Anyone ever used a bowel management system?

I recently tried out both a bard dignicare system, and convatec flexi-seal system. Both systems are intended to manage stools in a hospital setting where the patient either has some sort of stool modification program being used to make the stools very watery, or the patient has diarrhea. Both of the system are essentially a inflatable ring which is inserted into the anus, and then inflated with water, so that it won't be expelled. The ring is connected to tubing which collects the fecal matter in a replaceable collection bag.

I started the prep for my session by drinking two bottles of magnesium citrate to make sure things got loose. I then inserted the dignicare, and waited. While I was waiting I found I couldn't urinate because of the pressure caused by the inflatable ring, so I ended up having to put in a foley cath. (Not a bad side effect 😃 ) Unfortunately, I didn't have much success with either the dignicare, or the flexi-seal as the magnesium citrate didn't seem to make my stools as loose as I wanted, and the entry way to the ring ended up clogged with stool. I guess they expect the stool to be extremely runny for these systems to work.

I'd like to try this again with a hollister acti-flo system, as it allows the ring to be closed with a balloon, and have an enema delivered to clean the patient out. I have yet to find one at a price point that I could swallow. The dignicare/flex-seal occasionally come up on ebay at a good price.

Has anyone else tried out a bowel management system?

This is something somewhat new to me but I sure plan on using these alternatives. They will be great for colonic prep and other great home care. Thank you for the information.

Also new to me, but now I think about to give a try! Seams great to use for a bound patient, combined with catheter...

Thinking about your ideas lead to the existing butt plugs that some places offer with a drain line and inflatable inner bulb. These would be useful for ambulatory patients. They could also be used for the patient on the operating table like a Foley catheter for the colon. The may be a little stiff an irritating though.

Sounds interesting to try but I have not -- yet. It sounds like you may have had some "hard stuff" in you before you started that clogged up the works. Perhaps the answer is to take an enema to get rid of any solids and then take your preference of liquid clean out solutions. This would insure that everything passing through the bowel management system was not solid. Better luck next time.

I think it would be interesting to do as I suggest (ie take an enema first) and then take Miralax which you can do in large quantities and see how long (and how much) it takes to get totally absolutely clean. You could presumably just watch what flows throught the clear tube rather than doing an endless series of runs to the toilet. Ahh the fun of science experiments.

I like the idea of the miralax. I wonder how long it would take to get clean. If you could get golytely or some sort of colonoscopy bowel prep, as someone pointed out earlier in the thread, I'd be you could get completely clean, and not spend hours on the toilet. I'm going to have to get another one of these, and give it another try.

Got a chance to try this again, with the miralax, and this time with a hollister bowel management system. The hollister system is hands down better than the bard, or convatec system. There is a balloon in the cuff that you can inflate to force the user to hold an enema, which for bondage scenes could be quite fun. The holister system also seemed much more able to handle somewhat more solid matter than the bard or convatec.