www.incontinentsupport.org

To those here that suffer with some type of mental disorder, does it effect your incontinence in anyway? I myself have Depression/MDD, I know for sure that during the low times my incontinence gets worse.

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Bob

The worst my depression is i agree that my incon worsens

for me it seems to differentiate either way. I get bad anxiety along with some depression.

I have an anxiety condition, and it definitely worsens incontinence issues. Frequency and urgency are both exacerbated by anxiety. That incessant, low level, "I have to go" feeling is much more emphatic when anxiety symptoms are acting up. On the flip side, taking proactive steps to manage incontinence symptoms almost always mitigates anxiety symptoms. My doctor listened to me talk about this once and said that she thinks both sets of symptoms may originate in my prostate. As she put it: "Neurotransmitters!"

I have bipolar disorder and my medication effects my incontinence some I'm sure. I'm on lithium so there's that. As far as moods go I dont think so. When I'm depressed a lot of times these days its because of my incontinence. I have good days and bad.

I have a schizoaffective disorder. I'm on an Atypical Antipsychotic and was previously on Depakote. My continence has got worse over time. It is managed well though. I live in supported housing and is managed discreetly. I think incontinence issues are quite common with people on high dose antipsychotics and mood stabilisers. When I have been involuntarily hospitalised (sectioned) my IC issues was always treated discreetly and respectfully. I always got my staff to bring my pads and belongings to the hospital as they use Tena Slips Cloth backed and I hate those.

I recently had to stay in the psych ward, and was put on Wellbutrin. I use to take anti depressant but stopped, probably shouldn't have. So now I'm getting back in getting care, My psychiatrist is considering adding a anti-psychotic to what I'm already taking and upping the dosage of the Wellbutrin. I'm just wondering what to avoid to help prevent worsening my IC issues

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Bob

I have depression, and my meds do effect my IC, as well as my ED. Makes my "unit" rather decorative, but my life is far better overall.

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- Tom

I'm not sure about mental illness, but recent events have shown me that physical illness can certainly play a role. And I know from past experience that depression also had physical impacts on the body, so it seems likely that mental illness could impact incontinence symptoms.

I deal with both depression and anxiety, my anxiety is definitely affected by my IC, and my IC is often made worse by my anxiety. The very idea that someone might find out about my IC is terrifying, and it will start to snowball into this huge thing, with all of my other anxieties feeding into it, and before I know it I'm having a full on panic attack. It's possible that with me being so paranoid about being found out, that I may be going to the restroom far too much, and not giving myself any room to build and maintain muscle strength, which could be worsening my IC. I'll have my highs and lows, where I'll go a period of time dealing with everything really well, and other times where I really struggle.