www.incontinentsupport.org

Hey,

Since I see we have CJinNM, a licensed psycologist, Id like to get your input. I'm dealing with my incontinence the best I can, and am scheduled to go back to the urologist this Monday. I'm wondeirng CJ if you have heard of a patient who started having control problems due to stress, but then it went away... and then came back again? I'm sure that incontiennce of the urge type thats neurological would probably not recede for 4 years and then suddenly resurface. My theory is stress is affecting my external sphicnter muscles, since that seems to be where the problem is.. Maybe emotional stress aggravete the neurogenic-type bladdder that was brought under control several years before? Also, it has been noted quite a few times that constipation can cause urge/oveflow type incon, since hard stool can press on teh bladder and upset ther nerves. I have recently come accross a study that ADHD is linked in some ways to constipation. Have you heard of any such studies CJ?

Thanks, and peace out!

Rob

_________________
"We cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love" Mother Teresa

"THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!" - Captain Picard from Chain of Command, Part II

Rob, look up somatoform disorder or somatization. My PCP recently suggested that this may be my condition but mine doesn't come and go. It's constant. That was before the 9th doctor I visited finally found a possible cause in an abnormal vascular structure on/near my spinal cord......further testing to follow now.....7 1/2 months into this......

Hey there sociologygeek,

Sorry I haven't replied until now. I've been so busy lately that I haven't had much chance to visit this board. Taking a little time during my lunch break to respond to this one.

I certainly do believe that emotional stress and mental health illnesses can play a role in incontinence. As PB&J suggested, there are somatoform disorders which generate very real physical symptoms from psychological or emotional distress. There are many ways stress impacts the physical wellbeing of any individual and it can be hard to predict what may be causing what, and on top of that many of us process stress differently. I have worked with a couple clients who reported incontinence issues and were still in the process of trying to diagnose the underlying cause. One person (actually pretty young... 20's) could not find any obvious physical cause at all and she noted that her incontinence cleared up when she began taking better care of herself by limiting how much stress she was under. Never heard about any relapses or recurrences but then this person kept doing well and then I didn't see them any longer. I tell clients presenting with any physical pain or injury that stress can and usually make any physical complaint worse. I know in my own case that I carry my stress in my back and when I'm really stressed (like I've been these last two weeks), my own incontinence is at all time worst and the pain in my back is tough to deal with. I'm not immediately aware of any published studies linking emotional distress to incontinence but I'll try to do a quick search and see if anything jumps out at me and then report back. I've also mentioned in other posts that medications to treat psychological conditions can also play a part in incontinence.

To be clear with everyone though, I always advise people to exhaust their medical options before concluding that stress or mental health reasons are the culprit in incontinence (or with any other physical malady for that matter). Just know that stress can, and usually does, make everything we experience physically that much worse. I don't know that stress is enough to make a condition appear and the absence of stress make it totally disappear, but that may not be an unreasonable assertion.

Any other thoughts??

CJ

When I had a rear-end motor vehicle collision in 2009, I treated with a massage therapist. I had never before had massage therapy. One of the questions on her intake sheet was "Where do you hold your stress?" I had never before (or since) had a medical provider ask me that question. I responded with "gastrointestinal system", as I have had a longtime and continuing battle with Ulcerative Colitis. I never thought to tell her about my daytime urge incontinence and return to bedwetting, which maybe not so coincidentally started soon after my husband started law school. I hadn't signed on for that when we got married. Although my stroke in 2011 made both conditions much worse, I'm convinced that the original source is stress.

Wetters

Wetters,

I've started going to a massage therapist regularly within the last year, on a monthly basis as best I can given my busy schedule. It really does wonders for helping me control my stress and it helps alleviate a lot of the pressure on my back. When I'm less stressed, I have less pain. When I have less pain, I also seem to have a bit better bladder control (though still nowhere close to "normal", whatever the heck that is...). It took me a long time to build up courage to go get a massage while wearing a diaper. I'm so glad I did though. My massage therapist has been very professional and she always asks if I'm comfortable with her "working in that area" meaning rubbing my glutes and lower back where the diaper is. I thanked her for her professionalism. She thanked me for respecting her massage equipment and office space by keeping it protected. Not much more needs to be said.

I also got some symptom relief (both pain and some incontinence) from getting acupuncture for a time. Anyone else have any luck with this??

CJ

Thanks for the reply CJ!

Thank you for doing research as well. It is interesting to find out exactly what this is.. I actually remember wetting accidents in my childhood, as well as bedwetting.. but both seemed to stop when i was 12 or 13..but i remember off and on i would have episodes where i didn'nt quite always make it with peeing in teh toilet.. some would come out before i got there.. that was off and on.. I remember for the longest time putting up with wet underwear, which i no longer do.. I'm either dry in underwear all the time with no dribbles or spots..or i wear proteciton.. no middle street. I don't know the hows or whys to my issues.. all i know is that once i started the PT.. it went away.. but without me doing the excersices regularly. I did use the distraciton technique she taught me.. and it worked.. But lately, it did not work. The one thing im trying to figure out is why i was dry mostly without the excercises.. and then im not dry? did my bladder go back to the state it was in? l guess it must have took the first time i did the biofeedback..because it got my dry for 4 years. I did not follow the diet regimen.. though, i really didnt follow any particualr diet when i was dry the first time either... Its all a mystery to me... and for a while they thought neuropathy was the cause..but then somehow ruled that out. They thought my catapers was causing me to retain.. so i went off it..

Oh hey!! Look at what i just found out! Constipation, which is presumed to be a culprit in causing my incontinence.. is a known side effect of Ritalin LA... a drug ive taken daily for years... hmm.. wonder if theres an alternative.. definetly worth bringing up to my urologist next time i see her.


Peace out!

_________________
"We cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love" Mother Teresa

"THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!" - Captain Picard from Chain of Command, Part II