www.incontinentsupport.org

Doug,

It's great that they work with you and I hope they'll work with us too!! I hope that they'll link it to his TBI to simplfy things for us but we'll see!!!

Vicky

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Vicky Wells

Vicky,
Sounds like Doug has sent a bunch of replies to your questions. I missed your first post over the weekend, but welcome to the forum. Sounds by what I've read, Doug has given you a lot of helpfull info. ....Paul Martin

Paul,

He was definitely helpful and we'll try ensuring that his water intake is at about 80 ounces first to rule that out!!

Vicky

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Vicky Wells

Vicky,
Thanks for caring as much as you do for your husband. As you already know, us men are not always the easiest to deal with when it comes to areas that we consider private matter. Looking over your list of things here are some things that I can relate too and have dealt with.

• Thirsty all the time; blood sugar is normal -
Not having enough fluids in my diet has caused this at time with me

• I have to pee all the time
The bladder could be getting irritated by something that he eats, drinks, meds, or even nerve problems

• Started with having to go but able to hold it but know I don't always make it to the restroom
Some would say overactive bladder for this. This could be part of bladder irritation and also when you don’t drink as much, you bladder will get smaller so when extra fluid is put into the bladder it will want to release it that much quicker, at least for me that has been the case.

• Wet bed, sleep through morning pee on meds (on amitriptyline for treatment of the symptoms of TBI)
It wasn’t pleasant but in order for me to keep a dry bed, I started wearing adult diapers.

• When not on sleep meds I'm up a lot to pee
Again, could be overactive bladder. I was told when I lay down, all the fluids that have built up in my body during the day needs some place to go, so where else but to the bladder. This was told to me by a doctor. He said think about when you are up and walking, extra fluids travel through the body even down to the toes, so when you lay down, the extremities don’t need as much fluid because they are not active so our bodies will expel what it things isn’t needed and the only way to expel it is through the bladder.

• Drink about 6-8 cups of water a day
This isn’t really enough fluids for someone that is active. I know it’s hard drinking more because you don’t want to have an accident, but the more you drink all the time can help later. Yes there may be more accidents at first but after a little while the bladder will get use to more liquid and might hold it back a little better.

• Urine often dark
For me this is cause when I don’t drink enough. Dehydration causes this. Hard to believe but at work, one of our safety people actually sent out and email with a urine color chart. This chart had different shades of urine listed on it and explained that if your urine was dark then you are dehydrated and you need to drink more until it is almost clear. The reason this was sent out is because where I work some employees work around 120 degree plus hotter areas.

• Cold temperature makes him have to go pee
This is one that affects most all of us, don't know why but it does.

• Pee smells funny (bad)
Lack of fluids. When mine starts doing this I drink cranberry juice to help clear it up.

• Don't always make it to bathroom
I personally finally started wearing adult diapers.


I pray that you can get him to read some of the post on here so he can see that he isn’t alone. There are many of us at all ages of life that are dealing with incontinence. The senior members as well as new members here all have stories, experiences, trials, tribulations that they have shared and I personally have found this site a great help.

Prayers for the two of you.
Kent

My husband asked his therapist from his PTSD support group whether or not to use the VA for care and was told that there is a chance that it's service connected.  It seems that a lot of the meds he has taken, crap he was exposed to and being forced to hold it for long periods during combat operations make it probable that it's service connected.  He's begun trying to schedule an appointment with his primary care doctor, so now we wait.

Vicky

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Vicky Wells

Kent,

I had my husband read these and he's said that it was very helpful.  I had him cut out coke which has made the urine become clear again and he drinks about 80 ounces of water a day anyway so I am not sure how that can be dehydration but he's going to see his doctor so we'll find out soon enough.  One of his doctors have said that amitriptyline can cause bladder incontinence but it's still better than the symptoms that it treats.  This same doctor has said that it could also be related to the crap he was exposed to in Iraq or the medicine that the Army had him take.  The anthrax vaccine has caused some scary unintended consequences as well, including bladder issues.  Also, it is possible that the bladder issues could be related to his brain damage.  As for dealing with it, well he wears adult diapers at night and we have a plastic mattress on our bed, however, wearing full time would cost more than we can afford.  That said, I wanted to take the time to say that I appreciate your well thought out reply!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!!

Vicky

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Vicky Wells

Yay, we now have an appointment with his Primary Care doctor at the VA hospital on November 23rd!!!! Baby steps forward, but hey it's progress!!

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Vicky Wells

Vicky,
Little steps is at least steps. When trying to find out what is causing our incontinence it isn't always a quick easy answer and sometimes there isn't one. The two of you need to keep your heads held high and remember that incontinence doesn't make who we are, how we deal/handle it will determine how we feel about ourselves.

Pray that the two of you find your strength and find out what is going and as well as a fix to go along with it.

Kent

Well, we decided to double up and schedule appointments with our primary care doctor via our private insurance and the VA.  We decided to cover all bases in case it was service connected.  Our ultrasound appointment on the civilian side is for the Nov 11th and then we see the eurologist on the 12th.  We did find out that his amitriptyline can cause urinary incontinence but it works so well treating the TBI symptoms after 9 medicines that did nothing that it's a trade-off we will gladly accept if we have too.  His dizzyness and headaches were SO bd before this medicine that the thought of dealing with him like that again scares me!  I'll keep you posted!!!

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Vicky Wells

Does anyone know what the VA rates service connected urinary incontinence?

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Vicky Wells