www.incontinentsupport.org

No, it was not successful. In fact it seemed to actually make some of the "issues" worse.

It was explained to me that surgery could very possibly make my incon issues worse. Now, years later, I have very little, if any control of my bladder so I can't imagine things could get worse. In my case any surgery would not be done to help my incontinence but would instead be to try and repair problems with my lower back. I still believe that I will end up having to go under the knife for my back. I seem to aggravate it quite often lately and it feels as if there is no strength in it at times to support my body. The numbness in my legs has been spreading and when I'm tired I have trouble walking correctly.

DDS,

I can relate to your situation pretty easily as it sounds like we share many of the same back problems. I would only consider having surgery again as a last resort. I know there is little to nothing the doc's can do for nerve damage, so unless I have a pinched nerve that is so severe that surgery is the only hope,.... I will not consider surgery as an option. I see little up side and a lot of unnecessary ricks.

I'm not having any "severe" back problems, so my doc's have not recommended surgery. I'm mobile, and consider my back problems to be "stable". I have bad days from time-to-time, but for the most part, I'm able to get around without a lot of pain. I'm sure you take a lot of nerve meds too, and for me, they seem to help which causes less pain. One of my doc's told me last week that the main cause of my back problems was Cauda Equnia Syndrome (CES). I've been told I had a form of this before. I use to have a doc that danced around the issues and wouldn't come right out and say I had CES. From what I understand, I don't have CES as bad as some,..... which is good as long as it remains stable and doesn't get any worse.

I don't care about being incontinent as long as I don't have a lot of pain and can remain mobile. Like you, I also have numbness but the numbness I experience only effects certain portions of my left leg and thigh and is intermittent. To me, being incontinent has the least amount of importance compared to having severe pain and lack of mobility. I'm sure I would feel differently if being incontinent was my only health concern.

One of my biggest fears is digressing to the point that surgery is no longer an option and becomes an accepted risk. I'd like to think my condition will remain "stable" forever, but I know that's not realistic,..... and in time, I will surcome to digression with age. The good news is so far this has been a very slow process. I've been bladder incontinent since 1986, and didn't become bowel incontinent until about a year and half ago. That happened very slowly over time and until I finally just gave up. I would obviously be very happy if my back problems remained stable for the next 20 years, but I don't think that's going to happen,.... but it's a pleasant thought.

My point to all of this is.......avoid surgery if possible. It is however, the inevitable for many of us who suffer from back injuries.

I agree 100% with avoiding surgery if at all possible! It seems as if the mental "let down", at first was very difficult, I honestly thought surgery would fix everything.
I was 27 at the time and thought that there was NO way I would ever wear a diaper.....ever, until I had my first accident in public, and then I couldn't live without wearing protection.
I was lucky enough to have had some great counselors to help me through it, but the bottom line with me was the desire to move on and live life.

Hi everyone, new guy here. I'm 60 yrs old, male, married with two kids. I'm not only new to the forum, I'm new to the whole incontinence thing. So here's my story.

About six months ago I started noticing I'd often have damp spots on my underwear, both during the day and when waking up in the morning. I brushed it off as nothing, since the amounts were so slight as to be negligible. Then about the beginning of April this year things got a bit more serious. Almost overnight the amount I'd have during the day was often enough to show through my pants and I won't even talk about the condition of the bed when I woke up in the morning.

On the first really wet day I went into the bathroom and held myself in my hand and watched as a drop appeared on the end of my penis. I dabbed it off with a kleenex and about thirty seconds later a second drop appeared. Finally, it was clear what was happening to me. The first morning I woke up really wet I just lay in it while my wife got ready for work. The second morning I got up with her and showed her what my underwear looked like and the dampness on my side of the bed. She was very understanding but said, "Honey, you gotta wear something."

So the next morning I went out and bought my first package of Depends pullups. Since then I have settled on pads during the day and the pullups at night.

I realize all this sounds like small potatoes compared to what most of you guys are putting up with and I want to say how much I admire those of you who continue to lead normal lives with much more volume, shall we say, than I have.

A bit of googling suggests I have overflow incontinence, verified by my internist who I saw soon after all this started happening. I have an appointment with my urologist next week after a seven week wait.

I'm also surprised by a couple of recent developments. Last week I had a major wetting accident, luckily while at home. I totally drenched myself when I didn't really feel I had to go that bad. I was twenty feet from the toilet and didn't make it! And twice last week I wet the bed fairly substantially. Back into the diapers at night for me.

I see this is getting rather lengthy, so I'll keep watching. More later.

_________________
Fred

Fred,

Thanks for your first post and welcome to the forum. Getting an appointment with your urologist is a good ideal. Hopefully it's something he can look at and find a cure. Usually, it's not something he can find out really fast. Let him know everything. It could be your prostate. That's the first thing that can effect a male.
In the meantime, you're taking care of your leaks with protection. Don't be ashamed of it. It's the best way to cope untill your doctor can help you. Keep us up to date! ..............Paul Martin

Welcome Fred. Please keep us informed on what you find out.

Paul, as you can see from my first post I'm not one to hold back information. My internist said my prostate was slightly enlarged and he felt a nodule. Since he knew I'd be seeing my urologist within a couple of weeks he didn't do any further testing.

Yes. I'm not the slightest bit embarrassed, although I don't want to wear a sign on my back. I thought it'd be like buying condoms when I was eighteen but I guess when you reach my age you just learn not to give a damn. I'm still experimenting with pads, underwear and full size diapers with tape on the sides. One advantage of my type of incontinence is predictibility; I'm just gonna drip, so pads in the day and pullups at night seem to do the trick. That one major wetting accident worries me, however. It's just happened once, but yesterday my wife and I took the train into the city to see a Broadway show and I went fully diapered, as we were gone for over eight hours. I can't afford to be in the middle of the first act and nine people from the aisle and suddenly find myself letting loose a quart or so. Imagine walking fifteen blocks to Penn Station, then an hour on the train in that condition! So I'll trust the lesser stuff and save the didies for the really long days.

_________________
Fred

Well, I finally saw my urologist yesterday. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. As it turns out my self-diagnosis was completely wrong. I had read symptoms and figured that overflow incontinence was closest to what was happening to me, but the urologist tells me that's not so. For one thing, my prostate is completely normal. They did a test where I voided and they scanned my bladder. I'm emptying my bladder completely. I have no problem starting a flow and my stream is strong. The doctor says that he doesn't know what's causing me to drip and dribble all day and all night. He suspects it's one of three things: a weak sphincter, some neurological issue or perhaps the beginnings of OAB. Even though I don't have urges which send me running to the toilet, he says it's possible I'm having small contractions that I'm not feeling.

Next month I'm scheduled for a Urodynamics test, where I'll be catheterized and filled with a fluid. They can check a number of things (I need to do a bit more research here) so we'll see if the doctor gets any further clarification. I asked if it's likely to get worse, but the doctor says until he knows what's causing it it's hard to say. In the meantime, I'll continue to protect myself against my slow but steady leakage and just wait and see.

_________________
Fred

Well, I had my urodynamics test, but first I might point out that something new developed between my urologist appointment last month and the test yesterday. I've never had any strong or uncontrollable urges before, but three or four times in the last couple of weeks I've been sitting here feeling perfectly normal, when suddenly, within a period of two or three seconds, I've had a very strong urge to go to the bathroom. The feeling lasted maybe five seconds and then went away with no loss, until the other day when a similar spasm produced a pretty good squirt. So it looks like OAB might be the best diagnosis, which was confirmed yesterday by the uro who did the urodynamics test. He ruled out any sphincter problem. When I asked it it would get worse, he said "well, it usually doesn't get better."

The urodynamics test was done by a different doctor who will report his findings to my regular uro, so we'll see what he tells me when we have the next appointment.

_________________
Fred