www.incontinentsupport.org

So.... I am a little hesitant to share my story here- but i've come so far from where i was and here I am.

Just over 1 year ago I was rear ended in a car crash in the morning. That crash really soon brought on a
slew of symptoms, pains and such- back pains, whiplash, odd neurological symptoms- tingling, pain, weakness, and very strange
pelvic pains and urinary symptoms- retention, painful urination & straining, frequency- to being unable to pee at all
and now to dribbling and leaking a bit here and there.... And i have had quite a bit of depression, anxiety, panic attacks,
ptsd, etc.
Went through an onslaught of tests, mri's, x-rays, therapies, doctors, etc-
I probably saw about a handful of specialists and several urologists... Now i am kinda glad most of it is behind me
and i only have to wear a nappy.

I am not sure how permissible or "PC" it is to say this here but I find it far more preferable to have a bit of incontinence
compared to having excruciating pelvic pain, urinary retention to the point of being totally unable to pee at all and
having a cath shoved in for "relief" (nothing much relieving about shoving a catheter into urethra), and rather painful urination....
A good many of the docs i saw were either incompetent, or lacked the skills and mannerisms to treat me
After having gone through the hell i went through- i am glad to be able to relieve myself without pain even though sometimes
I dont have absolute control over when i relieve myself.
One kinda loses a lot of his self dignity and initial self pride when he is laying there having nurses shove a tube in his penis because he can't pee and the entire pelvic area hurts like hell.
Things do seem to flare up a bit when i get anxious or stressed. But the therapy sessions help me some as well as using my comfort objects, and oddly... my nappy provides me the sense of security and safety. That was rather helpful when i was at my lowest point earlier this year and last year with panic attacks, pain, depression, etc

I will say that after having picked up myself I have a different sense of pride
Now I am training for a half marathon so wish me luck

Welcome to the group kdlstar. Many of us have found various ways to handle are incontinence. Good luck with your training.

Thank you very much batman (btw love your username)
I have been on some other groups and saw the ADISC- they have some very helpful folks there
I hope to share in some helpful tips and tricks with other incont. folks here.
I won't go into the extremely lengthy story of my car crash and the crazy hell
following it- suffice it to say I have a new lease on life and have a sense of tolerance, determination
and sense of self following my experiences of last year or so.

kdlsstar,

Although incontinence is not usually thought of as a painful condition, depending on what causes it, it can be painful indeed. As you have discovered, the examinations and treatments for incontinence can be embarrassing, humiliating, and, yes, painful. Incontinence is not for the squeamish or the easily embarrassed. When doctors and their staffs work on me, I try to remind myself that they see this multiple times every day they're at work, that I'm no different than every other male they've worked on. But, to be honest, I don't believe myself. I want my dignity; I want my independence, and I want my freedom, all of which incontinence denies me. Welcome.

Thanks Patrick for welcoming me here

" As you have discovered, the examinations and treatments for incontinence can be embarrassing, humiliating, and, yes, painful. Incontinence is not for the squeamish or the easily embarrassed. When doctors and their staffs work on me, I try to remind myself that they see this multiple times every day they're at work, that I'm no different than every other male they've worked on. But, to be honest, I don't believe myself. I want my dignity; I want my independence, and I want my freedom, all of which incontinence denies me. Welcome."

Before all of this, I felt like a young guy getting started with life- I could run, hike, bike, and was slowly getting back into shape after starting new job
And I did NOT have any excruciating pains in my pelvic area. But after i was rear ended, my body seemed to go haywire. I never experienced anything
like that in my life- and it really fueled many panic attacks, my ptsd and an extreme fear of car crashes...
What i found out, after a long, arduous and painful research is something called "Pelvic pain syndrome" or more accurately- "Pelvic Floor Dysfunction" -
and that in part explains what was going on with my pelvic floor and some of the reasons why i got so much pain and symptoms in pelvic region (ie. pain in my penis & scrotum, urinary hesitancy -> severe urinary retention & frequency -> some intermittent incontinence)
Dr. Wise & Anderson over at Stanford along with the urology dept. actually put together a protocol for addressing this (see "Stanford Protocol")
Here is a link to a video where he describes in some depth the function and nature of the pelvic floor and how pelvic floor dysfunction causes so much....dysfunction in the region.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFryUqNCJf0

In short, when I initially complained of all my pelvic pain & symptoms I was diagnosed incorrectly with "non-bacterial prostatits" - this is an oft overused and quite abused umbrella diagnosis that doesn't even begin to capture what was happening. The Pelvic floor I could tell felt oddly tense and "excited" all the time following my accident. And even during the crash I recall bracing extremely hard to keep control of my vehicle- and my entire body tensed up. I became stuck in this sort of tense state for many months- and it got quite a bit worse and fast. I knew deep down that I felt too tense to urinate- you know when you pee, you kinda have to relax your pelvic floor muscles & sphincters- but i wasn't able to do that for long time (And my dysuria caused me to clench my pelvis further). After a LOT of both regular and pelvic floor therapy, massage, relaxation, meditation, pain meds & injections, etc I finally was able to walk, run, and urinate- though now I'm kinda stuck with some intermittent incontinence that mainly flares up when really panicky and anxious

I do agree that the urology test are quite intrusive. But I really lost my former sense of dignity after I became unable to urinate. It really didn't help much that during one of my ER visits I had after a rather extreme panic attack where I had become unable to pee, the nurse standing right outside my door was jokingly discussing who was going to cath me. I kinda cried after that.
Now I have learned to better embrace life- so long as I can move, walk, hike, and pee without pain, I think I will be alright

Kdlstar,

You can lose your "false modesty," but no one can make you lose your dignity.

Many of us here have been through those tests and understand.

Awesome about training for the half marathon!

--John

Kdlstar

Welcome to our family here.

Im sure that any questions that you may have, someone on here probably has the answers and may have gone through what you have going on.
So don't be shy and ask away.

Good luck on your training.
Back before my accident, I used to run about 3 miles every day. Now I have to have knee braces to keep me from falling down.

Schoppy