Fecal Incontinence

[bjvanslke]

I and a 74-year old woman and began having fecal incontinence very suddenly after eating in a restaurant last spring. It continued for several weeks. I saw my primary care physician and she had lab tests done to determine if I had an infection. No infection was present. Then I had a colonocsopy and the doctor removed two benign polyps and said everything looked fine, except I had a hemorroid. The hemorroid causes me no problems.

To better describe the incontinence, I have a bowel movement in the morning after breakfast, then shortly sometimes after I "leak" some stool into my panties, leaving about a quarter-size depost. This happends everytime I move my bowels, also.

The fecal incontinence seemed to improve when I was eating at home and not going to restaurants. I attribute this to the fact that restaurants use foods that contain preservatives and additives and I am sensitive to them, I believe, because I have avoided them for so long. At home, I eat whole foods and do not buy conveniece foods with additives and preservatives. I also eat only bread made from the whole wheat berry, not refined flour. I enjoy other grains, especially oats. The only food which I avoid is beef, which does not agree with me generally. I rarely eat red meat; I eat mostly chicken and fish for protein, fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, butter, eggless vegan light canola mayo, goat-milk yogurt and milk, and good whole-grain bread made without flour.

I began chemo after a lumpectomy for breast cancer in January of this year, and of course it affected my bowels. At this time in my treatment, my bowels are loose, which is not unusual during chemo treatment, but I still suffer fecal incontinence. My oncoologist tells me it has nothing to do with the chemo and we agreed that I would talk again with my primary care physician.

On my own, I have done reserach on the net and discovered the Celiac disease, or gluten intolerance, could be a possible cause.

Your comment would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps you could point me in another direction for a solution.

Today I decided to stop eating bread and grains to see if it makes a difference.

Thank you.

Betty

[cdford]

Hi Betty. Welcome to the board. I feel your pain. You have several different things going on that could be a problem. I found that my incontinence problems cleared up as the muscle spasms and other digestive tract problems cleared, but it took a while and was gradual.

You sound as though you are eating well. Before you go gluten free, you need to be aware of a couple of things. One, it can take a while to see results if celiac disease is your problem. Also, if you decide to get tested you need to have been eating gluten for a while in order to get a true result. With all the other things going on in your health, be sure you are getting quality nutrition even if it is gluten-free. From your post you seem to be comfortable with the usual nutritional guidelines. If you decide to go gluten-free, take some time and research it well. This site is a great place to start. Let us know how you are doing as you progress.

[watkinson]

Hi Betty,

cdford is absolutely right! Celiacs disease is an autoimmune disease. When we ingest gluten, whether a bucket full or a speck, our bodies send out antibodies to attck the gluten like it was a poison or a bacteria, or virus or something. The problem is that, those antibodies don't distinguish the gluten from our own healthy cells. So they start killing us too, damaging the intestinal wall, causing leaky gut (protiens and food particles escape the intestine) causing a miraid of other health issues, that can ultimately result in a higher incidence of cancers. particularly colon caner. You must be presenly eating gluten for the antibodies to be present in the blood. Your blood test will probably come out negative if you give up eating gluten beforehand.

I would definalty encourage you to be tested. It sounds to me like you may very well be a celiac.

Good luck, Wendy