www.incontinentsupport.org

Hello,
I am grateful to have found this forum. I am a married mother of 3 with longstanding stress incontinence. I have been involved in outdoor activities and athletics all my life and played college soccer. My body has taken a beating with having 3 pregnancies and multiple orthopedic surgeries. I try to eat healthy and live as active of a life as possible.
I have managed my stress incontinence with pads for the past 20 years or so. It started during college and got worse after marriage and the kids. I could get away with a pad here or there at first and then it became whenever I exercised and then a pad all the time.
I saw my doc several years ago because the symptoms were getting worse and I was developing new symptoms - urgency and not making it to the bathroom. This was all new to me. She diagnosed me with mixed incontinence - stress and urge. I tried oxybutynin for several months but the side effects namely constipation were too bothersome.
I spoke to a urogynecologist who specializes in sling surgery. However, I am uncertain about whether that is best for me. I 've heard about the problems with the surgery which I know are rare but I'm not mentally ready for another surgery. I want to try something else that is more conservative.
I have started wearing the depends pullups about 2 years ago. I could get away with one a day when I started. I am doing more active things with my kids so I have to change the pullup several times a day now. If I have an accident because we are driving and I am stuck in traffic or can't find a bathroom due to Covid, thats another change. I feel like I am going through at least 3 pullups a day. I wear the nightdefense pullup for nighttime and I will have an accident at night about 2-3 times a week.
It doesn't bother me that I have to wear something to help me. What bothers me is that I have to change so frequently. I'd like to hear about options or other solutions from the community.

thanks so much
Dianne

Hi Diane:
Welcome to the forum, you have come to the right place for helpful, non-judgmental information concerning incontinence issues. Your progression from pads, to pull-ups is pretty typical, especially the part about having to change many times a day. And when wearing pants changing a pull-up is especially bothersome. Many of us here have gone through this same progression and in most cases we have found that using a full tape-up style diaper is a better option than a pull-up for all but very minor and occasional leaks.

In my case I often use a pad inside of my tape-up diaper and find it very quick and easy to just change out the pad. Of course as the situation dictates you can simply remove the soaked pad and then just use the diaper itself. At night I use a similar approach but instead of a regular pad I use a multi layer folded cotton cloth in a moderately absorbent diaper. The cotton absorbs way faster than a pad and then it slowly transfers the wetness to the diaper. I do wear a "plastic pant" over all of that but using this system I've had virtually no leaks.

Finally, no one system of protection will work for everyone and you will find that it will take a good bit of trial and error to find protection that works best for you. I'm sure you will find that everyone here will try to be helpful and hopefully be able to help you find the protection that will work best for you.

Add my welcome to Padded's, above. Spend some time reading past posts here. You might begin to experiment with higher quality protection, such as Abena, Molicare, and ConfDry 24/7, among others. Later, if this promises to become permanent, you might experiment with washables. Good luck. Report in to inform us of how you are managing.

not sure if you are here in USA or not but please go to www.northshorecare.com they have a house brand and they have everything from pads to tab style with all kinds of choices to choose from they have a chat you can talk with someone there on the chat or call them i am sure they will hook you up with what you need

Thank you for your advice.
I spoke to the customer service reps at Northshore and they were quite helpful. I ordered a several bags of the different northshore pullups. They are definitely more comfortable than the depends brand. I feel more secure and protected - greater peace of mind. I've had some lunch dates with friends and I was apprehensive at first to go. I didn't know how long it would be and I was worried about my bladder acting up if I drank tea or cocktails. The northshore pullups did their job as advertised.
The folks at Northshore offered some samples so I got some wipes and their booster pads for longer trips outside of the house.

thanks you all

Welcome Dianne,
I echo what has already been said about Northshore. I have used many of their brand name products for years and have no complaints.

The reviews on the website seem consistently favorable as you mention.
I know that I should be incredulous when I read reviews but the trends are reassuring.
I like the house brand products. I have been quite content thus far.
I also feel good that I am supporting a company that started small and it seems to be doing well because it does all the right things.
Their customer service is top notch.

It remains to be seen what happens over the next couple of weeks. My chronic bronchitis tends to rear its ugly head in Oct and Nov and I get these coughing fits. I may buy more boosters because a booster with a pullon had done the trick for more severe bouts of incontinence