How did you become incontinent?

[wadedl]

Hi Sociologygeek,
Please explain urodynamics, neuropathy and ataxia.
Thanks.
Wade

[schoppy]

Howdy everyone.

First I want to say how wonderful yall have made this site.
A forum is only the program, the people make it a home and yall have done just that.

I'm going to tell y'all a little about myself, finally hehehe

I'm a disabled vet.

I was in the Air Force and really enjoying it.
My first assignment out of tech school was in Germany.
I was still doing the "in-processing" thing when I went to cross the street one day. This is back in April 1986. As I was going across the street in the crosswalk, a car came through and didn't stop.

I got ran over.

I got hit in the right front corner of the car.
From the force of the impact, my body from the waist up impacted the hood of the car. As that was happening the tire started to run over my foot. Then my body bounced back and away from the car.
With the tire on my foot and my body flying back to my right, my knee got twisted. My body flew through the air and I landed about 10 feet away. On my head.

I received a severe concussion, twisted my back, and damage to my knee and foot. It smashed the front half of my steal toe boot. About 6 months after my accident, I had a small seizure. As it turned out, it was the first of many seizures to come. First they started out small but they processed to the Grand-Mal stage. I'm not sure how many people have had a seizure, or even seen someone have one. But I can tell you that it is NOT fun. Think of a fish out of water. During my seizures I would wet myself and I know that was common to happen. I also started having more wetting accidents. I would have to take an extra uniform to work and a lot of times I would need to change. I finally asked my doctor for help and he prescribed me diapers. It was hard for me to ask for protection but I knew that I needed something. It was also hard to accept the fact that I needed to wear diapers. Here I am, in the military, and having to wear diapers.

I also got electrocuted twice during the seizures. The first time was 1500 volts but the second time was 5,000 volts. I really don't remember them. I do remember some of the second one, like waking up in the hospital in nothing but my diaper with my entire body hurting bad and the doctor saying, welcome back.

During the four years after my accident I was in 7 hospitals. I spent more time in the hospitals than I did out of them. My seizures continued for about 3 1/2 years then they just quit happening. YEA !!

Then I got assigned to a base in Florida. They had me go through more testing. One test that they did that I had never had done before was to test the nerves going to my bladder. During that test the testing machine broke, but luckily it worked enough. It confirmed that I have nerve damage. I got the news that my nerve damage was permanent and that I would need diapers the rest of my life. That news came in the week of the 4th year anniversary of my accident. Even though it was bad news, I felt like I had 14 tons lifted off me. After 4 years of hell not knowing why I was having accidents, I finally got the answer.

So here I am, alone, in diapers, 2 bad knees, minor brain damage, migraines, and its too cold to work in my yard, hehehe.

[diaperdave]

Schoopy your post was the same thing that happened to me withe the exceptions of I was in Itallt and it happenend in "72.

[sociologygeek]

Hi Sociologygeek,
Please explain urodynamics, neuropathy and ataxia.
Thanks.
Wade

Certainly, wade. Urodynamics is a series of tests ordered by a urologist to determine how the bladder functions. It consists of measuring your urine flow by urinating in a funnel.. then they test postvoid residual via a catheter.. then they insert sensors in the bladder to test how much the bladder cant take and other things like that. It's basically a test to see how the bladder functions that is very useful in diagnosing conditions of the bladder that don't respond to things like antibiotics (such was my case). Neuropathy is a disorder of the peripheral nerves. It its characterized by tingling and muscle twitches. It affects the body in different ways, and affects different nerves. There are many different kinds of neuropathy and many different causes. Ataxia means loss of coordination, and have an abnormal gait. This can happen in perfectly healthy indivuduals due to alcohol intoxication. However, it can also refer to a disorder of the central nervous system. In my case, what happened was i first noticed symptoms of leakage for a few years without doing anything about it due to embarassment. Finally, i had enough putting up with it and saw my doctor April 2008. He presrcirbed antibiotics, assuming it was an infection. When that did not work, he referred me to a urologist who tried a trial of detrol. When that did not stop leakage, the urologist said i may have someting wrong with the nerves to my bladder, and sent me for urodynamics. I also underwent a cystoscopy. After all the tests were done, i was found to be with a hypersensitive bladder, but the cystoscopy was in the normal range. There was no resolution from either Detrol or vesicare. And very recently, i noticed a marked increase in symptoms like dizziness vertigo, some tingling and numbness. We saw a neurologist shortly thereafter. We knew i had an ataxic gait since i was little.. i stumble easily. Never thought much of it. I asked him did he find anything that could explain my incontinence. He said, if you have neuropathy that could explain it. He did the EMG, and sure enough, found neuropathy. And i have a diagnosis of idiopathic peripheral neruopathy.

Where ataxia comes into play is this: My neurologist referred me down to a neuropathy center at U of M. We thought we would get tested for the neruopathy. To our suprise, we found the letter said new patient ataxia..scratching our heads. I called the neurologist to figure this whole thing out, and my neurologist refered me for ataxia with neuropathy. I was thinking before that the ataxia is not siginficant. But, it may be VERY significant. I found infomation about genitc disorder known as spinocellebrar ataxia.. and there are several types of it. And its not a very pretty disease. So, im dreading being diagnosed with it. Not only would it affect my bladder control (which has already happenend) but may also affect my bowel control and mobility. I'm not making any assumptions, i will let the doctors do the diagnosing. I hope i answered your question.

[wadedl]

Thank you Sociologygeek, that was very informative and helpful. In my case, I think I can rule out neuropathy. I haven't had urodynamics tests, yet, but I have had an ultrasound test (I think that's what it's called; échographie, en français), to check for possible prostate problems or bladder problems. No significant swelling of the prostate and the urologist says my bladder seems okay and I was able to void it normally. I have to go back to see him about the blood tests I just had.

[sociologygeek]

That's good wade, I hope the doctors can help you. Incontinence certainly is not pleasant to live with, and the less one has to live with it the better.

[K.T.]

As to what has caused my incontinence is still under investigation. I am being treated by a Urologist for it but he doesn’t have an answer as to why. His guess is that I have a neurogenic bladder caused by having about 20 spinal nerve blocks with in a one year time span. My Urologist is sending me to another, more specialized Urologist in a few months to see if he can figure it out.

The other day, I went to a new Pain Management Doctor to see what else could be done instead of the spinal blocks. The weird thing is, he was more concerned about me being incontinent and having to use a Foley catheter or diapers all the time instead of the reason I was there.

So if I ever do find out what has caused my incontinence I will be glad to share it, but till then, it’s still a mystery.

[dwentz]

Hello, I'm a new member. I became incontinent when I had to have my prostate remove due to cancer. It is at a dripple state right now. Sometime I have good and some days are bad , but I'm still new learning deal with it. I'm using Depends for Men most of the time. On weekend I wear a cloth diaper so I can fly longer on the FS much longer. I'm also a R/C "remote control" pilot and have a trainer plane that I'm learning on. Anyone want to ask anything please due? Sorry this post is so long..

[sociologygeek]

Hi dwentz! My name is Rob. I'm incontiinent due to some neuropathy thing going on with my nerves, or so the docs think. Not exactly sure what's going on but i know its nerve related. Prostate removal eh? That sucks. Do the Depend for Men work well for you? do they ever leak? do you have to change often? Personally, I would not trust a pullup for larger amounts of leakage. But, you say you dribble. I hear ya on the good days and bad days, thats my expereince too. A lot of us men find that even for light drip incontinence, briefs protect far better than pullups, because of the wider crotch and better padding coverage in the front. But, i have not tried the new depend for men, so i can't say for sure whether they would work for me. Has your doctor given you any hope of this being temporary? Do you know whether you will regain control? In my case, i don't know if ill ever be continent.

Your post isn't long at all.. i'm the one who tends to babble.. anyhoo.welcome to the board!

[dwentz]

I have to change about 3 times a day and mostly when I'm at home. I'm getting ready to go on a trip and decideing on how to get ridd of used pants . If any of you got any ideas I would like to have them.