Digital Stimulation

I use Manual evacuation (also known as rectal clear). I always have to remove feces with my finger inside of a lubricated vinyl glove. Before I figured this out, I had to take too much laxative or prune juice. I have partial feeling “in there”, and yes, any aggression at all HURTS, and hurts for a couple of hours. Be very, very gentle with yourself. I’ve even come to the conclusion that it’s better to leave part of the “too soft stuff” in there than to get it completely cleaned out but at the cost of being too rough on the delicate tissue. Any residual that is too soft to dig out (at the time that you get most of it out) will firm up within a few hours and be “available for pickup” (lol) when you next access the anal canal.

Oooh. A bowel care chair! Tell me more, lostinspace.

2510, I use vinyl gloves, not latex and not Nitrile. Latex gloves and Nitrile gloves SHRED anal tissue. So, this is my first tip. Second, I use olive oil as my lubricant. I pour a small amount into a tiny, 2 oz., wide-mouthed jar (yes, it was an anchovies jar). After I put on the vinyl glove, I dip my gloved fingertips into the olive oil. I only fill the little jar of olive oil about half full, and this amount will last me through four or five ‘events’. Since the glove I put on is clean (and I don’t double-dip!) the oil will stay clean through the next few days until re-fill time.

For hemorrhoids, please buy collinsonia root (stone root). It strengthens blood vessels. Also, quickly eat some fresh jalapeño pepper or cayenne pepper, mixed with something appropriate -like sour cream or avocado. Or, you can take cayenne in capsules. Within a couple of days, rectal bleeding won’t be a problem,...unless you are being ‘way too aggressive.

I have know of these remedies and used them for forty years,...before I became SCI.



I suggest buying collinsonia root in powder form and then putting it into capsules yourself (using The Capsule Machine). Most herbal companies add magnesium stearate to their capsules because they can run their machines faster with it, but magnesium stearate is bad for us. Or, you can take collinsonia root softened in water (last resort, if you don’t have The Capsule Machine and empty capsules).

Here’s one source that sells collinsonia root. I haven’t ordered from them yet.
www.starwest-botanicals.com/product/4-oz-stone-root-powder.html?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=feed&gclid=CjwKCAiA0ajgBRA4EiwA9gFOR2eNS7Sg-wtDET6ygx3i9lURL-OsyjmQ-G3FKJtAizKkd2th9499mxoCQIsQAvD_BwE

lostinspace, I honestly started laughing out loud when I got to this part of your post: “In order for this to work she would have to get on her knees...”.
Your story brought back bad memories from my days in nursing homes. I wasn’t getting any bowel help other than laxatives. And therapists that I’d had earlier in the hospital hadn’t even mentioned digital stimulation or digital removal of feces. Since digital removal of feces wasn’t on my chart, the nursing homes wouldn’t allow it,...they wouldn’t give me enough prune juice,...and they wouldn’t give me suppositories when I needed them. They withheld laxatives if my chart said I’d had a BM, no matter how full my belly was. It was an absolute nightmare. It was as though they were blindfolded.

For showers, I needed to use the ONE padded shower seat that the nursing home had for my showers. So, I had to plan my showers around the others in the nursing home who needed that same chair. I would injure the skin on my delicate little butt if I used the hard plastic shower chairs. Whoever thought it was a great idea to make shower chairs with ‘texture’ should have their head examined. Okay, so never mind about the bowel care chair. It wouldn’t work for me either. What does POS stand for?