Hi all,
I'm pretty new here and although I've mentioned a bit about my condition in my intro post in the general discussion section, I thought it would be a bit more appropriate to say a bit more in this section. I'll try to be as brief a I can
So about my condition, as a child I was late out of nappies and I always remember being accident-prone till around the time I reached puberty. I remember that whenever I laughed too much, I would wet my pants almost instantly and I always remember telling people who were making me laugh too much to stop or I'd have an accident. A lot of kids did try to make it worse when I said that but they rarely succeeded
My memory isn't the best and I have ADHD so it's difficult to give more accurate dates here but this gradually got better and had mostly cleared up by my mid-late teens although I still sometimes leak small amounts when standing up, coughing, sneezing or trying to make it to the toilet.
I have also had an above average frequency of bedwetting throughout my life and think I have a weak bladder in general. I even stopped drinking pints of beer because of having to go to the toilet so often and the fear of having an accident. Interestingly though, alcohol consumption seems to have little effect on whether I will wet the bed or not. I wet every night now but when it first picked up in frequency after a lot of emotional trauma, it was only a couple of nights a week. Often I would go to bed stinking drunk and wake up totally dry and other nights I would be sober and soak the bed.
So when I was around 24 (I'm 30 now), my problems started again. First it was bedwetting which picked up over time but would come and go too, always when I was under stress and sometimes just out of nowhere. I could just dry up for a month and then it would come back. I also noticed that I was having to go to the toilet way more often and was also regularly leaking both pre and post urination. It wasn't long before I went to the doctors and got referred to the local continence service who weren't that helpful to be honest. The first time I visited, the ultrasound machine was out of service so they prescribed me oxybutyinin and gave me some practical advice based on the bladder diary I had filled out for them. The meds gave me headaches and a dry mouth so I stopped taking them and the course of exercise and recommended fluid intake didn't have much of an effect either over the following months.
The second time I visited, they scanned my bladder with the fixed ultrasound machine and was confirmed that my bladder was not emptying properly, which I already knew. The nurse was confused as to why I was wearing a nappy, despite me clearly stating it on the forms I filled in, which I found very surprising. She will have seen the waistband poking out of my jeans during the scan. She said after the scan "are you wearing a pad right now?" which embarrassed me but I said "yes, thats what I put on the form and you've asked me to come here with a full bladder. She was quite confused and not particularly understanding about it. After reminding her of what I had already told them about my condition, she eventually started talking about the potential of the provision of pads but said "you won't get the nappy-style ones you're wearing right now but I will send you some samples to try." I got a pull-up and two shaped Tena Comfort pads, which all leaked. I have had enough surgery in my life for injuries and I don't want any more unless absolutely necessary. Especially IC related ones as I've heard there is a risk of making the problem even worse.
Shortly after this visit, even more stressful occurrences in my life (if I listed it, you might not believe it, but multiple bereavements in short spaces of time, all unexpected and unrelated) had made my situation worse and after a few daytime accidents, I was worried about having any more accidents when going out of the house, so my partner at the time recommended that I started wearing nappies during the daytime too, while I worked out a solution. As the continence service had nothing to offer me apart from embarrassing appointments discussing my accidents, I just continued purchasing my own disposables and inserts and have continued to this day. It has been a difficult transition which we all know too well but I am now used to wearing nappies and finding sites like this have helped me come to terms with it a lot. And my lovely gf too, she has been so supportive and a godsend.
So my situation is now slightly different, I still wear nappies/ diapers all the time but my symptoms have changed a fair bit. I have been on sertraline for depression and medikinet for ADHD for around a year. Thing is now, I am now leaking constantly and I mostly feel the sensation of dribbling and the warmth, almost no sensation of 'needing to go.' Now I do still get that sensation but it most often comes quickly and before I know it, I'm urinating uncontrollably, with only a little 'relief' sensation and just the wetness on my skin. Bedwetting is still full-on and I've now found myself more and more often having sudden bowel movements which have resulted in some very embarrassing moments. I've now decided to go back to the continence service but I'm not holding out for much after my last experience. I'm willing to try anything they offer but I really don't want surgery.
Thanks for reading and sorry for the essay!
What do others think of my chances of getting help from any treatment they might offer? I've read that there is a 0% success rate of regaining control from sertraline induced incontinence, which is what I believe has caused the cosntant leaking... If anybody cares to take the time, any advice or opinions on this would be greatly appreciated. Cheers everyone!
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