Similar to the urinary incontinence, bowel incontinence is the condition in which your body can't control bowel and it empties when you don't want that.
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Normal bowel motions are soft and easy to pass, can come several times a day or only once every two to three days, and you don't need to strain when you visit bathroom.
What causes bowel incontinence? Constipation is the most usual cause of bowel leakage. Since there is a pressure on muscles, at one point they can't hold it and they let feces out. After years of constipation that pressure weakens muscles and you have a problem.
Bowel incontinence can also be caused by muscles weakness caused by other events such as childbirth and nerve diseases. Some women who suffer muscles damage in childbirth have no problems when their children are young, but develop control problems later in their life.
Your doctor may prescribe you some medicine like anti-diarrheal drugs, laxatives (in the case of the chronic constipation), stool softeners (to make stool softer to that is doesn't pressure muscles too much), or other drugs that connects water in the stool so that it doesn’t pass involuntary. There are also some surgical procedures like repairing of weakened anal sphincter but they are use in small number of cases.
Now, if you have bowel incontinence, a little bit of planning can help a lot. For example, if you think you will leak while you are out, you could take some spare pads and pants with you. A scented bag for soiled pants or pads could be useful if you are worried about smell. If you are going on a long journey with friends, and you know that you will need to use the toilet frequently, let your friends know beforehand because you together can plan for extra stops.
Now, if you feel you have to go, try to hold. Hold it for a half a minute, tomorrow for a whole minute, after a few days for two minutes. Don't go too far, you don't want to hold for one hour, the goal is to make your lower muscles stronger so that you control the situation.
What can you do to help yourself? There are some good advices that you can try to improve your condition. Drink normally, as cutting down on liquids will make things worse, not better. The goal is to drink at least six to eight cups of liquid per day. If you notice that tea or coffee make your symptoms worse, then cut down on caffeine. If constipation is not the cause, our grandmother's advice - you should avoid beans, cabbage, green pea and broccoli - is true. That food creates gases that strongly push feces to the exit and they also create more feces because the body can't use all ingredients.
There are also two very useful exercises to learn: slow pelvic floor exercises and quick pelvic floor exercises.
The slow exercises: tighten the pelvic floor for as long and as hard as you can. Hold that positions to a maximum of ten seconds. Rest for four seconds and then repeat the contraction as many times as you can up to a maximum of ten times.
The quick exercises work the muscles quickly to help them react to sudden stresses like coughing, laughing or exercise. Draw in the pelvic floor and hold it for just one second before letting go. Repeat this quick contraction up to ten times.