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PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2018 7:35 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2018 3:42 pm
Posts: 2
Hi,
I want to introduce myself. I am a working mother of 3 whose incontinence has worsened after each of pregnancy. It started with stress incontinence after the first pregnancy. The second pregnancy led to urge incontinence with the occasional episode of stress incontinence. My last pregnancy has worsened both types of incontinence; my urge incontinence is the most troubling. It is manageable most of the time i.e. at work or around town because I can usually find a bathroom within a reasonable time. That is why I always wear at least an Always Discreet protective underwear. It does the job for the episodes when I leak with each laugh or cough. It also helps to have some protection if I begin to leak on the way to the bathroom. My commute to work can be 1.5-2hrs each way and an Always Discreet is insufficient so I wear a diaper for these specific situations. I will wear a diaper for my commute and then change into a my Always Discreet when I get to work. I will do the same when I leave work to go home.
My concern is this. I have done this routine for the past year and I have noticed that my urge incontinence is more severe when I am wearing the diaper than when I am wearing the Always. I can hold it much longer at work. It seems that the urgency is amplified when I am on the train. This is getting me worried that my incontinence is getting worse because I do not want to have to wear a diaper other than during the commute.

Thanks for hearing me vent
Samantha


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2018 8:58 pm 
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Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 11:45 am
Posts: 1836
Welcome. Many of us here started pretty much like you. The problem is, we are not medical professionals. I suggest you continue doing what works for you while you await an evaluation from a medical professional familiar with incontinence. Good luck and keep us informed.


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2018 10:00 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 2:50 pm
Posts: 687
Location: Oklahoma
Samantha,

Welcome to the group. Glad you have been able to figure out how to handle your incontinence. We all have come up with different ways of managing this issue along with various reason how our incontinence begin. I agree with Patrick concerning medical professionals if you haven't already.

Always feel free to vent here. Dealing with this is difficult enough and it is something that many of us will not even talk about with our close friends.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 3:50 pm 
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Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2012 2:44 pm
Posts: 447
Location: Seattle area
Hi Samantha,
Welcome to our little corner on the interwebs. As others have stated, we have no answers for WHY this has happened to us, but we have lots of great suggestions for ways to manage the condition. In my case, I suggest that you look into diaper doublers. These are like pads, but they have no water proof backing. When I use a pull-up instead of a diaper, I will use a doubler pad to make the usable life more reasonable. One that works very well for me is Total Dry Boostups, which can be found at many incon supply places including Amazon. This could allow you to stay with your favorite pullup and might even work during your commute.

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- Tom


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 4:40 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 02, 2016 3:37 pm
Posts: 59
Hi Samantha,

Like you, my issues are largely manageable around the house or running known errands where I know how the next hour or two are going to play out. Like you I typically only wear protection while out travelling or in situations that are not convenient to go to the bathroom within a few minutes of that first urge striking.

It's the longer trips where things are more unknown that cause anxiety. Using protection has resulted in becoming more comfortable using it, and responding more readily when an urge strikes. So yes, while wearing a diaper, every urge that comes along gets passed through to the diaper, sometimes almost unconsciously. When not wearing a diaper I do hold it, and I can hold it beyond the first urge. But beyond the first urge it becomes a crap-shoot. If the urge is bad and painful, and I've been having a lot of them, then the risk of having an accident goes way up. If the urge is not as bad and haven't been as frequent, I can typically wait a bit, though it's seldom more than 15 minutes from the first urge to the point I'm not comfortable risking it anymore.

After almost 3 years of this, my symptoms are stable. I haven't noticed that things are getting progressively worse. There are bad days where the urges are more frequent and more severe, and better days where I have almost no urges.


But as Patrick said, we're not medical professionals. Just people who suffer from similar conditions. If you haven't, you may want to see a urologist to see if anything can improve your symptoms.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 5:57 pm 
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Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:03 pm
Posts: 167
All in all, our bladders can be downright devious little gremlins with their very own moods and BIG ATTITUDES !

That being said,

I believe this topic has come up before, in varied forms, as experienced by others. It's psychological. It's like: If we can, we will.
(if we can wet and feel safe doing so, we tend to rise to the level of protection or proximity of restrooms, etc.)

Just as some talk of the 'key in the lock syndrome' where you are headed home quickly and you hold and you hold and
finally make it to the front door. Just as your key turns the lock to enter, your bladder voids with wild abandon! Yes,
your bladder followed your wishes and efforts to hold until you got home -- but not quite until you got to the toilet, just
a few feet away.

Sometimes, I feel the more we discuss this, the more we agitate the bladder gremlins so that they soon return with yet
new and more intense challenges in our daily lives. Diaper up thick and they respond proportionately. Scale back to
something less bulky and they devilishly treat us with scaled-down leaks. It's the game they play.

Who else has often wondered if gremlins really do have remote control over our tricky bladders?


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 7:54 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2018 3:42 pm
Posts: 2
Well said john.
Incontinence is a beast that adapts and evolves to strike when I am most confident to remind me that I have this bothersome problem.
Though even on the worst of days, I am reminded that all things considered, this is a minor health problem


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PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 9:37 am 
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Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 11:45 am
Posts: 1836
I guess, for most of us, incontinence is minor: embarrassing, but manageable. But not for all of us. At its worst, my bladder was pumping urine back up into my kidneys, which was excruciatingly painful. Although a urinary sphincterotomy solved that, if left untreated, it could have destroyed my kidneys. Which is reason enough to urge everyone who is incontinent to seek competent medical advice. And, because our bodies and our incontinence change over time, staying in regular touch with that medical professional is necessary.


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PostPosted: Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:38 am 
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Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2015 7:51 pm
Posts: 863
Location: Hampton Roads, Virginia
Welcome Samantha!!

And well said John!

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When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

Marcus Aurelius


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