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Support for dealing with incontinence
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 3:22 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2018 1:09 pm
Posts: 14
Location: Oklahoma
Hi, guys. Just thought I would say hi and everything. I'm male, 42, and diagnosed with urge incontinence and OAB a few months ago by my local physician. Since maybe February I have been having very strong urges to urinate just "all of a sudden", lol. After it starts, this "urge" continues for maybe thirty seconds to one minute before the urge to urinate subsides. The thing is, there is usually not much urine in the bladder when I get this strong urge...anywhere from maybe a half ounce to two and a half ounces of urine (though, sometimes more). Rest assured, though, each time I have an "episode", I leak enough urine to make it a bad day for me. My local physician referred me to a urologist, but I had to cancel my expensive health insurance in May, so I will have to wait until the first of the year to see him. Until then, I am getting by pretty well by wearing a Depend "Real Fit" to catch leaks. One thing that helps, is to put a Tena Guard inside of the Depend. That way, I can easily take it out of the Depend and go on about my day.

One other thing is that I have to get up to urinate anywhere from two to three times in the night, usually waking me! Lol. Sometimes I leak a little bit in my sleep, but the Depend catches it. However, about once a week, my body doesn't "alert" me to use the bathroom, and I leak a whole lot, more than what the Depend it designed for, I guess, and it reaches the mattress pad cover. Luckily, because of pets, we have some sort of insulated mattress pad cover, so it doesn't reach the actual mattress, and I can just wash the cover easily. I told my Wife to buy some of those "puppy pads" so I can put one on the mattress, that way if I DO leak, it will hopefully just hit the puppy pad. Well, that's all for now. hope everyone has a good week.


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 6:33 pm 
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Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 11:45 am
Posts: 1836
Welcome. I regretted reading that you will be forced to wait until your new health insurance kicks in to get a full workup. While you wait, you might consider increasing your level of protection to one or more of the premium brands folks here use, as a way of ensuring a dry bed and more protection during the day.

I hope you will find the information and support here useful.


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 7:00 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2018 1:09 pm
Posts: 14
Location: Oklahoma
Thanks. For nighttime use, I've been looking at the Abena Abri-Flex pullup, but without trying every brand/model, it's hard to know what really works. These Depend Real-Fit I use during the day work great and have a blackish grey waistband, so it doesn't look like a diaper if I reach up or bend down. I have no idea what has caused this urge incontinence basically all of a sudden. I have no UTIs, no known medical conditions like MS that might cause this. Back in July or August of last year, I did have a surgery/procedure where they cauterized various nerves in my scrotum to help alleviate pain in my testicles, which didn't help, but unless that procedure somehow interfered with not being able to hold my urine, I have no idea what is causing it.


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 8:34 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 2:50 pm
Posts: 687
Location: Oklahoma
Welcome to the group. Some of us have a direct link to what caused our incontinence and then there has been others that have no idea why. There is a lot of great information contained here. The search function works well. It was good to read that you have already started trying different forms of protection and realized you can use a guard inside the brief. I cannot tell you the number of combinations I have gone through to find what finally works for me.

Have you brought up to your doctor it about this started happening after cauterized various nerves procedure?


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 9:16 pm 
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Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 8:01 pm
Posts: 554
Location: Florida
Hi urgeoab76 welcome to the group! You've definitely come to the right place for help as there are a huge number of experienced members here that should be able to answer almost any question you have concerning incontinence.

It sounds like the Depend Real-Fits are borderline for your daytime needs and I would suggest trying a Tena Men's Pull-up. You can purchase them online at Northshore Care Supply. I feel they have a bit more capacity then the Real-Fit and it too has a colored waist band and vertical stripes that makes it look like "sporty" underwear. If you add a Tena Guard to the Tena pull-up it sounds like you would be OK for daytime use. However I would recommend always having a spare pad with you to change out a soaked one should the need arise. If that still isn't enough an Abena or Northshore Supply Go Supreme would be a good next step up pull-up.

For night time use it sounds like you should be using higher capacity protection. I like to use a premium quality pull-up like the Abena or NS Go Supreme and then I add a folded cotton cloth inside. The cloth I use is a Walmart "Flour Sack Cloth" (5 for $5) that I fold in half three times. It adds a huge amount of capacity, absorbs floods very quickly, and then distributes it to the pull-up. I then add a Gary PUL plastic pant over that just to be sure of no leaks. The plastic pant may well be overkill in your case but it does give peace of mind. This combo works well as it allows you to just pull everything down and use the toilet normally in the case that you do wake up.

BTW...You should check out the Northshore Care Supply website. They have a huge selection of incontinence products at good prices and their customer service is second to none. Hope this helps and please feel free to ask any question you may have, we are here to help.


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 12:05 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2018 1:09 pm
Posts: 14
Location: Oklahoma
Batman381327: I have not brought the nerve cauterization thing up to my doctor, mainly because it just popped into my head the other day. I just got to thinking that after all those nerves fully healed, there might have been one "errant" one that either didn't heal correctly, or was related to me being able to contain urine properly. I have a feeling they are NOT related, but it's worth a shot to bring it up to the Urologist when I see him next year.

Padded 53: I used to have some Depend Real-Fit from last year that were a lighter color, so I found the last unused one I had to see what the difference was beside the lighter color. The best I can remember, the crotch and butt area was just about the same width of absorption area, but the front was wider by approximately a quarter inch on each side. Superior to the new ones. The Tena Guards for Men are wider than the current Depend I wear now, and fill that extra gap I need there, lol. After I go through these Depend Real-Fit underwear, I just might take you up on the offer of using the Tena Men's Pull-Up. I noticed the absorbent zone width specification on them is 7 inches, the Depend I use look closer to 6 inches (I used a dollar bill, which is 6.14 inches in length, and the absorbent area in the Depend appears to be just a bit less than 6 inches), so right off the bat, they are wider where I need it! The absorbency on the Tena is 19oz. which is plenty, as I usually "spill" anywhere from less than an ounce to maybe two or three oz. each time I have an accident. One day, I did an "experiment", lol with a measuring beaker/cup thing my Urologist gave me. I decided to measure how much urine was in a "gotta go now" type urge. In my mind, it felt like my bladder was full, but there was right at 2 and a half ounces, only. Weird how the brain and bladder work or don't work properly. I'm no doctor, and I am usually not the type to read medical sites and "diagnose" myself, but it just seems to me that maybe it's some nerve issue. You know, maybe messages are not being sent properly to my bladder and vice versa? I dunno, it could be anything, though. Well, catch you all later. Have a good week.


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 12:31 pm 
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Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2017 8:16 am
Posts: 220
Location: Ohio
Greetings, Urge, and welcome! A couple thoughts as I read through your posts: I would suggest a washable bed protector pad instead of puppy pads. I have found that they stay in place much better than disposable ones. On the other hand, if you upgrade your nighttime protection, you may not need an additional mattress pad. As far as your nerve cauterization, I would definitely talk to your doctor about it...seems like your issues started not too long after that procedure.

Good luck and welcome!

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


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 12:49 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2018 1:09 pm
Posts: 14
Location: Oklahoma
5bugles: Fortunately, I do have a washable mattress pad cover. It does a very good job of preventing urine from reaching the actual mattress. My Wife ordered some cheap puppy pads, I think 2x3 feet are the dimensions, but don't know how thick they are, but at least something is better than nothing until I can figure out an appropriate nighttime pull-up or brief to wear. With these Depend Real-Fit, they at least look like your average underwear (albeit, with a big bulge of padding in front lol!), so I can walk around the house in them and not feel too embarrassed, even though my Wife says it's nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm just afraid some other brand, though effective they may be in the night, will look all bulky like a baby's diaper. That's life, I guess.


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 1:46 pm 
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Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 8:01 pm
Posts: 554
Location: Florida
urgeoab76: One trick a lot of us use to "disguise" our diapers is to wear a dark colored boxer brief over it. It covers even a thicker premium pull-up very well and even provides a little support should your diaper get a bit heavy.

One other thing I forgot to mention in my first post was if you order from Northshore Care Supply you can ask for a few samples so you can try their various products out before ordering a large amount and finding it's not right for your needs.


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 9:32 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 2:50 pm
Posts: 687
Location: Oklahoma
My neurogenic bladder come on gradually when I started to have issues and it just kept getting worse. It wasn't till a doctor asked some questions that we were able to tie the common denominator back to when I had a mini stroke even though at first I had thought I had a quick recovery. I told my PCM on one of my irritating days "It seems I was in great health before that stroke and now I have neurogenic bladder, migranes, restless leg syndrome and some other issues. What happen? She in turned told me basically the stroke was like my body getting into an accident. comparing it to a car going into a body shop she said it may come out looking like the accident never happen, but there will always be that spot where the paint didn't blend well or the alignment is different and so forth.

I would recommend telling your doctor about the nerve thing as it may be a piece of the puzzle they will need to look at. It may also allow them to look to see if something did happen to those nerves down there.


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