Adult fecal incontinence is no laughing matter to those afflicated. It is an unpleasant problem for caregivers and even more so for those people who would otherwise be independent, but who feel they must curtail their activities outside of the home for fear of an accident. Fecal incontinence can be the result of surgery done for other reasons, or neurologic disease.
I propose that just as people with malfunctioning heart valves get replacements, there be a prosthetic anal valve replacement. This would be analogous to a pessary (linked). The ball would be inflatable with a squeezebulb that would hang out, up to a certain pressure at which point an overflow point would prevent overinflation. This would assure a snug fit for various sized rectums. The ball would occlude the rectum and prevent accidents. It could be periodically deflated at times convenient for the wearer.
This device might also help with male urinary incontinence. The ball would ride at approximately the same level as the prostate gland. Enlarged prostates compress the urethra, impeding urination. This device should similarly compress the urethra and improve male urinary continence.
I am fully aware of various "butt plug" sex toys etc etc. You can refrain from linking them here, thank you. I am not aware that any of these has a therapeutic use.
This is not a BUNGCO product, for obvious reasons.-- bungston, Aug 18 2004 Pessary http://www.aafp.org.../20000501/2719.htmlThis device is roughly analogous to a pessary. [bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Incontinence summary http://www.globalso...ncontinence/lay.htm [bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] ICU Octopus http://www.halfbake.../idea/ICU_20Octopus [bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Go Bung! I like this because of how horrible this condition must really be. This could bring a huge leap in quality of life to many people.-- wagster, Aug 18 2004 This could work along with a J-Pouch after cholon surgery. I give this a plus, but doubt that it would work, Seems that it would be a cause for buildup and infection.-- dlapham, Aug 18 2004 I like it, but its a bit baked. There are already incontinence products on the market that involve inflatable valves. Granted, the ones I'm thinking of are implanted in and around the selected sphincter muscles, but the same concept applies. There are even some similar pumping devices used to treat chronic impotence. A bladder is inserted into the penis and the pump resides in the scrotum. Another product called FemSoft is inserted into the urethra to essentially plug it up. cj-- cj finn, Aug 18 2004 Why I clicked on something with a title like that while eating lunch is beyond me. Now that my hunger has completely vanished (thanks to the content of the post and not my sandwich which I suddenly had no appetite for) and I've read the idea objectively, I think it could be useful/helpful. [+]-- Machiavelli, Aug 18 2004 in the icu we use many variations of such a device, one has a balloon that is filled with air from a syringe port, a tube runs through the center, attached to a bag to collect liquid stool. they also make bags with an adhesive ring at the opening which is pasted to the anus.
i can only tell you this, from direct, bitter, humbling experience, neither of them work. ever. because of the distensibility of the rectal vault and sphincter, there's always leakage around the balloon. always. and then, soon after leakage, there is the point where the whole contraption is blown out of the rectum by the solid stool. i promise.
god (and his/her/their handmaiden evolution) is the most brilliant of engineers and he/she/they spent a lot of time on this end of the beast. "if it went in, it will come out", sayeth the lord. this is not an opinion, but an immutable law in the same ranks as the laws of thermodynamics.-- xclamp, Aug 18 2004 Whew. As I say, I don't have that problem and am I glad.
I have some grounds for stating that retention seems to be the greater problem than incontinence. The degree of suffering produced by either condition seems to be incalculable due to my inability to quantify the irritability of retainers or the constipated; on the other hand, absorbancy and deodorant properties are well studied and usually reliable.-- dpsyplc, Aug 18 2004 [xclamp] - if you have icu experience I hope you will check out my ICU Octopus idea, which I think was posted before you got your account. It was not well received, but I think it was because people did not understand the problems of the ICU. Unlike your august self (blatantly sucks up in hopes of bread for octopus).-- bungston, Aug 18 2004 consider it done my friend. btw, of all your ideas, i thought for sure this would definitely be labeled a BUNGCO product!-- xclamp, Aug 18 2004 I guess it depends upon how you define 'therapeutic use.'-- RayfordSteele, Aug 18 2004 I heard anecdotally, that people who choose to engage in anal sex over a long period of time eventually suffer from reduced control of their sphincters and have been known to use tampons as plugs. This was mentioned in a discussion about some of the nastier side-effects of a fat-rich atkins style diet - it was alledged that it produces unpredictable leakage from the rear. I can't verify either of these claims but I am curious - would a modified tampon work in this situation? I guess the main advantages I am getting to here are that it is disposable and that manufacturing/distribution mechanisms are already in place.
P.S. should it turn out that this anecdote is completely untrue and is part of any anti-gay mythology then I appologise unreservedly claiming only ignorance as my excuse.-- dobtabulous, Aug 19 2004 Too much pressure rectally can lead to vaso-vagal syncope. It's not unusual during barium/air x-rays in some patients.-- oneoffdave, Aug 19 2004 I'm not going to read the idea or anno's, but the title makes me laugh, so bun.-- daseva, Aug 19 2004 random, halfbakery