This isn't what I expected incontinence to be

[msshendo]

So, I was thinking today that this isn't what I ever thought incontinence would be. I fully expected and had this idea in my mind that incontinence was total lack of control without feeling anything. That one would just have urine pass as it is created in the body and not know it was ever happening because they wouldn't feel anything either. And that was all there ever was. Anyone else ever think this way or am I the only crazy one here? I never expected that it would include having the feeling of having to go to the bathroom but not quite making it and the leaking and dribbling and all that other stuff. I guess I didn't know what to expect. It's just interesting the way life turns out isn't it?

[Patrick]

In my case you can add painful bladder and bowel spasms, occasional diaper rash, and that odd embarrassment or two at the doctor's office and when caught unprepared in strange venues, and lots of laundry, both expected and unexpected.

[Wetters]

I was only 24 when my daytime urge incon began, and then my bedwetting started again about a year later. I hadn't given incon any thought before that, but in retrospect, I would have expected that it would present as frequent, intermittent wettings that I could neither control nor feel were happening.

Wetters

[MSUSpartan]

I think that there is a stereotypical perception that incontinents have bladder function analogous with an infant.

likewise, there is a perception that paralyzed people have no feeling or control from the waist down, but that isn't necessarily the case.

[wheels5894]

I think that there is a stereotypical perception that incontinents have bladder function analogous with an infant.

That's quite right. Incontinence comes in all sorts of forms and patterns of leaking so no particular pattern is incontinence as against any other.

Likewise, there is a perception that paralysed people have no feeling or control from the waist down, but that isn't necessarily the case.

True too - though I haven't any feeling below the waist as it happens. It is possible to be completely paralysed but have all one's sensation and in the reverse.