlene says.

Marlene is using a bio-feedback method to help Yvonne strengthen her pelvic floor and to manage her incontinence.

“We have the woman connected via a sensor to a specialized computer and the computer is able to show them what their muscle is doing,” Marlene says.

The computer helps Yvonne know which muscles to contract. Marlene uses a series of computer graphics to help Yvonne visualize and pinpoint the muscles that control urine flow.

While this may not be the answer for everyone, it’s an option to be considered before medication or surgery.

Marlene says, “I think it gives women freedom, you know, to be able to do what they enjoy doing and don’t have to worry about getting to a bathroom.”

The therapy runs about 8 weeks and some patients have seen positive results as early as the 4th week

For the millions of people who experience urinary incontinence, travelling on planes, trains, or cars is possible with the help of many incontinence products. Urine leakage always seems to happen at the worst possible time, and learning to manage it while travelling will prevent a stressful holiday.

Planning a holiday is time consuming especially when plotting around incontinence. Having incontinence products shipped to your home in advance via a home delivery company, such as Allanda saves time and cost whilst preparing your trip and also means you can be sure of having finding the right products for you. Having incontinence products delivered right to your door each month saves you the hassle of rushing out to the shops when your supply is low at anytime.

You could also organize a delivery of products to your holiday location if you are traveling in the UK.

Other simples tips and advice for how to manage incontinence while traveling are:

Transportation: Always allow for delays and hold up’s whilst traveling so plot where toilets will be available on route, and also take the opportunity to use the toilet ahead of needing it to avoid being caught out.

Diet: Ensure sufficient liquids are drunk to maintain hydration but avoid too many caffeinated drinks or too much alcohol which can stimulate the bladder.

Travel Kit: Carry a travel kit containing spare pads, wipes and cleansing products and also hygiene bags for disposal of products in case bins/disposal methods aren’t available when you need to change pads or products.

Living with incontinence is simple and distress-free if knowing how to manage and control the urinary leakage. With all the variety of incontinence products available, traveling can be more effortless than ever before. Worry about having fun on holiday, and don’t worry about incontinence.

One of the problems with incontinence and/or frequent urination is that it sometimes has the effect of discouraging people from drinking sufficient fluids, which can then lead on to dehydration.

Of course maintaining proper hydration is important, but so is staying dry, and on occasion, the need for frequent urination can end up resulting in light incontinence, especially in the elderly.

To help prevent frequent urination evolving into incontinence, there are some simple things that can be done to reduce the frequency of urination or the feeling of the need to urinate. Caffeine and alcohol are among the many foods that irritate the bladder, leading to incontinence. Both of these drinks are also diuretics, which encourage the body to lose liquids. Medications for high blood pressure are normally diuretics also, which can exacerbate the frequent urination symptoms, again leading to incontinence.

There are also a number of diseases that can manifest themselves as frequent urination (in turn leading to incontinence), so this is another reason that it is important to discuss any incontinence problem with your health professional. Two common causes are Diabetes and kidney disease, even more common is a urinary tract infection. In men frequent urination is frequently the result of an enlarged prostate gland, which again often leads way to light adult incontinence.
If there is any discomfort connected with frequent trips to the toilet, then you should seek medical advice immediately.

However, for the elderly, especially as mobility becomes an issue, frequent urination can be just the start a pattern of incontinence. If there is no infection or disease, then there are several things that can be done to address the problem of incontinence. Limiting liquid intake, but still ensuring that enough fluids are being consumed to remain healthy in line with guidelines, can be a start. Next, increasing the holding capacity of the bladder by gradually extending the time in between trips to the bathroom. This can be done by stretching the time by about fifteen minutes and increase the duration every week.
If medication that works as a diuretic is being taken then discuss with the doctor the option of taking this earlier in the day. This will help prevent waking throughout the night needing to go to the bathroom, or risk an incontinence episode like bedwetting.

There are many different causes for a damaged pelvic floor and the most common is the strain brought on from vaginal childbirth therefore, strengthening the pelvic floor muscles can ease delivery and make it safer for both mother and child.

Strong pelvic muscles also help control incontinence, many women suffer from incontinence and urinary incontinence brought on by childbirth as well as conditions known as vaginal prolapse and pelvic organ prolapse. In these conditions the uterus, bladder and guts are not properly supported and this leads on to urinary tract and bladder infections as well as incontinence.

Kegel exercises for women can also help with conditions brought on by obesity, aging and naturally feeble pelvic muscles. Many women that have had problems with sexual stimulation and climax have found a great natural cure in the Kegel exercise.

Performing Kegel exercise is fairly straightforward, the general exercise is performed by simply flexing the same muscles that are used to stop the flow of urine. It is important to note that you never want to do the exercise when urinating, this can end up in incomplete emptying of the bladder. It is generally recommended that you slowly build up the time you hold the muscles and be sure to rest the muscles for a similar amount of time and you do the exercises two or 3 times a day.

World Continence Week (June 21-27), is a creation of the International Continence Society, and is designed to build awareness of incontinence issues and treatments. It’s estimated that more than 33 million individuals are affected by incontinence in the United States and about 6 million people in the United Kingdom.
Incontinence is not something people should be ashamed of or silent about and World Continence Week is all about giving individuals the tools they need to understand and manage their incontinence issues.
“Unfortunately, many incontinence sufferers are unaware of the treatment options and products available to them,” said Diane Newman of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Continence and Pelvic Health.

Allanda fully support this aim and hope that it help increase significantly both awareness of the prevalence of the condition and also helps people experiencing the condition better understand the many treatments and incontinence management products available to them.

Major depression, hypertension, enlarged prostates, and older age are all associated with an increased risk of moderate to severe urinary incontinence (UI) in men, a large study suggests.

The findings, which provide one of the first snapshots of urinary incontinence in men, may help improve doctors’ ability to identify men who are suffering from the condition, says study head Alayne Markland, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Overall, 4.5% of American men were found to experience moderate to severe urinary incontinence, which corresponds to having leakage at least once a month, the study showed.

The rate increases with age, from 0.7% in men ages 20 to 34 to 16% in men age 75 and older, the study showed.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association.

Studies suggested that urinary incontinence is less common among men than women, but there was felt to be a lack of data on Urinary Incontinence and risk factors in men, Dr. Markland felt.

So she and colleagues analyzed data from 5,297 men aged 20 and older who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a nationally representative survey of the U.S. population.

Men were interviewed in their homes, and Urinary Incontinence was assessed using the 12-point Incontinence Severity Index in which participants are asked if they leak and if so, how much and how often. Moderate to severe Urinary Incontinence was defined as a score of 3 or higher.

Among all the men, major depression and hypertension were associated with a 2.6-fold and a 30% increased risk of moderate to severe UI, respectively.

Each 10-year increase in age was associated with an 80% increased risk.

Among the 3,010 men aged 40 and older, enlarged prostate — called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) — was associated with a 20% greater chance of having moderate to severe UI.

The rate of moderate to severe Urinary Incontinence did not differ by race or ethnicity.

A total of 49% of the men had what is known as urge urinary incontinence, in which you feel like you have to go but can’t get to the bathroom in time, Dr. Markland said. Thirteen percent had stress urinary incontinence, which occurs when an activity, such as coughing or sneezing, causes a small amount of urine to leak. The rest had a combination.
BPH a Known Cause of Urinary Incontinence

BPH is a well-known cause of UI, says Ira Sharlip, MD, clinical professor of urology at the University of California, San Francisco.

“Nightly bathroom runs may be the first sign of an enlarged prostate, other symptoms may include trouble starting a stream of urine, leaking, or dribbling” says Dr. Sharlip, who was not involved with the study.

That’s because an can press against the urethra (the tube that carries urine out the body) and block the flow of urine. This causes the bladder wall to become irritable. The bladder begins to contract even when it contains small amounts of urine, causing more frequent urination.

More research is needed to find out why depression and hypertension are associated with higher rates of UI, Dr. Markland said.

Medications called diuretics that are often used to treat may play a role, she says. They flush excess fluid from the body and can cause frequent urination.

Some of the drugs used to treat depression may also cause UI, Sharlip says.

“Urinary incontinence is something people don’t want to talk about,” says Lauren P. Wallner, PhD, MPH, a research fellow in the department of urology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

“If you’re having symptoms, bring it to the attention of your Doctor or Health professional as it can often be treated with medication, behavioral therapy and, in severe cases, surgery,” she said.

Dutch researchers found that among 401 children and teens treated for chronic constipation at their center, one-quarter were still having symptoms 11 years later, as young adults.

The odds of long-lasting constipation were greater when the problem arose later in childhood or when years passed between a child’s first bouts of constipation and his or her referral for specialized treatment.

The findings, reported in the journal Pediatrics, are based on a group of children and teens with symptoms serious enough that they were referred to a specialist clinic.

So they may not be representative of kids treated for less-serious constipation by their primary care doctors, note the researchers, led by Dr. Marc A. Benninga of Emma Children’s Hospital in Amsterdam.

Experts generally recommend that children see their doctor if they have constipation problems that last more than two weeks. Typically, treatment involves diet changes – such as eating more fiber-rich grains, fruits and vegetables – and, with a doctor’s approval, stool softeners or laxatives.

The new findings suggest that children whose symptoms do not improve with initial treatment might benefit from earlier referral to a specialist, according to Benninga and his colleagues.

It’s estimated that functional constipation – constipation not caused by an underlying health condition or medication side effects – accounts for about 3 percent of all visits to the pediatrician. But there has been little research into how often those problems persist into adulthood.

The current study included 401 children and teenagers who were treated for chronic constipation at the researchers’ center in the 1990s. All had at least two symptoms of chronic constipation – such as having fewer than three bowel movements a week and two or more bouts of fecal incontinence per week – and had not improved after using laxatives for at least two months.

After six to eight weeks of “intensive” treatment that included medication and behavioral therapy, the children were followed, through yearly surveys, to track their long-term progress.

After 11 years, the researchers found, three-quarters of the study participants were showing a “good” outcome – defined as having had at least three bowel movements per week in the past month, and fewer than two bouts of incontinence.

That left one-quarter who were still suffering symptoms. For comparison, that rate is much higher than studies have found among adults in the general population; in the U.S., for example, it is estimated that between 4 and 5 million Americans have frequent constipation – with older adults accounting for a large portion, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Benninga’s team also found that certain factors – including constipation problems starting later in childhood, and longer gaps between a child’s first symptoms and treatment referral – seemed to increase the likelihood of persistent constipation.

For example, they say, a boy whose symptoms began at age 3, and included only two bowel movements and multiple bouts of incontinence each week, would have a 7 percent chance of adulthood constipation if there were a one-year gap between the onset of his symptoms and his referral for specialist treatment.

Those odds increased to 31 percent with a 9-year delay before referral.

The findings, according to Benninga’s team, suggest that referring kids for specialist care earlier on might cut the risk of long-lasting problems.

“Referral to a specialized clinic should be considered at an early stage for children who are unresponsive to first-line treatment,” they conclude.

Many find it difficult to manage, leading to frustration and even isolation and depression in the worse cases. Yet, incontinence is not a disease, but rather a symptom of underlying conditions that affect men and women of all ages and backgrounds.

The many causes of incontinence include pregnancy, surgery, infections or even just being overweight. It also can be triggered by a variety of other diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and even diabetes.
There are also different types of incontinence:
• Stress incontinence: A small amount of urine is released by such everyday physical activities even ones as basic as, coughing, sneezing or laughing. This is generally due to weakened pelvic floor muscles and in many cases can be easily treated by activities such as pelvic floor exercises.

• Urge incontinence: The urge to urinate comes on so suddenly that it is impossible to reach a toilet in time. This generally results in larger losses than stress incontinence. Bladder re-training may help improve this condition.

• Overflow incontinence: The bladder is constantly filled, causing it to release small amounts of urine frequently.

• Reflex incontinence: The absence of bladder control is due to impaired nerve function. This is often linked to other diseases.

• Faecal Incontinence: Impaired rectal sensation or muscle control results in the loss of faeces (stools) or the staining of underclothes.

We always advocate discussing the symptoms with your own health professional as they are best placed to diagnose your own symptoms and condition and recommend appropriate treatments.