{"id":10431,"date":"2023-12-14T11:09:13","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T11:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/?p=10431"},"modified":"2023-12-18T08:27:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T08:27:00","slug":"how-life-changing-bowel-incontinence-treatment-ended-my-25-years-of-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/health-awareness\/how-life-changing-bowel-incontinence-treatment-ended-my-25-years-of-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"How life-changing bowel incontinence treatment ended my 25 years of suffering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"background-color:#f2f2f2;color:#32373c\" class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-profile-box square ab-font-size-18 ab-block-profile ab-profile-columns\"><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-content-wrap\"><h2 class=\"ab-profile-name\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Patient Story<\/h2><p class=\"ab-profile-title\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Medtronic<\/p><div class=\"ab-profile-text\"><\/div><ul class=\"ab-social-links\"><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Bowel incontinence, also known as faecal incontinence, is an inability to control one\u2019s bowel movements. However, effective solutions now exist.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout early life, I was misdiagnosed with \u2018diarrhoea predominant IBS,\u2019 and I lived with this diagnosis for 25 years. I would have catastrophic episodes of incontinence. It only got worse.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"healt-780260772\"><div class=\"healt-adlabel\">Advertisements<\/div><div id=\"healt-3984062662\" style=\"margin-top: 30px;margin-bottom: 30px;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supportincontinence.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Medtronic desk\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2023\/12\/07210035\/Medtronic-desk.jpg\" alt=\"\"  width=\"750\" height=\"250\"  style=\"display: inline-block;\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-psychological-impacts-of-bowel-incontinence\"><strong>Psychological impacts of bowel incontinence<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Every time I lose control of my environment, the panic attacks would begin; the adrenaline would flow; gut motility would increase. I would have no control over my bowel functions. It\u2019s life-altering, and people suffer from it for years because no one wants to talk about it.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I was finally willing to talk about it, I felt liberated. It affects your social life; sexual life; mental health \u2014 every element of life. The panic attacks could be severe. That doesn\u2019t disappear as soon as you put in the SNS (sacral nerve stimulator). &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><meta charset=\"utf-8\">More patients and healthcare providers <br>should be more aware of the success <br>of finding the right treatment.&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Journey of seeking help for incontinence: ups and downs<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I have had two stimulator devices (also known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.medtronic.com\/uk-en\/e\/snm-patient-videos.html%22%20HYPERLINK%20%22https:\/\/www.colorectalcentre.co.uk\/sacral-nerve-stimulation.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sacral nerve stimulation<\/a>) fitted. Before that, I had seen several GPs and three good gastroenterologists, but they didn\u2019t seem aware of the life-changing treatment available.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was only when I went to a specialist hospital, that I got the help I needed. However, even with the wonderful care I had, there was no attention to looking after the psychological effects.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.medtronic.com\/uk-en\/healthcare-professionals\/products\/urology\/sacral-neuromodulation-systems\/interstim-ii.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Interstim II<\/a> fitted and had that for seven years. Unfortunately, it ran out of battery just as the pandemic hit. I was back to square one for nine months and had to go back to adult nappies. It was very emotionally distressing. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"healt-2427257185\"><div class=\"healt-adlabel\">Advertisements<\/div><div id=\"healt-1713639250\" style=\"margin-top: 30px;margin-bottom: 30px;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supportincontinence.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Medtronic desk\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2023\/12\/07210035\/Medtronic-desk.jpg\" alt=\"\"  width=\"750\" height=\"250\"  style=\"display: inline-block;\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>More advanced solution to bowel incontinence&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When I finally had the operation, I opted for the latest rechargeable microdevice (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.medtronic.com\/uk-en\/healthcare-professionals\/products\/urology\/sacral-neuromodulation-systems\/interstim-micro.html%22%20\/h%20HYPERLINK%20%22https:\/\/www.medtronic.com\/uk-en\/healthcare-professionals\/products\/urology\/sacral-neuromodulation-systems\/interstim-micro.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">InterStim Micro<\/a>). It allowed me to get <a href=\"https:\/\/www.medtronic.com\/uk-en\/healthcare-professionals\/therapies-procedures\/urology\/sacral-neuromodulation\/education-training\/mri-eligibility.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">full-body MRI scans<\/a>, and the battery lasts up to 15 years. It can completely stop bowel urges. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The previous one gave me more time. This second one gave me control. This treatment gave me back my life. Currently, there is a <a href=\"https:\/\/europe.medtronic.com\/xd-en\/c\/emea\/pelvic-health\/interstim-x.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">new recharge-free battery<\/a> available. I\u2019m pleased to know there are options I can choose from when it comes time for a battery replacement. More patients and healthcare providers should be more aware of the success of finding the right treatment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><div style=\"text-align:center\" class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-button ab-block-button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supportincontinence.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"ab-button ab-button-shape-rounded ab-button-size-medium fb-pixel\" style=\"color:#ffffff;background-color:#29528c\">Click here to learn more<\/a><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bowel incontinence, also known as faecal incontinence, is an inability to control one\u2019s bowel movements. However, effective solutions now exist. Throughout early life, I was misdiagnosed with \u2018diarrhoea predominant IBS,\u2019 and I lived with this diagnosis for 25 years. I would have catastrophic episodes of incontinence. It only got worse.&nbsp; Psychological impacts of bowel incontinence&nbsp; &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/health-awareness\/how-life-changing-bowel-incontinence-treatment-ended-my-25-years-of-suffering\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":10432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5873],"tags":[5874],"class_list":["post-10431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-awareness","tag-health-awareness-q4-2023"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2023\/12\/07210034\/GettyImages-1458875291-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2023\/12\/07210034\/GettyImages-1458875291-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"henryphillips","author_link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/author\/henryphillips\/"},"vicky_index_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10431"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10526,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10431\/revisions\/10526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}