www.incontinentsupport.org

My dribbling after urinating and spontaneous dribbling has definitely gotten worse over the last month or more. I definitely think the heavy lifting from my 2nd job (stocking in a liquor store) is the driver by impacting my pelvic floor muscles, much more so than my enlarged prostate.

I have to give up the job (or move behind the register) but I don't want to do this. I like the job and the company. Being behind the counter is boring when there aren't many customers. Stocking is my workout and it helps me keep my weight down to 120 or less. Last Saturday I stocked 60 cases of wine. Figure each one involves 30-35 lbs and I'm getting these cases off stacks in the back room, loading it onto a cart or dolly, hauling it out on to the floor, pulling it off the cart/dolly, putting it on the shelf, and then walking the empty boxes to the front of the store for customer use. I do this for 10 hrs a week on average (20-25 hrs over Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays). It's quite a workout. I wear a weightlifters belt to keep my back aligned but I guess that doesn't help the pelvic floor at all. Last Saturday I could feel drips leaking out at times during lifting instances.

I try to do pelvic floor exercises but remembering to do them is my problem. They are supposed to be done 3 times a day every day and takes 3-6 months to see improvement. I have to assume that they may not do much for me at all unless I quit the lifting.

I wear a pullup or diaper many days (more comfortable than pads which shift too much) but sometimes when wearing jeans I'll say screw it and stay in underwear. Haven't ever wet through a pair of jeans. Some days are just too bloody hot to wear any padding.

On a positive note, haven't wet the bed in a long time. Some nights I sleep bare and it feels wonderful.

G

Sorry to hear about your problems with heavy lifting. Re the pelvic floor exercises, I hear you. They are easy to forget or just skip, but then we begin to have pelvic floor problems again.

This may (probably will) sound strange to you, but think of what you do when exercising at the gym, or even when lifting in your job. We usually exercise against resistance. This also can apply to our pelvic floor exercises or Kegels. When I had to back off from doing very large number of Kegel exercises, I found that fewer exercises, but against resistance, provided greater improvement without causing chronic muscle fatigue.

By "resistance" I mean inserting a soft anal plug that the sphincter muscle can contract against during Kegel exercises. I use enemas to control my bowel incontinence and purchase retention enema nozzles from silicone nozzles.com. I bought a soft and pliable anal plug from them to use during Kegel exercises. I only use the inserted soft anal plug for Kegels about twice a week. The rest of the time I do them the usual way, without resistance. The combination has worked for me.

Try starting a Kegel contraction immediately prior to lifting. That should help reduce the sagging of your pelvic floor.

Don't forget that you can do Kegel exercises while at work or just walking around. While there is no guarantee that will be completely adequate to your needs, they should help.

Good luck and let all of us know how things are going. Feel free to PM me.

--John