www.incontinentsupport.org

I guess, full disclosure for me would be that today has been an "angry bowels" day for me, which, even if there's no actual F-IC in the picture, still involves a lot of pulling down and pulling up, and with taped diapers it's not ideal for wasting-money reasons if nothing else. I was at home the whole day, so not really a stressful situation, and I'm thankful to be able to say that. But it just got me thinking about what other folks here do when just hanging out at home with no plans to go anywhere.

I guess pullups would be the obvious choice. I can't really "keep them dry" the way a lot of people seem to be able to. Which is an awkward thing to admit because it's clear that it's a mental thing rather than physical. When I'm in regular underwear I know what the consequences of failing to get my dribbling under control are, and I'm more able to get the muscles to do the right things. Even if the dribbles don't stop 100%, at least it gives me some time to get to the toilet. But if my brain "knows" that I'm wearing something waterproof, it's somehow much, much, much harder to get it under control.

Is there anything else that people wear at home, that doesn't interfere with sitting on the toilet, and which is also just totally simple to put on? I wouldn't mind a leg bag system if there was one without a lot of straps, adhesives, etc. Something I could just wake up groggy on a saturday morning, take off my diaper, and put it on easily.

It felt like a very large amount of time spent in the bathroom today, between everything...!

In similar situations I use disposable pullups for easy and quick access to the toilet. As I am both bowel and bladder incontinent I always add plastic pants. However, if I am particularly fearful of a bowel accident, I will use inexpensive tabbed diapers rather than the pullups. I can pull the inexpensive tabbed diapers down over my hips without untaping the diaper and pull them back up again. If I have a bowel accident the inexpensive tabbed diapers will work better than the pullups.

Notwithstanding the above, my daily norm at home is a premium tabbed diaper with a booster pad and plastic pants. During times when I frequently have a bowel accident I usually wear two layers of plastic pants.

The inner layer of plastic pants has FOE (fold-over elastics). Why? Usually plastic pants get s**t on the cloth lining at the legs. I find it difficult to wash that out and eliminate lingering odors. Instead, with plastic FOE, any s**t easily washes off with soap and water. Then, for the outer layer, I wear rubber pants (real rubber). I find the rubber contains fecal odors better than most vinyl. It also is quieter than plastic.

If you prefer vinyl plastic pants, look for thick plastic to contain odors. Thin vinyl will not do a very good job. 6 mil is good but 7 mil is even better.

--John
(double incontinent)

Do you have a family at home?

I don't. Not that I wouldn't like that, very much. But I guess it also makes the bathroom situation a little easier.

I found some disposable leg bags on amazon, McKesson brand. If you buy them in quantity they're apparently $2 each. A condom catheter is another $1. I wouldn't want to go out like that, too much risk of kinking the tubing and/or sudden detachment. I've been there and done that...!

But it might be an interesting and low-maintenance thing to try out. I know with the regular kind of leg bags you're supposed to use a special cleaning solution etc. The simplicity of having the bags also be disposable is a neat thought.

If an external catheter and leg bag work for you, wonderful. However, my skin is very oily, so externals come unglued in two or three hours. Experiment with a minimal order, to see if they work for you. Good luck and report back.