Laura's Story

Laura is living with MS. However, like many, it took her a long time to recognise that her bladder and bowel symptoms were connected to her MS. See how Laura uses both intermittent catheters and transanal irrigation to manage her symptoms.

Laura leads a busy life and is a huge fan of photography, always enjoying exploring new places, taking photos of both nature and architecture, and of course, photos with her family. In the past, Laura has completed half-marathons, and whilst her physical condition makes this difficult now, she is once again building herself up so she can run more often.

 
Laura’s experience with MS started with a tingling sensation in her fingers. She had pain in her arm and what she describes as “strange headaches”, it was almost like a burning sensation in her head. After multiple brain scans that ruled out a brain tumour or a stroke, and lumbar puncture, Laura was finally diagnosed with relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis.

When Laura thinks back now, she realises she had probably been experiencing bladder and bowel issues for a lot longer than she was aware of at the time. However, it was only when these symptoms became more extreme, that she began to connect these to her MS.

 
“When I went for appointments with my nurse, she would ask me, ‘How is your bladder? or ‘How is your bowel?’ and I would just say ‘okay’, because to me it was okay.”

Laura made the connection between her MS and her bowel issues first. At one point, she went two weeks without a bowel movement. This was a clear indication for her that something was wrong.

 
“I associated my bowel problems with my MS quicker than with my bladder, because I realised it can't be right.” 

 
With her bladder, it was the constant trips to the toilet that began to tip her off. Her life was constantly being disrupted by her need to urinate, whether she was watching a movie with her family or out to dinner with friends. Additionally, the frequent urinary tract infections meant repeated trips to the doctor and rounds of antibiotics.

Eight years after her initial diagnosis, Laura started transanal irrigation. She started catheterising some years after that. Laura had worked in the healthcare profession for many years, meaning she was familiar with both transanal irrigation and catheterisation. But still, when she realised that she needed to use these methods herself, it was nonetheless a very emotional journey. She understood that it meant her MS was progressing, and she had to come to terms with that. This was a shock, and understandably a scary time for her.

Laura tried several different bowel irrigation methods and chose Peristeen®¹ as her preferred method. Routine is very important when performing transanal irrigation, and for Laura, it took time to perfect her personalised routine. However, after several family day trips when she had to find a toilet somewhere in the centre of London, she realised the importance of sticking to a schedule and keeping her routine on point.

 
“At first, I wasn't that great with my routine of doing it every other day. It was my family who encouraged me to stick to the routine. It just makes me feel so much better when I do it.”

 
Now, she’s found a routine that works for her. And she knows that if she’s used Peristeen, she can go out for the day, and everything will be okay.

 
When Laura first started with her irrigations, she wondered if it would really make a difference. Then, after starting, she went for a run and realised that she could do the whole run with confidence, without having to think about where the nearest toilet was.

 
“The outcomes for me, the quality of life, the confidence I had, completely outweighed the actual process itself.” 

 
That was Laura’s turning point: Laura realised that by regularly performing transanal irrigation, she could improve the quality of life for both herself and her family. Now, she’s controlling her bowel; it ́is not controlling her.

Laura was first introduced to intermittent self-catheterisation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Face-to-face appointments weren’t possible, and Laura was actually trained via video conferencing. The nurse offered to stay on the call while Laura catheterised for the first time, but Laura felt it was something she needed to do on her own. She was successful and pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. Naturally, she had concerns about whether it would hurt and how it would feel, but after doing it a few times, it became a routine that she continues today.

 
SpeediCath® Compact Eve is Laura's preferred catheter, because of its discrete design. She knows she can leave it out on the table, and no one will even know what it is.

 
“When I started on intermittent catheters I was surprised by how easy it was. You have all these concerns: What’s it going to feel like? Will it be painful? How long will it take? But after doing it the first couple of times and getting into a routine, it doesn’t take long at all. It definitely doesn’t hurt. It’s easy to do. So, all the things I was worried about, I didn’t need to be, because it couldn’t have been further away from what I imagined.”

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