If you have to wipe endlessly after a poop, or find poop stains on your underwear you’ve likely developed an unwanted relationship with fecal smearing.
Normally when emptying the bowels, the poop comes out in a formed sausage, which triggers a reflex in the anus to tightly close. This results in very little poop being left around the anus and very easy wiping. The difficulty comes when there is poor poop form (poor stool type), constipation, hemorrhoids or pelvic floor muscle weakness.
If your poop is sticky or pasty, it can stick to the sides of the anus, making cleaning difficult. Poop should be a sausage consistency and should come out in one go. Ensuring a good diet with adequate fluid and fibre intake can help this. The fibre recommendations for women 19-70 years is 25g/day (Eat for Health). Great sources of fibre include: Psyllium, Lentils, Whole grains, Pears and many more. If you are having trouble achieving your perfect sausage consistency poop, your GP or pelvic floor physio can help.
Other tips
- Contract your pelvic floor after emptying your bowels. This helps to remove any excess poop in the anus. After you poop, contract your pelvic floor 3-4 times, starting with a 20% contraction, then 40%, 60%, 80%.
- Try swapping your dry toilet paper with wet wipes (please do not flush), or add a bottom cleaning product to your toilet paper to create a flushable wet wipe. This can especially be helpful if you have hemorrhoids, or pain from frequent wiping (or after a bout of diarrhea). There are a few products on the market for this. We stock Cheeky squirt, however there are also other products available in some pharmacies.
Bowel leakage can have different causes and different degrees and can significantly affect your quality of life. If you do experience any sort of bowel leakage, make sure you do seek advice from your GP or an experienced pelvic floor physio.