Living Fully with Bowel Incontinence

January 12, 2024

Bowel incontinence is a difficult condition, especially when it impacts your quality of life and freedom. Bowel incontinence is not only a condition that affects your physical health,it can also affect your mental health and social aspects of your life as well. Therefore, it is important that you add supportive strategies and compassionate approaches to manage bowel incontinence and its impact on your daily life. However, it is possible to live life fully with bowel incontinence, and the products at UnderX are here to help you through. So, what is bowel incontinence? And how do you live life fully with bowel incontinence? Let’s take a closer look at how to manage bowel incontinence with UnderX today!

Identifying Different Types of Bowel Incontinence

There are a few different types of bowel incontinence. Let’s check these out in more detail below:

Stress Incontinence: This type of bowel incontinence is often triggered by physical activities such as exercise, as this puts pressure on the bowel, leading to leakage.

Urge Incontinence: urge incontinence is often a sudden and overwhelming need to relieve yourself. In most cases, this doesn’t leave the individual much time to react and could result in bowel incontinence and loss of bowel control.

Overflow Incontinence: Sometimes, the bowels do not empty completely, leading to stool leakage.

Functional Incontinence: This type of incontinence is actually not from the bowel itself, however, it is caused by an impairment, whether this be physical or mental, that prevents an individual from accessing a toilet.

Mixed Incontinence: Mixed incontinence is often a combination of different types; however, they are most commonly stress and urge incontinence.

Although dealing with incontinence can be extremely difficult, UnderX products can help you regain your freedom and get you back to living the life you want!

Common Causes and Risk Factors

Underlying Health Conditions: Medical conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and neurological disorders, can often lead to bowel incontinence.’
Lifestyle Factors: Lifestyle habits, such as poor diet, lack of exercise, and consuming excess amounts of alcohol, can lead to incontinence.
Aging: Muscles in the bowels weaken as the body ages, which could increase the risk of incontinence.
Childbirth: Childbirth can cause muscle damage that could lead to bowel incontinence further down the line.
Surgery and Radiation Treatments: If someone has received surgery or radiation treatments in the area of the bowels, it can often lead to incontinence.
Chronic Constipation or Diarrhea: Other issues, such as constipation, could weaken the bowel muscles, leading to incontinence.

How to Manage Bowel Incontinence

Managing bowel incontinence is no easy feat, and could pose quite the challenge. However, it is possible to regain your confidence, social life, and overall freedom with these helpful tips:

Dietary Adjustments

Even making small dietary changes can help manage bowel incontinence. Small, simple adjustments, such as increasing fiber intake, can help you manage your incontinence. Fiber is a crucial tool in managing incontinence, as it helps normalize bowel movements to soften the stool and reduce constipation. Although fiber intake itself is crucial, it is also important to maintain a healthy diet that consists of vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein. These can improve overall bowel function and help you better manage incontinence.

Exercise and Physical Activity

Along with diet, exercise, and physical activity are also important to managing bowel incontinence. Exercises such as those focusing on the pelvic floor muscles support bowel control, but also bladder control as well. Other physical activities, such as walking, swimming, or yoga, promote overall wellness and strengthen the core muscles.

Medical Treatments and Interventions

Medications and Their Effects

Prescription treatments and drug therapy significantly play a significant role in managing bowel incontinence providing you with relief for individuals with bowel incontinence. These types of medications can reduce the frequency of your stool, and laxatives can prevent constipation. Depending on the types of drugs used, they could either increase the bulk or soften the stool. However, it is important to know about the potential side effects of the medications, as they could even worsen the side effects. We recommend that you consult with a trusted healthcare provider for a custom treatment plan to make sure the medications are safe for you to use.

Surgical Options for Severe Cases

In some more severe cases of bowel incontinence, surgical options, such as rectal surgery, could be considered as a last resort. If you decide to go for these types of surgeries, they could repair or improve bowel function, helping control incontinence. However, it is important to note that you must consult with healthcare professionals beforehand to make sure that the procedure is safe for you and that no adverse side effects will occur.

What are Some Bowel Incontinence Products

At UnderX, we carry some of the most absorbent incontinence products on the market and offer a couple of different styles to choose from, including adult pull-ups and adult diapers with tabs. Designed to help with bowel and urinary incontinence, our products are discreet, and can be worn with regular clothing, providing you a sense of freedom and security, despite bowel incontinence. Designed for comfort, our protective underwear is a fan-favorite within the industry, and has proven to be one of the most comfortable products on the market.

How to Choose the Right Product

We know how difficult it can be to choose the right product for your needs. With so many options on the market today, UnderX makes it easy to choose without all the hassle. When selecting incontinence products, checking things such as absorbency level, size, and comfort is important. Your personal preferences also play a role, as some might find pull-ups more comfortable, while others might prefer the tabbed briefs.

Don’t forget to care for your hygiene while wearing UnderX products, as skin protection and disposable wipes are extremely important to avoid any type of irritation. We even recommend consulting with a healthcare provider for advice, which can provide valuable guidance to make the best choice for your needs.

Psychological Impact and Coping Mechanisms

Bowel incontinence is far from just physical discomfort, it can cause emotional stress as well. Let’s take a closer look at this in more detail below.

Dealing with Emotional Stress

Dealing with emotional stress can be very difficult, especially with the anxiety that comes with bowel incontinence. It’s important to acknowledge and seek help with the emotional impact bowel incontinence could have on mental health. Mental health professionals and support groups are a great place to start, and can have a profound impact on your overall well-being.

It’s also important to take into account coping skills such as relaxation, mindfulness, and trying to maintain a positive outlook could help you navigate the challenges of bowel incontinence.

Seeking Emotional Support

Seeking emotional support is an important part of the journey when managing incontinence, as other than mental health professionals, you can also rely on support groups to surround yourself with like-minded individuals who know what you’re experiencing and can offer words of encouragement or support.

Therapists and other healthcare providers are perhaps the most crucial step in living with bowel incontinence, as they can put together coping strategies to help you better manage the difficulties that come along with bowel incontinence.

How to Live a Full Life with Bowel Incontinence

Although you might experience bowel incontinence, that does not mean that you aren’t able to live a full and happy life. Let’s check out some tips for daily living and social interactions that can help you improve your quality of life and regain your freedom.

Tips for Daily Living and Social Interactions

Although it can be difficult living with incontinence, it’s important not to let it stop you from living your life. Embracing some practical lifestyle tips, such as planned restroom breaks, staying hydrated, and wearing comfortable clothes, can help improve your overall quality of life. Regarding social interactions, open communication with others can help reduce anxiety and provide you with the peace of mind you’ve been looking for. With the right strategies in place, you will be able to navigate daily life and not let bowel incontinence get in the way of your happiness.

Manage Your Bowel Incontinence with UnderX!

Bowel incontinence can be a challenge for many, as it impacts nearly every aspect of your life. It can cause not only physical but emotional symptoms as well, causing a decrease in overall quality of life and well-being.

The good news is that there are ways to manage bowel incontinence, and UnderX should be your first line of defense. With UnderX, we know our customers want a comfortable, discrete, and super absorbent product that works every time. Check out our high-quality disposable underwear, and take your life back today with UnderX maximum absorbency solutions.