Yes, biofeedback is considered physical therapy. Do you also have a problem controlling gas?
As far as you being told how to do kegals, it is not the same as therapy. You would be surprised to find out you are not working the proper muscles. In biofeedback you can see if you are working the right muscles.
Also you need to do these exercises for a minimum of 3 times a day to gain and retain the muscle strength.
It usually takes 3 months to see results. This is with you working everyday. But the results can be very good.
I am not a doctor, this is my own opinion based on my own experiences. But I would highly recommend therapy before surgery. I had a problem, I don't have that problem anymore. All women have some degree of prolapse which causes the incontenience. I have been doing my kegals for over 2 years now. I work at them everyday. I am not incontient.
What you need is to see a physical therapist - a urogyn therapist. You can sometimes find them in the local hospital in their incontient clinic.
Biofeedback works wonders. It takes time and effort, but it can pay-off. It can help with you fecal incontience. The exercise they will give you is called kegals. When done properly and diligently, you stand a good chance of strengthening your pelvic floor muscles which will help with the incontience.
Sooner or later you will have to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. Even with surgery you should work to strength them.
It is not uncommon to have problems with bowel and bladder sphincters as they are innervated by the same nerves. If exercies and diet do not work, consideration can be given to medications that slow bowel function e.g. Imodium, Lomotil. Questions regarding the benefit of surgical repauir can not be answered without information regarding sphimcter pressure, sensitivity to distention (data from the anal rectal motility study) and nerve function.
This information is presented for educational purposes. ASk specific questions to your personal physician.
Betty,
Thanks for taking the time to post a response to my situation. It sounds like you know a great deal about my incontinence problems. I have been doing those Kegal exercises for almost 9 months, but havent had any luck in feeling a difference. Of course, a male doctor described how to do them and there has been no follow up to make sure I am doing them properly, so maybe physical therapy will in fact help. You said sooner or later I am going to have to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. Do you mean that I will have to have a surgery to accomplish this? Also, you said that biofeedback works wonders. Is biofeedback the same thing as physical therapy? Thanks again.
Diane
Hi. I was at the Mayo Clinic yesterday and had an anal/rectal monemetry test. The test results won't be given to my GI Doctor for almost 2 weeks. I have some questions reagrding the results until then. Basically the test administrator said the test showed that I am not able to squeeze my sphincter or push out. She said the good news is that it definitely shows that I am having problems controlling my bowels. She also said that the test proves that I have reflex, and that it is in tact. If I understand correctly, that means that there doesn't show any neurological reasons for it. That is wonderful. From what my PCP told me last night, there are a couple options to fix this. He said that there is a pelvic floor surgery that would tighten the muscle ultimately helping me to control the muscle. Is this a major surgery as far as length of time in hospital and recovery time? Do you recommend this surgery to your patients? I would like to try physical therapy first to see if that gives me any benefit. have you ever seen therapy help this problem? I know that your answers are general because you havent examined me or seen my test results, but Id really like to know your thoughts on this. Thank you very much.