www.incontinentsupport.org

Hi I'm new around her, so let me introduce myself..

Everybody calls me Alex, I'm a female and live in Texas. I have been blind my whole life but only recentally (over the past 3 years) have I had any other major health issues. I'm 18 and getting ready to go to college.

my bladder issues started back in auguest. I began feeling "wet" all the time. so I started to wear menstral pads as that is what I had access to at the time. I felt much better. I have a condition called diabeties insipidus, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_insipidus) and when i'm not on my meds i can pee ALOT every 20 minuates. then in november I woke up one morning and my right leg was paralized, from there my badder issues bacame worse and has steadily progressed since then.

I've been to many doctors and I still do not have a diagnosis for what happened to my leg. I now walk with crutches and wear a brace, but being blind complicates matters.

4 weeks ago I finally made an appointment to see my doctor about this partiqular issue and she referred me to a urologist. the urolgist put me on FLOWMAX because he said my sphinter was very tight. before I was having trouble with retenion, which was the thing I hated most because I could not relax and so I was walking around with a "painfully full" badder most of the time. the Flowmax has helped in this area, however my "leaking" has gotten much worse. before it was an unnoticable dribbling and now I have peroids where I just let some go. not a lot but enough to spoke me when it happeneds. I'm curently wearing incon pads but if it continues to get worse I don't know how much longer that will hold...

right now I'm just so stressed, my life has been turned up-side-down and now I have to deal with this embarrising issue and I feel so young! I go to doctors offices and I'm at least 20 years younger than most of the people there. I'm scared that it will just keep getting worse until I have to use diapers, something that right now really freaks me out. I mean I want a family and a husband someday. I also want to be confortable in my own skin which right now I'm definitly not. I don't know what I'm really asking. I just want to know I'm not alone!

P.S sorry this is so long, I didn't mean for it to be.

_________________
"life is a great teacher, but unfortually it kills off all it's pupils"

Swimmergirl247,
Thanks for for telling us your name, Alex. You need to talk to your urologist to find out more specifics about your incontinece. Don't let leave there office until you fully understand what they are telling you.
Don't let this get you down. You have the support of this forum.
Also, don't think that your incontinence will stop you from finding a husband and having a family. Sure, it's inconvienent to no ends, but you can survive and cope with it.
As you find more questions, just let us know. We are all here to help you out. ...........Paul Martin

Hi Alex
Sorry to here of your troubles Paul gave you some good advice and I really can't add to that. I can however offer some advice on protection. If you take the time to read up on me you will see I have worn some form of protection most of my life. I've always been diapered at night.

First off there is NO GREAT SHAME BECAUSE YOU LEAK GET OVER THAT YOUR NO LESS A PERSON THEN ANYONE ELSE

When I was a young adult I wore belted undergarments. Today most tend to go to the pullups. I've never really understood the attraction to a pullup For one thing to change you have to get all undressed just to change into a new one. Basically a Pullup is just a modified diaper without tapes. I think people just associate a diaper as for babies. So because of that they won't go there. GET OVER IT PEOPLE!! (Sorry) From what your saying I'd recommend the belted undergarment or a shield. A shield comes in differant sizes from an over grown maxi to something that has the pedding of a pullup but just sticks on the inside of your underwear. Belted ones are held on by belts that come with the product. This is what I wore during the day as a young adult. I should tell you that you should wear some brief style panties over these to help hold them in place.

A good thread for you to read is a Thread we had sometime back called "What not to wear" We had a good discussion about how to dress with protection on so no one would know. Trust me you can do this incontinence thing It's not that big of a deal We are all pulling for you so keep smiling

Sorry I have to run I'm being paged out to the shop............Sandy