Sacral Nerve Implant

Hey Heaver,
How are you doing?
Could you PM me about something? I may have a solution.
Sharon

I had the Medtronics devise implanted in March.

It had significantly reduced the number of thicker stool accidents. I have had two accidents of note since the 2nd surgery and one was while I was sleeping. I suspect in that case, I passed gas and stool came with it.

It does not my stop liquid stool leaks. I get those occasionally due to poor diet choices.

My quality of life has definately improved. No longer do I have to cut short trip to the store because of an accident.

Hi TX, thanks for your reply, I was worried about whether it would work on me as I have liquid bms virtually the whole time, and I reckon its not diet as i've been really good for months, lost 10 kilos since January, but still the stools are liquid, no chocolate, biscuits or junk food at all, I think its just me,lo1!! Definitely don't want another procedure thats doomed for failure!!

Hever - Have you tried adding Pepto Bismol to you routine? Before I had my surgery, I was taking it every 4 hours (setting an alarm), that's really helped with liquid outputs.

Now I take it 2X per day (two tablets or 30mg), it keeps things a good consistency.

I was taking a similar product, it was in a glass bottle, but had to take nearly the whole thing before it made any difference, then it only lasted a little while, tasted revolting too!! Back to the specialist, more cost, get nowhere!! I just really can't take another trial after all the pain I've had since Jan 09, as all the implants broke up in the anal sphincter, some rejected, broke thru the bowel wall causing an erosion and rectal pockets to form, some were removed, some have migrated to other places, and with the pain and some bleeding going on now its driving me crazy and I think more are trying to reject!! I had an EUA every 3 months for the last 12 months and have really got to the point of telling the specialist he's an idiot, but that won't get me anywhere, I did get a second opinion and he said the implants were positioned wrongly and he would go thru the vaginal wall to try to remove the large mass he can see on image, but that would create a fisula impossible to repair, so I said no, so its back to square one.
I asked to return to the illeo, anything to get rid of the pain, but the specialist said I'd rregret it so he won't agree, he's prob right, I hhated it last time, so far I haven't pushed for it.

I got an implant last spring also. It will not help for liquid stool. You need at minimum a soft stool for it to make a difference-our objective was to thicken stool as much as possible with copious amounts of metamucil, immodium, codeine (I used to take paragoric liquid, but became taste aersie to it), oatmeal for breakfast, etc (I take 9 capsules of metamuscil, 2 immodium, and 1 30mg codeine, 3-4 times daily, usually before meals). I went from 2-3 major accidents/day to 1 minor accident and a few leakages per day, post implant. Of course, an accident a day is still a real hassle, so I cope with that by tucking a small cotton ball into my rectum to catch leaks/prevent accidents before they occur. I also did this pre-implant, so despite the 50% imrprovent my implant gave me, functionally, I am not too sure how much better off I am-I think I am still a little better off now than before the surgery. I think for someone whose incontinence was not as severe as mine was to begin with (mine was due to a botched suregery), it could really improve quality of life.

If I were you, I would see what you can do from a thinkening perspective first, as if you can't get thickened to at least a soft level of stool, you will not be a candidate for the implant.

Thanks JJA, but as I've already tried to thicken bms on numerous occasions with no result I don't think I'd try to go that route of implanting the device, I'm probably being a coward, but the thought of all that pain, still not completely resolved has put me off anymore procedures,at least for now, also I'm pretty sure more of the previous implants are trying to eject from the muscle as the pain and bleeding has been quite intense. Thanks for your input, I suspected bms had to be quite firm for the device to be successful, so at least I know now, Heather