Dear Todd, What tends to happen is your bowel expands from loss of muscle and irregular peristalsis. This is referred to as mass bowel syndrome. The next problem is an impacted bowel. You need to begin a bowel regiment. Every three days can be acceptable, but I've heard of quads that do it everyday and others doing it once a week. Whew! I have a friend that does it on mondays and thursdays. the problem with not doing it regularly is that it can cause Autonomic Dysreflexia and lead to life threatening problems. Some type of fast acting laxitive is what most of us use. Magic Bullets and Dulcolax are probably the most common. Enemeez mini enemas are used by a lot of folks. Find a coinveinent time to do the bowel regiment so you can make your neurogenic bowel perform when you want it to. I wish you the best. All of us are different. I hadn't heard of anyone doing what you have done for twenty years, but it is interesting. I'm sure others in the group will have advice for you, also.
Good luck, john ________________________________ From: Todd Daugherty <[email protected]> To: quad list <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 5, 2009 1:52:46 PM Subject: Re: [QUAD-L] Co-op Are there any quads out there that don't have a "bowel program?" I am an incomplete c-6 and stopped doing programs after a few years because of the discomfort. I have been injured since '89 and basically just wait until I get the sensation to go, and then get to a bathroom. The problems is that I am not going on a regular basis and sometimes a week will go by between movements. I am afraid of taking any kind of stool softeners for fear of diarrhea. This is another subject but I went last year for a colon cleanse and it felt really good to know that all that excees waste is out of my body. Todd D
