fiber rich diet for bowel retraining

FODMAP Diet Helps Fecal Incontinence

Two-thirds of patients with fecal incontinence associated with loose stool experienced an improvement in symptoms when following a low FODMAP diet, a researcher reported here. “Fecal incontinence is an underappreciated complaint, and patients often suffer in silence,” said Stacy Menees, MD, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, in a presidential plenary session at the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG).  In an earlier, large population-based study of more than 71,000 people, one in seven reported having had fecal incontinence at some point in their lives. Of these, one-third reported fecal incontinence in the last 7 days, which is often associated with diarrhea and loose stool. People with diarrhea have a 5.6-fold higher risk of fecal incontinence, and people with urgency have a more than 8-fold risk of diarrhea. “So if we are going to help people with fecal incontinence, the key is to concentrate on their stool consistency,” Menees said. Read more.

Source: MedPage Today, October 8, 2018

Antidiarrheal Medications and Laxatives

antidiarrheal medications laxatives for bowel problems

Problems in the bowel can lead to the need for antidiarrheal medications and laxatives.

Antidiarrheal medications and laxatives can be used either to either bulk up stool (in the case of diarrhea) or soften stool (in the case of constipation).  Diarrhea may cause a person to have bowel incontinence and constipation may cause a person to have overflow diarrhea and bowel incontinence.

NOTE:  Medications and laxatives can be used to treat a variety of different types of bowel incontinence but should always be discussed first with a doctor or medical professional.

Antidiarrheal medications and laxatives are less invasive than surgery and may be tried as a first- line of treatment.  They can be stopped at any time if the desired results are not achieved or of the side-effects are undesirable.Continue reading