Carol, 76

I don’t have a diagnosed illness aside from old age. Walking seems to set my bowels off and I have no control. This is unfortunate as I love walking! Six or seven years ago I was given a colonoscopy but nothing was found so I was seen at the biofeedback clinic. The best advice that came out of this consultation was how to take Imodium (Loperamide). I had been taking a couple, before I went out walking but that didn’t work. The advice was to take them the night before to give them time to work which I now do and take another one in the morning. So if I am going anywhere where there isn’t easy access to a toilet I take the Imodium the night before. I have been caught out in the countryside, especially if it has been an unexpected walk and I have had to find a bush to poo behind. Not pleasant but not nearly as unpleasant as filling one’s trousers. My problem isn’t anything like others I have read on this site, I’m not ill and I have no pain, but it is inconvenient and unpleasant and on the whole I have learnt to manage it and live with it and to continue all the things I enjoy doing, especially walking.