Fecal, or bowel, incontinence is an unpleasant problem characterized by an inability to control your bowels. Fortunately, there are treatment options that can offer you relief. In most cases, it is recommended to try the least intrusive treatment methods first, before moving on to the more invasive measures. Here is a look at some of the most common treatments for fecal incontinence.
Dietary Changes
Depending on the exact cause of your fecal incontinence, changing your diet may be able to help control bowel movements. High-fiber foods will add bulk to stools, making them less watery and less likely to pass unintentionally.
Anti-Diarrheal Drugs
Imodium and lomotil are medications you can take to help you manage acute or chronic diarrhea, and these are generally available over the counter at your local pharmacy.
Bulk Laxatives
For fecal incontinence caused by constipation, methylcellulose (Citrucel) or psyllium (Metamucil) are a couple bulk laxatives that can help with the management of fecal incontinence. Although it sounds counterintuitive, being constipated can indeed lead to incontinece—the effort it takes to evacuate hard-to-pass stools eventually weakens and loosens the muscles of the anus.
Injectable Bulking Agents
Medication can be injected into the anus to help treat fecal incontinence. This treatment is used in moderate to severe cases of bowel leakage. Painful rectal spasms are a possible side effect of the injection, and the exact benefits of this treatment method are still being studied.
Biofeedback
If the cause of fecal incontinence is muscle damage, a trained physical therapist can teach you exercises that will increase muscle strength with a process known as biofeedback. Improving muscle strength will help you to sense when stool is ready to be discharged.
Bowel Training
Training your bowels involves consciously making the effort to have a bowel movement at a specific time of day. This provides you with more control, if you are able to stick with your schedule consistently.
Sacral Nerve Stimulation
Sometimes fecal incontinence can be caused by nerve damage. The sacral nerves run from the spinal cord to pelvic muscles. These nerves are in charge of not only the sensation, but also the strength of the rectal and anal sphincter muscles. If other treatments have failed, a doctor may suggest treating incontinence with an implanted device that continuously sends small electrical impulses to the sacral nerves in order to strengthen the muscles in the bowel, giving you more control.
Sphincter Repair
For those with weak or damaged anal sphincter muscles, corrective surgery may be beneficial. A muscle is taken from the inner thigh and wrapped around the sphincter in order to restore muscle tone to the sphincter.
Sphincter Replacement
An artificial anal sphincter is an option for replacing a severely damaged one. The inflatable, cuff-like device is implanted in the anal canal. The device inflates and keeps the anal sphincter shut until you are ready to have a bowel movement. When going to the bathroom, a small external pump is used to deflate the device, enabling the discharge of stool. After finishing, the device will re-inflate on its own.
Sphincteroplasty
This procedure is most often performed on women to correct problems with fecal incontinence following childbirth. The injured area of muscle is identified and its edges are released from surrounding tissue. The edges of the muscle are then sewn back together in an overlapping structure which strengthens and tightens the sphincter.
