Why not get a sphincter?

[Nat]

I hear there is such device that can be inserted in you so you have bowel and bladder control and you hit a button and it empties it all out. How come you don'y have one? How come lot of incontinent people don't get one if they don't like being incontinent? Does insurance pay for it or do doctors not want to do it?

[Guest Sasha]

Maybe because it sounds terrifying and no one wants a bionic asshole?

[Nat]

Maybe they don't want the risks either.

[ForbiddenFruit]

Does that mean someone can hack into your butt?

[Guest]

I want a Cyborg asshole! That would be awesome, imagine the amplified farts!

[Baby Brian]

Spokane Girl, nobody has it yet because that tech is really new. The device you're talking about is still waiting FDA approval. They do have a similar device like that for people with seriously bad acid reflux. It is basically a fluid bladder mounted just below you skin. You use a needle to increase the pressure which is tied to a balloon that inflates around you esophagus to clamp it off. The pressure isn't enough to prevent swallowing but is enough to prevent the acid reflux. You use the needle again to open it up for meals.

[Craisler]

The cuffs tend to wear out over time. In addition, they cause erosion of the urethra so that eventually you end up incontinent again and this time you have tissue damage, too.

[incondl]

Simply put, failure. If the divice fails and you cannot get it open is what worries me. It's a trip to a hospital. Being fully urinary incontinent & with very limited bowel continence I worry that if the device fails & will not open it could lead to other complications such as kidney problems from urine backing up to the kidneys. Bowel impacting gives you more time but not as much time is there with liquid. I would see myself always making sure I had a Cath nearby & I don't have to do that now. The entire idea of going back to the use of a Cath just gives me the willies. Nope, I'm it getting cut open unless its life threatening. This has caused a lot of debate between my Dr & me over the years. I get along just fine currently. I can manage just fine with protection and see no need at this stage in my life for alterations.

[littleJaina]

From what I've heard, there's also significant risk that it can impact sexual function in men.

[incondl]

That went away for me with my accident so no hope there without appliances. I'm jut not a believer in surgery unless absolutely necessary. Personally I've managed well. No control/little control the way I've been doing it has not slowed me down a bit so I am playing the hand I'm dealt with and nobody really is the wiser. There used to be pity parties but no more. It's a mental game everyone with a bodily function problem needs to overcome.

[Baby Brian]

Simply put, failure.

[omutsudiaper]

Whether or not the device would work depends on the mechanism of incontinence. For example I have IC and OAB; an autoimmune disorder where the lining of my bladder becomes inflamed and spasms causing me to have an accident. Similarly I have autoimmune inflammation of my intestinal lining that causes horrible urge bowel accidents.

[willnotwill]

Sounds like the story I've got over in the Story Forum called "The Device"

[Dill_Pickle]

Implanting anything into the body is major surgery , which carries a significant risk of infection. Antibiotics are less effective every year. Better the devil you know....

[d_drew12]

Ohh, great, now not only can I get a virus but the things that get implanted in me :-)

Sounds intriguing though...