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I had my ileostomy take-down June 2015 and I'm still having night time incontinence.  I only have a few stools during the day.  I'm taking 8 Immodium daily.  I did one round of antibiotic for pouchitis several months ago and it helped with the number of day time stools, but did nothing for the incontinence at night.  I've been doing Kegel exercises as well.  Any suggestions?  Give it more time?

Tags: Night, incontinence

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There's been plenty of advice posted here on this topic, so a search could provide great information. In the meantime, here are some things to try:

1) don't eat a full meal within a few hours of bedtime 

2) try a small, fatty meal just before bedtime (e.g. a spoonful of peanut butter)

3) only use bowel slowers (Imodium, Lomotil) at bedtime, not during the day

4) always empty your pouch before bed

5) get to know your body well enough to just go back to sleep when you wake up, instead of using the toilet (possibly) unnecessarily 

Good luck!

Scott F

Try a bulking agent at early evening... I had up to 30 liquid BM a 24 hour period for the last 6 years. Previous to that I was on Tincture of Opium which effectively stopped my GI contraction or motility and took me down to 15 a 24 hour period. I had to go off of it to foster grandkids. I tried to go back on it with my Primary & GI docs but supposedly they can no longer RX long term opioids. Found a pain doc to prescribe and finally back to 15 a day instead of 30!  

RF

I have incontinence at night pretty regularly. I have to wear Depends in order to sleep. I've been doing this for years so it's become normal for me. However, I notice that I am not incontinent when I do the following:

- Regularly taking Metamucil - Metamucil has done wonders for me in helping give my stool more form. 

- Take imodium before bed - I can usually get through the entire night on only one imodium depending on what I ate that day.

- This one is difficult for me - Don't eat anything after dinner and don't eat dinner later than 7 pm. 

If I am doing the above things, I don't normally have an accident during the night. 

Sometimes if I feel a little backed up I'll do an enema before I go to bed and make sure I feel more cleared out before lying down. Hopefully this helps some. 

S

I used to have the same problem for the first year of my pouch. I stopped eating after 4 except for a banana around 6:30. I don't overeat. Skip dessert, try to keep fried food low. And I don't drink after 8:30. I take one lomotil and one Imodium before bed. Sometimes if I wake up around 2 or 3 am I will take another Imodium. Doing all this finally worked for me. I was seriously considering going back to an ostomy. Hope this may help a bit. I know from experience it sucks to have nightly incontinence.

Aimee

A

That's a real nuisance!

I had little problems for many years, except when I was very ill and feverish.

Some years ago I had a "little" surgery because of an anal fissure. It healed very slowly due to the chronic pouchitis. Since then it has never been as good as before.

The things mentioned above also help me. I take one Imodium at bedtime, try not to eat 5...6 hours before and of course I go to toilet before sleep.

Usually I don't have to get up during night and I can sleep for 6...8 hours, but unfortunately it's seldom that nothing has found the way out.

Steve

SteveG

I know it’s been awhile since this was posted but just saw this. I had to always set an alarm to get up to avoid nighttime Incontinence  but a pelvic floor doctor recommended and it has worked great for me- she emptied out a bottle of enema prep and suggested I fill with warm water and do warm water enema before bed. Really helps to fully empty pouch. I use Vaseline to lubricate it. I also use Ilex paste, a large pea size drop placed at outlet. Seems to help prevent leakage. Agree with Scott that try to get back to sleep without getting up to go to bathroom. Seems like I always feel like I have to go when wake up but surprisingly if,I go,back to sleep can make it few more hours. I always use the warm water enema before going out to eat or shopping or whenever I want to avoid public bathroom or don’t have them available. Hope,things are better for you! Not an easy road!

L

I hope things are better now. But yeah wearing a diaper and setting an alarm might be the best thing for you at this point. I go at least 3x overnight without an alarm clock, but some people need alarm clocks, absolutely nothing wrong with that, I used them a lot in the past for ileostomy care, Alarm clocks saved a lot of leaks and washing the sheets lol

FM

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