Keeping Control: Understanding and Overcoming Fecal Incontinence

Keeping Control is a compassionate, medically reliable, and thoroughly informative resource for anyone who wants to understand the possible causes of fecal incontinence, learn about important advances in management and treatment, and do something about the problem. Written by a noted Johns Hopkins physician and an experienced medical writer and editor, Keeping Control explains the mechanics of normal bowel function and describes the latest medical findings about what can cause incontinence, from pre-existing conditions and diseases to accidents and childbirth injuries. It thoroughly explains the wide range of treatment options, including remarkable successes with biofeedback and habit training. It includes special advice for managing incontinence in children and older people. And it offers important advice on how to work with your physician to take control of the problem.

Keeping Control also includes a glossary of terms and valuable information about contacting support groups and using additional resources. An epilogue by Nancy Norton, founder of the International Foundation for Bowel Dysfunction, describes the personal challenge of living with fecal incontinence and explains how she and many others have found the courage to cope with the problem and live life to the fullest.

Marvin M. Schuster, M.D., is a professor of medicine and psychiatry in the Division of Digestive Diseases at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

Jacqueline Wehmueller is a writer and editor at the Johns Hopkins University Press.