www.incontinentsupport.org

Support for dealing with incontinence
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:04 pm

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 14 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: New Here
PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 7:19 am 
Offline

Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2017 8:16 am
Posts: 220
Location: Ohio
Hi! I, too, am new to this forum. Thank you for adding me!

Most of this info is cross-posted on another thread, but now that I have a better feel for how this forum works, thought I'd throw it out here as a new topic.

I'm a soon-to-be 50 yr old guy who, over the past 2-3 years has become increasingly incontinent of urine. The abbreviated version is my daytime issues seems to be well controlled with medication and strengthening exercises, but I am now diaper dependent at night for the past 4 months and counting. I joined this forum to learn about my/our issues, and to hopefully find answers to some questions as they come up - particularly as my urologist offers different courses of treatment.

What we know so far is that I have a lazy bladder, and that I wet the bed nightly, waking up dry only once every couple weeks. I go back to the urologist next week for a follow-up. I am currently experimenting, trying to find the right combination of diapers/doublers/plastic pants so I don't leak. Fortunately, I have great support from my wife, so wearing diapers to bed has become very normal and routine for me...just a matter-of-fact part of life.

At this point, I'm trying to figure out if I should keep searching for a "solution," or accept that diapers are the solution. I'm fine either way, but the roller coaster of "let's try this next and see if it works" is getting tiresome, so we are ready to just commit to diapers and get on with my life.

Looking forward to being an active part of this community.

_________________
"When you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: New Here
PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 8:38 am 
Offline

Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 11:45 am
Posts: 1836
Welcome.

My experience with the medications commonly prescribed for urinary incontinence was that they were all side-effect, no cure. Myrbetriq works in that it diminishes my bladder spasms; however, it is extremely expensive; my insurance does not cover it, and I still experience spasms from time to time. For me, diapers are a far better management tool than the medications I have been offered.

I look forward to your correspondence here.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: New Here
PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 10:03 am 
Offline

Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2017 8:16 am
Posts: 220
Location: Ohio
Thanks, Patrick. At this point, I'm taking Flomax twice a day, with the goal of managing my daytime issues. It took a while to adjust to it, but at this point the main side effect is the stuffy nose. Will see how it goes over time. What I've been able to tell from research and the forums is that most of the "cures" are ineffective at best, and potentially worsen the situation at worst, so I'm hoping for input from others as my urologist offers different treatment options. So far, he is talking about making a cut or two to my prostate to allow my bladder to empty easier (not something that gives me the warm and fuzzies) or cathing myself nightly before bed. Both of these options sound less appealing to me than wearing diapers, though I can see the possibility that there could be times that self catheterization could be a nice option (travelling, etc).

From what I've been able to tell from the forums, it looks like I should expect my condition to deteriorate? At this point, I'm kind of tired of waking up dry and thinking that, maybe things are getting better, only to be wet again for the next two weeks. I'm way too busy to worry about it and keep "wondering" if it will get better, so I'm kinda ready to just plan on wearing diapers the rest of my life and move on.

_________________
"When you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: New Here
PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 3:07 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 10:46 am
Posts: 119
Welcome 5bugles.
When you say that you have a "lazy bladder", do you mean you have urge incontinence such that you can't hold it or do you have overflow incontinence such that you still feel you have to urinate after emptying your bladder


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: New Here
PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 6:33 pm 
Offline

Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2017 8:16 am
Posts: 220
Location: Ohio
It doesn't empty all the way. After giving a urine sample and voiding, it still held nearly 400 ml. My symptoms are kind of all over the place, so I think the lazy bladder was a safe place to start.

During the day, I would get sudden overwhelming urges and would often leak or start to flood before I could get to the bathroom. At night, sometimes I would wake up mid-stream, while others I would just wet the bed without waking up (at least until it got a little chilly..lol). So I guess it would be more of an urge incontinence, but I can still tell that it doesn't empty all the way. It came on over time, but started to worsen significantly this past spring.

At this point, the Flomax seems to help with day time issues, but night time is the same or possibly worsening, ie: I don't wake up mid-stream as often as I used to, and only wake up dry once every couple weeks.

_________________
"When you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: New Here
PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 9:51 pm 
Offline
moderator
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 2:50 pm
Posts: 687
Location: Oklahoma
Welcome to the group. You will find a lot of useful information here along with the diaper primer and introduction to wearing diapers http://www.incontinentsupport.org/Intro ... iapers.pdf.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: New Here
PostPosted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 6:44 am 
Offline

Joined: Sun Oct 20, 2013 3:45 pm
Posts: 1943
Location: North Carolina - Raleigh area
Welcome to the group, 5bugles!

It is good that you had the courage to find medical help.

As you already are aware, there are several options available to you and much of it, such as surgery, self-catheterization, and wearing diapers comes down to risk-acceptance and personal choice.

--John
(double incontinent)


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: New Here
PostPosted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 8:43 am 
Offline

Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2012 11:15 am
Posts: 292
Location: Mississauga, Ontario
Please also allow me to extend to you my personal welcome to the group.

This site certainly does contain a lot of useful information about how to manage incontinence and lead a normal life despite it. However, one thing to keep in mind is the majority of us here are people for whom the various treatments that our physicians prescribed did not work. People for whom the treatments did work rarely participate in this and similar forums because they are no longer incontinent. I make this point to help you get a proper perspective on the generally pessimistic view that people on this forum have about various treatments for incontinence.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: New Here
PostPosted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 9:27 am 
Offline

Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2017 8:16 am
Posts: 220
Location: Ohio
Great points! As a firefighter, I've been indoctrinated with the concept of risk vs. benefit, so being able to research and talk to others about their experiences is paramount to making the right decisions for me (and my wife, who is very supportive in all of this). I'm learning how to search the forums (wow, there are a lot of threads and a lot of information on here!) so I'm starting to find some answers. At this point, it's all kind of new, so while I'm adjusting very well to my current situation, I can't help but wonder what the future will hold and how things will progress for me. For now, I'm just gonna roll with it and see where it goes.

_________________
"When you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: New Here
PostPosted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 10:12 am 
Offline

Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2017 11:44 am
Posts: 51
Hey, welcome to the community! As I see that you are firefighter, you must have lead rather a little bit of an stressful life. Maybe it has some impact to your current situation and as you say that you are wetting bed at night, but not that much during the day maybe it's some traumatic events, the stress, unusual feeling at night that is entirely subconscious, that makes you urinate without control? Mental issues can have very big impact on those kind of things and the worst case is, that you don't even realize them as they are mostly subconscious and out of your control.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 14 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group