Help with incontinence please

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I'm posting this in hope to get some direction in how to help my Mum. Mum had a hemicolectomy nearly five years ago for Bowel adencarcinoma. Thankfully she's remained cancer free in all that time. However, she is having problems with incontinence. This isn't constant but somewhat random. She can go several weeks and be fine and then she'll have a bout of a week or so where she can't make it to the toilet adn can't always tell, until the very last minute that she needs to go. She is finding this distressing and it is preventing her from going out.

I should say, that she has tried going to the GP (when she can actually get an appointment) and never seems to get anywhere except for them to suggest she has a colonoscopy to see what the issue might be. She is 87. She had mulitple health issues and is on a lot of medication. She does not want another colonoscopy as the last one she had (her routine bi-annual follow-up) caused her a lot of pain which took her weeks to recover from. I am not prepared to put her through that again.

No one seems prepared to look at help options for her. Does her medication interfere with her bowel movements. The fact that she only has half a colon can't help with absorption in her gut, but no one gives any advice on how to manage this. She follows a diet sheet but there seems to be less and less she can eat without causing diarrhoea. The diet sheet is the only help she has had. She has only ever had one face to face follow up and that was with the surgeon, even though someone obviously schedules her routine follow-up exams (CT, bloods, colonoscopy). She's never seen anyone else and no one tries to contact her. Even after scans etc, we have to chase results as no one let's Mum know what they are. Sorry this is becoming a bit of a moan.

Really, can anyone give advice or point us to how to obtain help. A phone call is no good for Mum because she is deaf. She needs face to face consultation with someone who can give her (and us) helpful advice. There is a lot of stuff on line but it's difficult to find what's best and ultimately it usually says go to your GP. Been there several times and got no where. Mum has been through a lot and deserves a decent quality of life. I just want to try and give her that, so if anyone knows of a means to get help please let me know.

Kareno62 5 hours ago

Hi Oldsinger and I’m sorry to hear that your mum is still struggling. The usual way of managing diarrhoea is with Imodium but it’s hard if it’s only sporadic. If she tends to be on the constipated side then sometimes ‘breakthrough diarrhoea’ can occur whereby loose stools have built up behind the constipated stool then leak through around it. Another thought, especially if she had a right hemicoloectomy, is bile acid malabsorption which is mentioned on page 7 of the booklet below

https://bcuk.adidocdn.dev/Publications/Bowel_Cancer_UK_Regaining_Bowel_Control.pdf

It’s tough I know as you say, once part of the bowel has been removed then everything travels through more quickly. Mine was a rectal tumour so I take an Imodium before my evening meal as that is when things start to move although I know that if I start with a bit of tummy ache after my lunch then a clear out will be coming. There’s also some good pelvic floor exercises in the book as sometimes it’s better to use your rectal muscles to hold things in until the immediate urge has passed and then go to the toilet rather than making a dash for it

Hope this helps and sorry that I don’t have a definitive answer

Take care

Karen x

Macmillan Support Line - 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week between 8am-8pm

Oldsinger 1 hour ago in reply to Kareno62

Hi Karen, thanks for your help. Her GP was very reluctant to give her immodium saying it could mask something more sinister and sent Mum for a CT scan as Mum refused a colonoscopy. The CT came back normal and we never heard anything from the GP. We have bought some though.

May I ask if you use immodium on a daily basis. Mum was given something for helping reduce bile production but stopped taking it because it made her constipated!! Otherwise she's generally on the loose side with sporadic episodes of diarrhoea, so I don't think constipation is the problem. She also had diverticulitis so I think it's a malabsorption issue. We're going to try some psyllia husk and see if that helps but if she can take immodium daily it might just head things off at the pass so to speak..