Living With Bowel Incontinence: How Incontinence Products Offer Support and Discretion
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2024-05-30T11:07:38Z
Living with bowel incontinence can present myriads of challenges, especially if the condition develops in your sunset years. For starters, you have to constantly monitor your bowel activity to avoid having bathroom accidents inadvertently. You cannot pursue an active lifestyle like normal people do for fear of staining your pants in public. Fortunately, there are plenty of interventions you can explore to lead a fulfilling life despite living with fecal incontinence. These range from taking certain medications to making healthy lifestyle adjustments and investing in incontinence products. We’ve prepared a guide to incontinence products and how they offer a second chance for seniors with bowel incontinence. The article shall focus on incontinence wearables, particularly adult diapers.
What Is Bowel Incontinence?
Bowel incontinence refers to a loss of control of the muscles that regulate bowel activity, resulting in involuntary fecal elimination. The condition is also known as fecal incontinence. Bowel incontinence is the rarer but more dreadful form of the two incontinence problems, the other one being urinary incontinence. The condition varies significantly in severity, from mild to severe. Mild fecal incontinence involves passing small amounts of feces, while severe incontinence is often marked by a complete loss of bowel control.
What Causes Bowel Incontinence?
Bowel incontinence typically results from age-related loss of control of bowel muscles. These include muscles that regulate the pelvic, rectum, and anal sphincter. The condition may also be due to infection or injury to bowel muscles. Common diseases that might cause or exacerbate fecal incontinence include;
Chronic constipation
Diarrhea
External hemorrhoids
Diseases that cause nerve damage to sphincter muscles, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS), and diabetes mellitus
Who Is At Risk Of Bowel Incontinence?
Fecal incontinence can afflict anyone. However, seniors aged 65 years or over are more at risk. There’s also a higher prevalence of bowel incontinence in women than in men. That’s due to other risk factors like childbirth and hemorrhoids.
How Is Bowel Incontinence Traditionally Managed?
Fecal incontinence can be managed by a combination of medication and lifestyle adjustments. Most conventional medications are typically antidiarrheals like loperamide, diphenoxylate, and codeine. Lifestyle changes usually focus on food and exercise. Most doctors recommend diets high in fiber and certain types of fluids to regulate gut transit time. Such foods produce the best results when paired with kegel exercises. In extreme cases, bowel incontinence may necessitate surgery. Commonly pursued surgical options include colostomy, sphincteroplasty, artificial sphincter, and gracilis muscle transplant.
Incontinence Products to the Rescue
Most conventional treatments for bowel incontinence are unsustainable in the long run. If you’re looking for a more reliable intervention, consider diapers for adults with bowel incontinence.Adult diapers are exactly what the name implies - diapers designed to be worn by anyone other than infants and children.
Benefits of Adult Diapers
Adult diapers, also known as incontinence briefs, were designed for seniors with incontinence. Although commonly used for urinary incontinence, these products have proven equally effective at managing bowel incontinence. Gone are the days when seniors with fecal incontinence were consigned to their retirement homes or hospices for fear of embarrassing themselves in public. Thanks to adult diapers, bowel incontinence sufferers can venture freely in public without worrying about having bathroom accidents. Incontinence diaper briefs are particularly useful for seniors with active lifestyles. The diapers have made it incredibly easy to go on extended trips or attend high-octane festivals hassle-free. All you need to do is find a comfortable and properly-sized product.
Types of Adult Diapers
Adult diapers are available in two primary styles. You get to pick a design that suits your incontinence needs.
Tab-Style Diapers
Most incontinence briefs you’ll come across are tab-style. These diapers feature one or more tabs on either side. You can adjust and refasten the tabs to suit your waist size. A tab-style adult diaper is suitable for people with bowel incontinence who have reduced mobility. The tabs allow you to wear and remove the diaper from a standing or lying position.
Pull-Up Diapers
Pull-up diapers resemble regular incontinence underwear. These diapers blend seamlessly into your other undergarments, providing optimal discretion. Pull-ups are ideal for fecal incontinence sufferers who don’t require much help putting on or removing their diapers. To wear pull-up diapers, simply step into the leg openings and pull the brief up your waist. Like the best incontinence underwear for women, some pull-ups come with tear-away seams for easy removal.
Other Considerations When Choosing Adult Diapers for Bowel Incontinence
Both tab-style and pull-up diapers come with different absorbency levels. Again, the choice depends on your incontinence needs. High-end adult diapers can absorb up to up to 30 ounces of fluid. However, remember that the focus is on bowel, not urinary, incontinence. Therefore, it’s prudent to check the position of a diaper’s absorbency layer besides its sheer thickness. Most adult diapers designed for fecal incontinence have the absorbency layer concentrated on the backside. This is in contrast to urinary incontinence briefs, whose absorbency material is usually on the underside for women or the front for men. However, due to the psychological connection between bowel and urinary incontinence, one condition might easily cause the other. So, choosing an adult diaper that addresses fecal and bladder incontinence is best. Such briefs usually feature a thick absorbency material stretching from the backside to the underside (for women) or from the back to the front (for men).
Does Size Matter?
Size is a critical consideration while shopping for incontinence products, particularly adult diapers for bowel incontinence. Undersized diapers can cause great discomfort, as you have to keep readjusting the brief to fit your bottoms. Wearing undersized adult diapers also means the fecal waste remains firmly pressed against your skin until the next diaper change. This can cause unbearable irritation, especially for people with sensitive skin. Oversized adult diapers must be avoided equally. Since these briefs don’t fit snugly around the waist, leaking could occur through the gaping holes around the thighs. Besides, oversized diapers are notorious for popping above the waistline, making such briefs unideal for wearers who crave discretion. The best way to find a proper adult diaper size for bowel incontinence is to use a tape measure to measure your waistline and thighs. Then, pick a diaper that’s closest to those measurements.
Final Word
Adult diapers may not be the magic pill for bowel incontinence. However, they can make the condition a lot easier to cope with. As with most incontinence products, the trick is to choose the right adult diaper for you. Your purchase decision should factor in the diaper’s style, size, and absorbency levels, among other critical aspects.
Bowel incontinence refers to a loss of control of the muscles that regulate bowel activity, resulting in involuntary fecal elimination. The condition is also known as fecal incontinence.
Bowel incontinence is the rarer but more dreadful form of the two incontinence problems, the other one being urinary incontinence. The condition varies significantly in severity, from mild to severe.
Mild fecal incontinence involves passing small amounts of feces, while severe incontinence is often marked by a complete loss of bowel control.
