For bladder and bowel symptoms
Take your first step toward freedom.
If you’re experiencing bladder or bowel symptoms,
there are steps you can take to find relief — and take back control. Alert Important safety information
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Talking to your healthcare provider about your bothersome bladder or bowel symptoms can be uncomfortable, but you deserve long-lasting relief. Remember, if you have not experienced the symptom relief you want, more options are available.
Step 1:
Diagnosis
Start by speaking with a healthcare provider. You may be asked to fill out a symptom tracker. This symptom tracker will help you and your healthcare provider have a meaningful conversation about your symptoms.
Step 2:
Lifestyle changes
Conservative treatments may help, and while they don’t work for everyone, they may be the solution you need.
Step 3: Medications
When lifestyle changes don’t deliver the results you want, oral medications may be the next step. These medications can help control symptoms but may have side effects.
In one survey regarding bladder control, 72% of people said they stopped taking their medication after just six months.1 If medications don’t work, or if you experience intolerable side effects, don’t lose hope. There is more you can try.
Step 4:
Advanced therapies
When exercises, lifestyle changes, and medications disappoint, you may be ready for a more advanced option.
The InterStim™ system is a small, implantable device that targets the sacral nerves that control your bladder or bowel. It may help restore† normal bladder or bowel function — giving you the long-lasting relief you deserve.
Targeting the sacral nerves that control bladder and bowel function,2-4 the InterStim™ system comes with a number of benefits:
In addition to risks related to surgery, complications can include pain at the implant sites, new pain, infection, lead (thin wire) movement/migration, device problems, undesirable changes in urinary or bowel function, and uncomfortable stimulation (sometimes described as a jolting or shocking feeling). Talk with your doctor about ways to minimize these risks.
Patients have reported a 3 times greater improvement in quality of life with the InterStim™ system compared to using medications alone.5
Learn more
For bladder control
Medtronic bladder control therapy delivered by the NURO™ system targets the tibial nerve to help you regain control of your bladder. By restoring§ bladder function, this therapy, sometimes called percutaneous tibial neurostimulation (PTNM), puts you on a path to fewer trips to the bathroom, fewer pads per day, and more of the activities you enjoy.8,9
With the NURO™ system, you get:
Most common side effects are temporary and include mild pain or skin inflammation at or near the stimulation site. The NURO™ system does not treat symptoms of urinary retention.
Injected medications may temporarily treat symptoms but raise other concerns, including:
For bowel control
This gel is injected into the anal canal to thicken the tissues and improve symptoms of fecal incontinence (FI), but has some potential concerns:
Several other surgical options are available, all of which bring their own unique set of risks, including:
Answer a few short questions and find out if sacral neuromodulation may be a fit.
Reflects overactive bladder patients.
Restored function defined as ≥50% reduction in dysfunctional bladder or bowel symptoms from baseline.
Success defined as ≥ 50% reduction of episodes per week. This patient group had data at both baseline and the five-year visit. Another analysis reported 69% of people achieved success with Medtronic bowel control therapy. For this patient group, missing data at five years because of a device-related reason was counted as failure or if it was missing for non-device related reasons, the most recent data was carried forward.
Restored bladder function is defined as a measurable reduction in urinary frequency and/or urinary incontinence episodes following treatment.
Yeaw J, Benner J, Walt JG et al. Comparing adherence and persistence across 6 chronic medication classes. J Manag Care Pharm. 2009:15(9):724–736.
Leng WW, Chancellor MB. How sacral nerve stimulation neuromodulation works. Urol Clin North Am. 2005;32(1):11–18.
Chancellor MB, Chartier-Kastler EJ. Principles of sacral nerve stimulation (SNS) for the treatment of bladder and urethral sphincter dysfunctions. Neuromod. 2000;3(1):15–26.
Patton V, Wiklendt L, Arkwright JW, et al. The effect of sacral nerve stimulation on distal colonic motility in patients with fecal incontinence. Br J Surg. 2013;100(7):959–968.
Siegel S, Noblett K, Mangel J, et al. Results of a prospective, randomized, multicenter study evaluating sacral neuromodulation with InterStim™ therapy compared to standard medical therapy at 6-months in subjects with mild symptoms of overactive bladder. Neurourol Urodyn. 2015 Mar;34(3):224–230.
Siegel S, Noblett K, Mangel J, et al. Five-year follow-up results of a prospective, multicenter study of patients with overactive bladder treated with sacral neuromodulation. J Urol. 2018;199(1), 229–236.
Hull T, Giese C, Wexner SD, et al. Long-term durability of sacral nerve stimulation therapy for chronic fecal incontinence. Dis Colon Rectum. 2013; 56(2):234–245.
Kobashi K, Nitti V, Margolis E, et al. A prospective study to evaluate efficacy using the NURO percutaneous tibial neuromodulation system in drug-naïve patients with overactive bladder syndrome. J Urol. 2019;131:77–82.
Kobashi K, Margolis E, Sand P, et al. Prospective study to evaluate quality of life with percutaneous tibial neuromodulation in drug-naïve patients with overactive bladder syndrome. Presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the International Continence Society.
Visco AG, Brubaker L, Richter HE, et al. Anticholinergic versus botulinum toxin, A comparison trial for the treatment of bothersome urge urinary incontinence: ABC trial. Contemp Clin Trials. 2012;33(1):184−96.
Information on this site should not be used as a substitute for talking with your doctor. Always talk with your doctor about diagnosis and treatment information.