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Hi, I have just recently joined this forum, nice to know that there are people out there that I can relate to! I am traveling in 3 wks and am concerned about getting to the airport in a shuttle without a bathroom. As with everything I do, I plan everything around my bathroom schedule! I was wondering, does anyone take Imodium or an enema afew hours before they are in this situation to be cleaned out before they leave?

 Reply posted for lfs603.

Sorry - forgot to address the Imodium question.... I was going to try it, but when I discussed with my GI doctor, she said during a flareup to definitely NOT take it - could cause a back up of stool and cause toxic megacolon which could possibly rupture your colon due to its fragile state.   So I have been leary of trying it....

 Reply posted for lfs603.

I just joined this forum today but have lurked here for awhile.   My dx has progressed steadily for the last couple years with almost no remission during that time.    We love to travel and this is always stressfull for me.   We just returned from Italy/Greece.   We looked up public bathrooms and marked our tour maps before we went.   I also elminate all food if not going to be near a bathroom....so some days that meant not eating anything til 3-4pm...but it was worth it to me to not have to worry as much.   I do drink lots of water so I don't get dehydrated. 

I will be scouring this forum daily to see if there are any tips I have missed that can help alleviate some of the symptoms and let me lead a normal life - it is very discouraging, frustrating, humliating, embarrassing to have this dx

 Reply posted for tallgrl30.

Thnks for the advice! I took 2 Immodiums before leaving for the airport and did fine all day, as much as I know that you are not supposed to take it more than 3 days in a row, everyday of my vacations contained a trip where a bathroom was very far away...so I took 2 tabs every morning before venturing out...worked great with only 1 bathroom trip every morning at 3am which was o.k. since I was in my hotel....I do wonder though if I abused the Immodium since I have been back from vacation for over 2 wks now and my colitis has been very active and I have been going alot!! more than before I went, so before anyone takes my advice about taking Immodium EVERY day on a trip...talk to your doctor first or work out a travel schedule so you do not need to take it every day! I felt grat on vacation but I am suffering now!!

 Reply posted for lfs603.

Honestly I dont believe enemas would clear out my system before a trip.  I just got back from a vacation to a Lake, my friends and I rented a Lake House.  It was nice the days we were swimming, if I had to potty I would just run up to the house.  Then came the 2 days we decided to go tubing/ waterskiing on a boat.  Talk about anxiety attack city!!!  My friends know of my U.C. but they don't know about the incontinence, they just know that when I gotta go I gotta go!! 

For me I took Imodium everyday on the trip.  Days we were swimming I took 2 Imodium Advanced (helps a lil more with the bloating and gas) and the days we did the boat I took 3 in the morning, 3 at lunch time, which I KNOW you're not supposed to do, but at least I did not exceed 6 in a 24 hr period, and I figured doing it two days wasnt gonna kill me.  that seemed to work well.  I would feel a lil bloated right around dinnertime, but then I would take a trip to the bathroom and that feeling would pass.

Good Luck on your trip!!!

 Reply posted for lfs603.

Indeed, many of these strategies will work when I'm not severely inflammed.  But when I am many of my bathroom visits aren't for literal stool, they're to eliminate the musous that develops around the inflammation, or simply to pass gass since it's never dry down there (that's where the pads come in).  In these cases it doesn't matter what I eat, I still have this problem--though eliminating stool from the mix for the immediate travel time definitely helps. 

 Reply posted for zimbop.

Thanks for the imput, I have been experimenting with my eating schedule this week in preperation for my trip. I usually get up 2 hrs before I leave, so I can eliminate before I leave. I also took a tip from someone else in the community, I have been drinking Ensure for a few meals, and since it is liquid, there are no solids to pass thru! You are hungry but it works!

 Reply posted for lfs603.

I have not tried either of the approaches you mention, but I have been able to travel, even while symptomatic.  The most important thing for me is to get in tune with my eating and digestion patterns such that I can predict how I'll respond to particular foods or how long it takes my body to respond to eating.  I try to eat my last food at least an hour before leaving home such that any eating-triggered bowel movements are completed before I venture out.  This covers most of my issues, but when symptoms are bad and I have more frequent BMs I travel much more cautiously or, frankly, infrequently.  One accessory I've employed when I was really afflicted was maxi-pads.  They're a little wierd for a guy to get used to but when I have those frequent gassy mucous spurts it's enough to help ease my nerves while out and about, especially while flying when you can't always go for the bathroom when you need to.  That layer of 'protection' was not always needed in the literal sense, but for the peace of mind it was great.