If you live with a spinal cord injury, or any sort of bowel impairment, there’s a good chance you think about bowel accidents and your bowel routine regularly. Coloplast’s Peristeen® Plus transanal irrigation system offers a bowel management solution that replaces your current, multi-hour routine of suppositories and enemas, and gives you up to 48 hours of bowel continence. I wish I hadn’t waited two decades after my spinal cord injury to see if Peristeen Plus would work for me.

Peristeen Plus is a transanal irrigation system that instills water into the colon through a hydrophilic rectal catheter with balloon, promoting evacuation of the contents of the lower colon. Using nothing but standard tap water, in 30-60 minutes Peristeen Plus delivers up to 48 hours of reliable continence. It’s the only transanal irrigation device with documented studies and clinical trials that show it reduces fecal incontinence and constipation and improves users’ quality of life.

Thousands of users have bowel continence back after using Peristeen Plus. Introduced in the US in 2014, it is now a covered benefit for Medicare & Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, making it widely available.

When I finally tried Peristeen Plus, I had been spending two to three hours every other day waiting for suppositories and stimulation to work their magic, only to finish my bowel routine exhausted. I had spent over 9,000 hours on bowel care since my injury — that’s over a year of my life I would never get back. Peristeen Plus gave me continence and confidence, and hours of my life back.

Changing your routine is never easy and can be nerve-wracking, but for me, there are three main benefits of Peristeen Plus that made trying it an easy decision.

1) I’d be freeing up 1-2 hours of my mornings

2) I wouldn’t be relying on anything but water and my body’s natural rhythms

3) I’d be gaining the confidence that comes with not having to worry about accidents

As a quadriplegic with limited dexterity, when I finally got my hands on Peristeen Plus, I appreciated its thoughtful design. Coloplast incorporated feedback from users of the original Peristeen to make the device more usable for people like me, allowing me to be in control of when and where I empty my bowels, without the help of a caregiver. It is obvious how much thought went into designing a unit that would be easy to use, clean, care for, and even travel with.

Unfortunately for me, I waited too long to try Peristeen Plus. My previous bowel routine caused complications that required I have an ostomy. Years later, I wonder how much easier my life would be, and how many issues I could have avoided if I had started using Peristeen Plus sooner.

If your bowel care routine is negatively impacting your quality of life, or if you are looking for a more manageable bowel continence solution, don’t make the same mistake I did by delaying starting Peristeen Plus. Talk with your doctor to see if Peristeen Plus is a solution for you. You can also learn more at Coloplast’s website or by calling Coloplast at 1-855-605-7594.