{"id":11294,"date":"2024-06-05T15:44:16","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T15:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/?p=11294"},"modified":"2024-06-12T07:56:22","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T07:56:22","slug":"dont-keep-bowel-dysfunction-symptoms-to-yourself-speak-to-your-gp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/mens-healthcare\/dont-keep-bowel-dysfunction-symptoms-to-yourself-speak-to-your-gp\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t keep bowel dysfunction symptoms to yourself \u2014 speak to your GP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"background-color:#f2f2f2;color:#32373c\" class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-profile-box round ab-has-avatar ab-font-size-14 ab-block-profile ab-profile-columns\"><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-avatar-wrap\"><div class=\"ab-profile-image-wrap\"><figure class=\"ab-profile-image-square\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" class=\"ab-profile-avatar wp-image-11295\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2024\/06\/07205827\/Mens-Health-Medtronic-Nurse-headshot-photo.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2024\/06\/07205827\/Mens-Health-Medtronic-Nurse-headshot-photo.jpg 400w, https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2024\/06\/07205827\/Mens-Health-Medtronic-Nurse-headshot-photo-125x125.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-content-wrap\"><h2 class=\"ab-profile-name\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Audrey McDonnell<\/h2><p class=\"ab-profile-title\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Pelvic Floor Clinical Nurse Specialist, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital<\/p><div class=\"ab-profile-text\"><\/div><ul class=\"ab-social-links\"><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Many management options are available for patients with bowel dysfunction, but many suffer in silence before consulting a GP. This delay often leads to unhealthy coping habits.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>As a Clinical Nurse Specialist in the pelvic floor service at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital Dublin, I help people <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supportincontinence.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">manage bowel dysfunction symptoms<\/a> like constipation and faecal incontinence.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"healt-1257006222\"><div class=\"healt-adlabel\">Advertisements<\/div><div id=\"healt-3001664472\" style=\"margin-top: 30px;margin-bottom: 30px;\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supportincontinence.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Medtronic Nurse desk\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2024\/06\/07205822\/Medtronic-Nurse-desk.jpg\" alt=\"\"  width=\"750\" height=\"250\"   \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-bowel-dysfunction-causes-and-symptoms\"><strong>Bowel dysfunction causes and symptoms<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Though 1 in 10 people reportedly suffer from faecal incontinence, symptoms are often under-reported, suggesting the actual figure is likely higher. Faecal incontinence can occur for various reasons, including neurological conditions and anal sphincter muscle defects caused by childbirth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bowel dysfunction is not discriminatory and affects both males and females of all ages. The symptoms can cause social isolation, anxiety, hopelessness and reduced self-esteem and can severely impact one\u2019s quality of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Often, the hardest step is making the first <br>step, which is talking with their GP.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-why-bowel-dysfunction-is-debilitating\"><strong>Why bowel dysfunction is debilitating<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supportincontinence.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Faecal incontinence<\/a> can take hold of a person\u2019s life. A patient can be dependent on being near a toilet at all times out of fear of having an episode of incontinence. Some patients have reported restricting their activities to places where they know the toilet locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Patients have felt compelled to leave their jobs as a consequence of their symptoms. Experiencing faecal incontinence is extremely embarrassing, and patients don\u2019t talk about their symptoms with family, friends or their GP.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"healt-764404536\"><div class=\"healt-adlabel\">Advertisements<\/div><div id=\"healt-3753530052\" style=\"margin-top: 30px;margin-bottom: 30px;\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supportincontinence.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Medtronic Nurse desk\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2024\/06\/07205822\/Medtronic-Nurse-desk.jpg\" alt=\"\"  width=\"750\" height=\"250\"   \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-awareness-and-personalised-care-options\"><strong>Awareness and personalised care options<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Awareness of the symptoms is paramount. Patients need to know that they are not the only ones suffering from such symptoms and that there is help out there. Often, the hardest step is making the first step, which is talking with their GP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Along with lifestyle changes and dietary changes, other interventions can help. These are pelvic floor physiotherapy, trans-anal irrigation, anal inserts as well as sacral nerve modulation, to name but a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bowel function is very individualised and, consequently, treatment for bowel dysfunction is also very individualised. At our pelvic floor service, we take a holistic care assessment and tailor a treatment plan. Once symptoms are managed, a patient can gain back control of their life.<\/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:#110e46\">Click here to learn more<\/a><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many management options are available for patients with bowel dysfunction, but many suffer in silence before consulting a GP. This delay often leads to unhealthy coping habits. As a Clinical Nurse Specialist in the pelvic floor service at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital Dublin, I help people manage bowel dysfunction symptoms like constipation and faecal incontinence. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/mens-healthcare\/dont-keep-bowel-dysfunction-symptoms-to-yourself-speak-to-your-gp\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":11296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5707],"tags":[5919],"class_list":["post-11294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mens-healthcare","tag-international-mens-health-week-2024"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2024\/06\/07205826\/AdobeStock_271412259-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2024\/06\/07205826\/AdobeStock_271412259-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"henryphillips","author_link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/author\/henryphillips\/"},"vicky_category_order":[{"category_id":5707,"order":"6"}],"vicky_index_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11294","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=11294"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11393,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11294\/revisions\/11393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}