Accidents: Am I doing this to myself?

No, you are not doing this to yourself.....it's simply (if you can call it that) the nature of the disease.

Everyday we ate supper at 5 pm, and without fail, I always had to stop after a few bites to run to the bathroom (and my stools are formed, but I still get urges that I cannot hold in) so like you I thought I had a "pattern" with eating at 5pm, so I changed the time and low and behold, I still have to poop right around 5 pm (even without eating until 6 pm now)....so it's not you/us, it's the nature of the disease.

Yeah, it's not your fault. It's the darn UC. Once you get your inflammation under control, the accidents won't happen anymore. Are you on rectal meds?

I too have experienced the same literally starting Xmas eve! I am scared to go out of the house for fear I'm going to have another incident...I meet with clients frequently - I am praying the flare is under control in a day or so as I took off of work to deal with this....does ANYTHING help control the urgency during the course of the day?

I was getting better but then, due to the prednisone, a cold I caught from my boyfriend turned into pneumonia and I had to go on these strong antibiotics. The flare took a turn for the worse then, and I've only just barely and occasionally started to have some formed stool again. I don't have any pain, but I do have this urgency and loss of control.

Optimist, I know some people have had good luck with Immodium. I haven't tried it (yet) myself.

Is there a reason you've switched from the mesalamine enemas to the steroid??

I feel for you...I've had small accidents, usually while flaring or waiting too long, but only just before sitting down on the toilet.

How much fish oil are you taking? That, in itself, can cause things to be more slippery.

q

Quincy, for me, even though I believe that the mesalamine enemas *should* help, I've never been able to use them in a sustained manner. They give me really really voluminous gas, which contributes to the urgency -- Sometimes the issue is that there's gas pressing into my rectum and to release it means releasing a lot of other stuff. So my experiential sense of the mesalamine enemas is that they make the situation worse, even though intellectually I don't think that is true.

Living Again, thanks for your thoughts -- I'm currently on a daily low-ish dose cocktail that includes anti-anxieties and anti-depressants. I also have a prescription for a low dose of lorazapam (in the Xanax family) to use on an "as needed" basis. Unfortunately, to my dismay, I've found that going on a schedule doesn't reduce the urgency when there is urgency.

My question may not be stated well in my original post. I'm wondering whether I'm somehow enabling my accidents, and the reason I think that may be the case is that I don't (apparently) have them when any other person is nearby or likely to find me or witness the accident.

In other words, why does the urgency get so much worse when I am a few steps away from my toilet? This seems to be true whether I first felt the urge half a mile from home or when I'm in my living room.

I use the steroid enema at night. I'm going to contact my GI and ask about steroid foam or suppositories so I can use those during the day and see if I can get the mesalamine going at night.

But you know I'm also on the max dose of (oral) Lialda.

Maybe Lialda is not the right 5ASA for you? They others are similar but formulated differently according to my GI doctor... maybe a different med will make the difference? Just a suggestion...

Hi Janey-
I'll just mention a couple of things that have helped me. I have taken Colazal (or the generic version) for about 9 years. Started at 3/3times daily and now 2/3xday.
Absolutely refused to take prednizone. Used mesalamine enemas for a while but did not notice any big difference.
Probiotics have helped a lot. Noticed you had to take antibiotics so good "flora" need to be reinstated in your digestive tract. I get them from Vitacost online.
Had a problem with lactose intolerance so have recently started drinking almond milk. Good product to get much-needed calcium. Also take calcium and D3.
If you are experiencing blood loss, you also need to take iron to avoid anemia. I've tried lots of products; both slow and fast acting. Everyone reacts differently to these.
A daily multi-vitamin with iron along with some raisins works best for me.
I've been experimenting with food (dietary changes) for the past 9 years. Pizza with all the toppings is not good. Can eat thin crust with cheese and garlic. Red meat also causes problems. Fried foods are out. Chicken is usually my choice when eating out.
Sometimes restaurants put a preservative on salad. That makes everything travel right on through.
Have found that kiegel (sp?) exercises to prevent urine leakage also help with controlling bowel accidents. Look up the process online or ask your doctor. A urologist told me about this.
Sorry to be so long-winded but hope some of this is useful

Both my daughter and I have had this problem. We're thinking it might be what's called, "muscle memory".

www.wisegeek.com/what-is-muscle-memory.htm

 

Your muscles know that when you're near home, it's safe to let things go. Only for some reason, the muscles just don't seem to want to wait.

The nearsest grocery store to us was about 30 minutes away. I'd be fine almost the whole trip, but as soon as I got to within about 1/2 mile from home, it was a nightmare! It's not you, it's just want happens with repeated motions.

-Scratch

I've had a couple of accidents myself but luckily they were always at home. It's very disheartening! When I really have to go, I try to distract myself and not think about it. It's extremely hard because the physical need is so strong; sometimes it works and other times not so much.

Have you been checked for C.Diff seeing since you were on antibiotics?

Perhaps you can also start wearing Depends, just for peace of mind until you can get this under control?

I had accidents and they definitely could not be controlled and they weren't due to anything I was or was not doing to treat my UC at the time. These are the nature of disease. Humiliating and demoralizing is how I sum it up. I think the best you can do is to relax, not worry about it, but always have a change of clothes and something to clean up with. My accidents never occurred at home, they were always when I was out and about.

Sue