Source : ABC NEWS
Faecal incontinence can be tricky to talk about. It can get awkward and uncomfortable. So naturally, it isn’t a subject that comes up much.
It’s an issue however, that affects over 400,000 Australian women.
One of those women is former Olympian, Commonwealth Games silver medallist and World Record holder, distance runner Krishna Stanton.
Running was her life. And then she had to stop.
“I don’t think I really spoke to anyone about it, about how distressing it was,” Stanton said.
“I would say [it was] isolating.”
Colorectal surgeon Dr Andrea Warwick has been working in the field for over 20 years.
She says for people who experience incontinence, sport can be one of the first things to go.
“People stop doing things, running is often particularly problematic,” she said.
“And their symptoms really affect everything in the rest of their life as well.”
A life altering condition
Incontinence is the involuntary loss of bladder or bowel control. There’s a large spectrum of how it can present.
At first, it could be rushing to the toilet.
“That urgency to get to the toilet can hugely affect people’s lives,” Dr Warwick said.
“They don’t leave the house, they don’t go to work, they lose social activities.”
And then there’s what Dr Warwick calls the full-blown kind.
“That can go from a small amount of leaking on your undies up to liquid stool running down people’s legs.”
She says it’s common for people to wait until things get really bad before they seek help.
“They adapt their lifestyle to try and stop it from [making an] impact.”
35 per cent of women aged 30-49 have experienced incontinence. (Pexels: Tirachard Kumtanon)
The Continence Foundation of Australia’s latest report indicates 27 per cent of Australians have incontinence.
The age group with the largest number of sufferers, is actually 40 – 44 year olds.
It takes quite a toll, with 40 per cent of people with incontinence saying it affects their mental health and wellbeing — 10 per cent even avoid going out because of it.
It’s mainly women who experience both or either forms (urinary and faecal), and is common in those who have carried a baby or had birth injuries.
There’s also a significant number who suffer after menopause.
“A lady may have had an injury to their pelvic floor during childbirth which hasn’t previously caused them problems, but after menopause and as they get older and muscles generally weaken, they start developing problematic symptoms,” Dr Warwick said.
Colorectal surgeon Andrea Warwick says people often don’t seek help. (Supplied)
A serious series of events
For Stanton, it was a bit more complex.
Stanton is the epitome of resilience. Her running career was full of ups and downs.
In 1987 she came fourth at the World Indoor Championships, but later that year broke a bone in her foot. It took two operations and two years to heal.
In 1990 she won the Australian Championships over 3,000-metres, then made the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Five days out from her race, she got bitten by a spider on the foot. She competed but finished in a time well below her best.
In 1996 Stanton delivered her son Zachary in a breech birth, which led to urinary incontinence.
“There was a 12-centimetre internal tear, so I was unable to run because I just couldn’t control my bladder,” she said.
After working with physiotherapists, she won the 2001 Sydney Marathon and qualified for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
It was here she got a silver medal, and a great feeling of satisfaction.
Krishna Stanton waves to the crowd during welcome home celebrations for Australian Commonwealth Games athletes in 2002. (Getty Images: Tony Lewis)
“To be able to come back from those [health issues] and win a silver medal was really worthwhile,” Stanton said.
Her next goal was to qualify for the 2006 Commonwealth Games before retiring. But a catalyst the year before put that dream to bed.
“In 2005 I got food poisoning, which triggered my body to basically shut down,” Stanton said.
It led to constant diarrhoea.
“I just never knew when I needed to go to the bathroom,” Stanton said.
“You could never relax, it’s constant stress.”
Stanton wasn’t sure what was happening to her body but stayed focused on her goals.
Not knowing what was wrong, Stanton kept running. (Unsplash: Stage 7 Photography)
“I was losing so much weight, not knowing what was wrong, still trying to run,” she said.
“Then there’s a 12-centimetre tear still there from [Zachary’s] birth. Me trying to run was putting pressure on everything.”
Stanton suffered a bowel prolapse, which was operated on multiple times.
A gastroenterologist then diagnosed her with Coeliac disease which she was told she’d had for many years.
Stanton said the nerves in her bowel were all but destroyed.
“I always had this philosophy, and it’s probably come from my running, that there’s always someone worse off,” she said.
“It was just something I thought I had to deal with. It was frustrating, upsetting, but it was just my lot.”
Stanton spent years adapting to her incontinence.
If she went for a walk, it would be in a park with bathrooms. She didn’t do buses or trains and found car trips and plane rides stressful.
And of course, running was off the cards.
“Obviously there were times when I was just in tears,” Stanton said.
Her doctor eventually advised her to see a surgeon, and it was only after that that life got back to normal.
There is hope
Dr Warwick says there’s a host of different treatments for incontinence, ranging from lifestyle changes to surgery.
“Oftentimes we start with basic treatments of managing people’s diet, stool consistency [and] physiotherapy,” she said.
“And a lot of people will get better with those interventions.”
Stanton’s case was more extreme. Her doctor recommended sacral neuromodulation, which involves surgery.
Stanton had to have surgery to restore nerves and help improve her bowel function. (ABC News: Dean Caton)
It’s where a device with wires attached to a pacemaker is inserted under the skin in the buttock. It directly stimulates a nerve with an electrical current to alter or improve bladder or bowel function.
Dr Warwick says it can change someone’s life dramatically, and Stanton agrees.
“I feel blessed,” Stanton said.
“It took a while to manage, but it’s restored those nerves so that I can now run.
“I’ve had some surgeries to help that as well, but I would say it’s really changed what I thought in that time my life was going to be.”
Stanton set a goal of doing a run for her 50th birthday in 2016. In true form, she achieved it.
She ran the Gold Coast Marathon as a tribute to her late teammates Kerryn McCann and Jackie Fairweather, who she stood on the podium with at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
The Australian trio of Krishna Stanton, Kerryn McCann and Jackie Fairweather secured gold, silver and bronze in 2002. (Getty: Phil Noble )
Fairweather took her own life in 2014, and McCann died from breast cancer in 2008.
“So, I thought what I’d been through wasn’t that much,” Stanton said.
“And so, if I could run, I would.”
In 2022 Stanton ran the London Marathon in world record time for her age group.
The record was broken six months later, and she’s on a mission to break it back at this year’s Sydney Marathon in August.
Stanton ran the London Marathon in world record time for her age group. (Supplied: Krishna Stanton/London Marathon)
Stopping the stigma
The way Stanton’s faecal incontinence came about is not common, but her sentiment of it taking control of her life is.
She’s speaking out now to help others who might be suffering.
“I would like people to know that there’s an option, and it can make a real difference,” Stanton said.
Dr Warwick says she doesn’t want to see people give up sport, that there are ways to keep on playing.
“Oftentimes people come to me 20 years after they’ve been struggling with symptoms,” she said.
“They say I wish I’d done this earlier. I wish I hadn’t compromised my life for something that can be treated.
“I guess that’s the biggest thing I’d say. You don’t have to suffer with these problems.”
