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I went out for lunch with my wife today. WIth the warm weather and outdoor seating, I figured that I would wear one of my pullon. It would be more discrete and more comfortable in the warm weather.
I changed out of my northshore supreme from the morning and put on a tranquility pullon. We were ONLY going to be out for an hour or two so whats the worse that can happen - or so I thought.
Our clubhouse has finally opened to allow outdoor seating. My wife agreed to drive so I had one cocktail to start. We saw some old buddies so I had another cocktail. What should have been a 2 hour lunch was now 4 hours. I had already had several voids with the laughter and banter and I didn't want to embarrass myself so I hinted to my wife that it was time to go home.
The clubhouse is only 30min from our home. I placed a seat protector on my seat just in case. Luckily that I did because pollen in the air caused me to have a coughing fit. I started coughing and the leaks started and wouldn't stop. The voids were too much for my pullon. Luckily the seat protector protected my leather seat. My wife could tell from my surprised look that I had leaked and tried to make it home quicker but it was too late.
I learned my lesson that I should play it more safe. I should have either brought a spare diaper to change into or just wore my usual diaper instead of taking this chance.
Oh well, no harm done.

Thank you for that all-too-familiar tale. There is no such thing as too much protection.

Yes, I read an interesting article about risk homeostasis. Its a phenomena in patient safety that explains why rates of injury stay high despite safety precautions. Humans adjust their behavior to maintain a certain level of acceptable risk.

To apply this in my case, my tolerance for a leak is pretty high. I get leaks every month or so and it doesn't bother me much at this point. I don't get embarassed as I did in the past. Usually its not noticeable because its a small wet spot along the leg gathers. Its very rare that its noticeable. In fact, I don't carry a spare change of clothes because I can't remember the last time I needed to use it.

With that being said, I subconsciously push the envelope at times - today's episode is an example of that. Don't know what I was thinking.

Whenever I feel that a pull-up is appropriate I will often add a small booster or male guard pad to it. But I only take a very small piece of the strip covering the adhesive on the back off so it's easy to remove without damaging the inner layer of the pull-up. That way when I feel the pad may be soaked I can just head to the bathroom and remove it. When using this "protection plan" I'll usually carry a spare pad in my pocket so I can add it to the pull-up if I think I'll need the additional capacity. I've done this many times and found it to work well, and it's very discreet.

Thats a clever idea. You are using the pullon almost like a reusable product.
How often are you changing the booster pad with this strategy?
The pullon is still absorbing whatever flows through the booster. How long can your pullon last before it also needs to get changed.
It sounds like this would work well if I need some light coverage for a couple of hours and the booster system can be a backup plan.

When I've inserted a Male Guard pad (non flow-through) it has happened that the pull-up didn't get wet at all so saying "almost reusable" is correct. If using a booster (flow-through type) it totally depends on the size and frequency of my voids but generally speaking I find a booster will last a few hours. Then of course it depends on the quality of the pull-up as to how long that will last. If it's a premium like an Abena Flex or Molicare Mobile I can easily go another 3 or 4 hours, obviously longer if I add another pad.
Another great thing about this strategy is that it's so quick and easy to remove the pad once soaked. Heck, I even did it once while filling up my car right there at the pump. Then I just folded it up and dropped it into the nearby trash can, took all of ten seconds.

i had this almost same thing happen to me i had been shamed for wearing something that showed even under my pants and had started using less of the good ones and more of the ones the state gave me needless to say i went full on back to the northshore ones and told the people that shamed me for useing them to go suck eggs

It sounds like you use the guards more than the booster.
I assume that its because the male guards are more convenient to purchase because every pharmacy and grocery store has them.
I've used boosters before but not male guards to increase the performance of the diaper.
Are you worried that because the guard is not flow through and can sit above the leg gathers - that a void could actually increase the likelihood of a leak because it sits above the leg gather?

skitennislife:
I do use the Guards a lot more than the boosters. I like them because they don't flow through and therefore generally keep the diaper dry until I want to use just the pull-up or diaper. I especially like the WalMart Assurance brand for a couple of reasons, they are very reasonably priced (around 15 cents ea.), they hold quite a bit even though they are a bit thinner width-wise than other brands, and they have small stand-up leak guards which help keep wetness on the pad.
You do have a good point about the Guards potentially interfering with the diaper's standing leak guards but I haven't found that to be a problem. It may be because I try to change them out before they become completely soaked and also possibly due to the smaller width of the Assurance Guards. I also always do a fit check to make sure the leg elastics are firmly against my legs and not being interfered with.

The booster/guard supplement will allow me to use up my stock of pullon briefs.
I tried it today and it has worked quite well.
I don't know how well changing out a guard/booster will work with a tabbed diaper though.