www.incontinentsupport.org

Since it's summer, I thought I'd try to stir up some discussion about the unique problem we face dealing with our incon around the pool.

I feel it's pretty easy at the beach, assuming we are dealing only with urinary incon; NOT fecal incon. No diaper necessary under the bathing suit. When I come out of the water and sit on the beach towel, the wet bathing suit makes a nice wet spot in the towel from the sea water. That wet spot gets wetter as I void while sitting around but no one is the wiser.

Pools, especially a friend's pool, is a whole different issue. You can't really wear a diaper into the pool. You may feel that you want to do the responsible thing by wearing a diaper to protect the pool water from your urine, but you really can't, and a disposable diaper is bad for pools. The gel and pulp can really screw up the filtration and perhaps even damage the pump.

Pee in the pool is really no issue with chlorine able to neutralize the "contamination". So now you come out of the water and want to lounge around at pool side. I feel this is the "inconvenient" time when I must dry off and change into a diaper before relaxing and sitting around the poolside which also kills any incentive to go back in the water, since I'd need to go change out of the diaper and back into the bathing suit.

Anyone with ideas, suggestions, tips?

Joe K

As a daily swimmer (in community pools, outdoors and in), I've found a couple of things that keep me " in the swim".
First, there is no reason that a thin diaper cannot be worn as part of a 3-layer combo. On top of that goes a speedo-type nylon or polyester fitted suit. Then a volleyball-style nylon suit with mesh insert that holds the under-layers. This combo will allow any urine loss during swimming to diffuse slowly into the pool without harm to fellow swimmers. This combo can be taken off immediately in the shower, or if an outdoor pool, it can be worn afterward for drying off and socializing on the deck. In that case it is important to have two towels - an old one to use for sitting and another for drying off. The old towel will absorb any urine loss, and any drip underneath will apear to be part of the normal drying off.
It is also important to carry plastic bags for wrapping up the wet suits and towels. All these are stowed in a large gym bag that contain fresh diapers, plastic pants and all the gear for swimming and cleaning up afterwards.
While it may first take a bit of organizing to get all these items together, I've found that this procedure becomes routine and works "swimmingly".

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Michael

While urinary incontinence isn't so much a problem in pools, when you have a bowel movement in your swim suit it is. I have been using Gabby's swim diaper and it works quite well for me as long as you have a good fit! I wear it under baggy swim shorts and no one seems the wiser and it keeps the mess in.

Does anyone know if they make an Adult "Swimmers" Diapers?

Try this link to an adult disposable swim diaper http://www.mypoolpal.com/proddetail.cfm ... tegoryID=7