Let's Talk Poo

 

Some of us, especially earlier generations, were raised to not discuss certain things. Like poop. It’s the poo taboo.

But when we have colitis, we have to talk about it. A lot. We have to get over the embarrassment.

I read about a young woman with inflammatory bowel disease who said one of her first embarrassments with her ailment came when she had to describe her bowel movements to her doctor’s very handsome medical assistant – the shape, color, smell, frequency, and urgency. She said it was a low moment.

Since my problems have developed, I have never thought, “Why me?” What I have thought is, “Why this disease? If I have to have an autoimmune disease, why one that is all about poop? I mean . . . poop!”

So talk we must. Appearance, frequency, and urgency. Bloody stool. Messing our pants. Cleaning up the messes. Wiping down the toilet area and for days finding places you missed. Laundering the messy clothes. Sitting so long on the toilet your legs fall asleep and you can't stand up. Wearing adult diapers. Collecting stool samples for tests, over and over and over. Thinking we’re passing gas and it ends up being something more unpleasant. Or just passing smelly gas over and over and over. When I suddenly walk into a different room, my family knows I am trying to spare them putrid air. Oh, and those with ostomy bags have a whole new level of poop talk.

And knowing this is how it is going to be for the rest of our lives.

We need to talk poo with our medical team, our family . . . some friends . . . and maybe some people at work. We may become known as the person with the ‘poop’ problem. Not exactly a label to be embraced.

But talk we must.

Hopefully, we can talk about it with a sense of humor. Hopefully those around us can talk and listen about it with a sense of humor. Because as long we have colitis, the poop problems are not going away. Being embarrassed about it for the rest of our lives will just cause unnecessary anxiety and stress. Being around people who don’t understand will cause us to want to hide in the safety of our homes and private bathrooms. 

Below is a stool chart developed in England called the Bristol stool chart. It helps track bowel movements.

This is a good article: An Overview of the Bristol Stool Chart

One thing that has also helped me immensely is adult diapers. The following is also included on my “Life Takes Guts” page so you may have read it, but it definitely applies here.

A relative called one afternoon and asked how I was doing. After updating her with my stomach problems, she suggested adult diapers. I didn’t say anything, but thought, “No way I’m wearing those.” Three days later, after four accidents including two that were two hours apart, my frustration exploded, and I added diapers to the grocery list.

There are two kinds of adult diapers. One that is pulled up like underwear and one that has tabs like baby diapers. I use the tabs kind because I’m a small person and need to pull the tabs together tightly to get even the small size to fit and because pulling soiled underwear down sometimes results in, well, a nasty mess, which negates the use.

After wearing the diaper one day I was like, “Why didn’t I start using these weeks ago?” I’ve lost count how often wearing the diapers has kept me from having to clean up an embarrassing, smelly mess on the floor or me, not to mention cut down on the amount of laundry to wash. For me, adult diapers are lifesavers that prevent frustration overload at home and anxiety away from home. I don't have to wear them all the time, but when I do, I am so grateful for them.

Very thick, very soft toilet paper helps a lot, too.

In the movie Johnny English, starring Rowan Atkinson as a bumbling British spy, he sneaks into an old French castle by crawling through the castle’s archaic sewer system. By the time he crawls out, he’s covered in poo. His companion is horrified by his appearance and disgusting, foul smell, and quickly claps her hands over her nose and mouth. Johnny English says to her, “Pull yourself together. It’s only a bit of poo!”

She promptly throws him in the shower.

Hopefully, we can all get to the point where we look at this part of our colitis as “only a bit of poo.” Even when it’s not.

 

 © Colitis Senioritis 2022