Faecal incontinence and sudden deafness

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Health Report 28 min 2 speakers 8 chapters transcribed 3 days ago

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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What is the opening story about sudden hearing loss and why is it urgent?

Helen 0:01

This is an ABC podcast.

Norman Swan 0:05

Hello and welcome to The Health Report with me, Norman Swan. Today, what should you do when your hearing disappears overnight?

Helen 0:11

She had a look of horror on her face when I said this has suddenly come on and she said this is really serious. She mentioned something vaguely about steroids, but then she said you need to get yourself to the emergency room at the hospital as soon as possible.

Norman Swan 0:25

That's later on The Health Report. Let's go to a taboo topic that's intensely personal. It's a common and debilitating condition, and the people who have it are often too embarrassed to seek treatment. I'm talking about faecal incontinence. You're about to meet Dulcie. She's 68 years old, and she's lived with this disorder for 20 years. And a heads up, this piece goes into detail that some may find confronting, but it does need to be talked about. James Bullen has the story.

Unknown 0:58

I worked at a school, eventually as an assistant principal, but when I was in the classes, sometimes I'd get this urge to go and when I had to go, it would be like I had 30 seconds to a minute to get wherever. I can remember one year 12 class I had, they were doing a test and I thought, what am I going to do? And I left it that sort of 30 seconds too long in making a decision. In the end, I dashed out of the classroom. By the time I made the nearest student toilet, it was too late. Then I had to virtually strip off, try and have a wash. Thank goodness the kids are in class and I could have that in a little bit of privacy, but not really. Dumped half my things in a bin. And I pulled the trousers back on and thought, well, he goes, this is an interesting day.

James Bullen 1:50

That's a common story for someone with faecal incontinence, difficulty controlling your bowel movements. Really, it's not having control over how and when you do a poo.

Unknown 2:04

I would be in the supermarket. Just about a finished, I'd think, I can't wait. So I'd just dump my trolley in the supermarket and run, but a couple of times wasn't in time. And then, of course, you come back, you hope your trolley's still there, you pick your trolley up, you go through, you pay for it all, you go home and then you hop in the shower. When it got to the stage where it was impacting on shopping, on going on a Sunday afternoon drive with my husband, et cetera, I realized I actually had a problem.

How does the episode introduce the taboo subject of faecal incontinence?

Unknown 2:41

I should have realized a lot earlier that it was a problem rather than just thinking I had an upset tongue. But things like that, you don't expect to be happening until you're really old. And I don't consider myself really old just yet.

James Bullen 3:00

More on Dulcie's story in a minute. But first, what exactly do we mean when we say fecal incontinence?

Nassim Mirbagheri 3:09

The definition of fecal incontinence in simple terms is bowel accidents or bowel leakage. Someone cannot control the passage of stool.

James Bullen 3:18

This is Dr. Nassim Mirbagheri, a colorectal and pelvic floor surgeon who works in Melbourne.

Nassim Mirbagheri 3:23

And the definition is loosely used because it could refer to inability to control gas, which we call flatulence incontinence. It refers to inability to control faeces, which we refer to as faecal incontinence. Our typical person who presents with this problem tends to be a woman in middle age, menopause, maybe overweight, has had multiple kids.

James Bullen 3:46

Men can have faecal incontinence, but it's reported more often in women, and their symptoms seem to be more severe. It's really common, but rarely talked about.

Nassim Mirbagheri 3:56

To my knowledge, there's at least six Australian studies that have attempted to estimate the prevalence of faecal incontinence in an adult Australian population. And in those studies, it has ranged from 10 to 20%. So in average, about one in eight Australian people suffer from faecal incontinence.

James Bullen 4:14

These are big numbers. Estimates can vary based on the study and how faecal incontinence is defined. But even conservative research says at least two in every hundred adults experiences faecal incontinence. And the underlying causes of the condition are varied. Often it's connected to childbirth. Dulcy again.

Unknown 4:36

They suspect that part of the issue started with the birth of my children.