www.incontinentsupport.org

I had my appt. with my doc this morning. The MRI did not show any signs of a tear. He said I may still have one, its just not on film. The MRI did show that my knee is really enflamed and it aches all the time. Especially if I have a rough day. It hurts right now as I walked about 3 miles today. The doc said the only way to know for sure what is going on with my knee would be to go in with an arthroscope and look. But that is later. RIght now, I have a prescription for an anti-inflammatory cream to rub on my knee. Hopefully that makes it better. I am also going to physical therapy, hopefully soon. I had physical therapy on it for 3 months when I first hurt my knee. That didn't work. It still has problems, but that was in 2005. I still think something is torn. There is only one way to find out. My next step if the cream and phys. therapy doesn't work is a steroid injection. Its a shot that goes in my knee. My mom said it helped her knee. But she had a baker cyst in her knee and it made it go away. So the shot is my next step. After that, surgery to find out what is really wrong. I think that will ultimately be what happens.

After all this I still haven't told my doctor about my incontinence. I haven't needed to. When the time is right though, I will tell him.

I had a torn rotator cuff in my shoulder, and physiotherapy has done a lot of good. Try to find a physiotherapist who mainly takes a hands-on approach to working on you. Stay away from one who mainly relies on machines. In my experience, the hands-on approach works much better.

When I go to a new doctor and am asked for a medical history, I always tell the doctor the whole story, including my incontinence. BTW, a physiotherapist who is working on your knee may also notice your diaper. If that happens, I recommend telling him or her what's going on. Physiotherapists are medical professionals who regularly handle confidential information about their clients.

And Im sure that a lot of them have seen patients that are incontinent and in diapers.

I have 2 bad knees and when ive been to PT they have seen my diapers and have never made fun of them or me in them.

They even got me a shower chair to use

surgeries on my left knee. The last time they went in to remove 3 screws and a steel plate. I told the Dr. I would be wearing a diaper. The nurses in the prep area tried to tell me couldn't have any underwear on. My wife tole them not to worry about it. when I came to I had a catheter in. The Dr. apologized, said he didn't know how long the diaper would last so he put the cath in.
Yesterday I went in to have three lymphomas removed. This time I still had my diaper on when I came to. By the time I was awake enough to leave I had gotten the underpad slightly wet. I had forgotten about the IV fluid so I had quite a bit of urinary output. Luckily I didn't have any bowel leakage but they were aware I had that problem too.
Everybody was fine with the diaper this time.

Don, I see people have scopes done on knees quite often, and they are fairly mobile afterwards, on crutches for a few days, and not moving all that fast, but should not hinder you in your selfcare activities. I am with you on the looking after yourself issue, if I can do it, I will thanks! Puffy

I'm starting physical therapy tomorrow. Hopefully, it gives me some relief. I had physical therapy before with the naval hospital for about 3 months and it did not help me. My knee still has problems. But I'm trying to be optimistic.

I had physical therapy today. It was good. He told me my hip and knees are weak. My knee tracks to the outside. My right leg is not in alignment. Everything is shifted. I need to build strength in my leg and he thinks my knee will improve with the aching and popping. He says the popping is my IT band.

I told the PT institute about my incontinence. They gave me a form and asked if there was anything the technician needed to know. I told them that I had Bipolar Disorder and I was incontinent. I also told them that I wear diapers. The technician did several exercises with me today. He had his hands on my hip and I know he could feel that I was wearing a diaper. But the tech was very professional and said nothing. I know he read on my form that I was incontinent but he asked no questions. They were very professional and courteous. It makes going there easier.

I think the physical therapy is working. My leg is getting stronger and my exercises are getting more intense. I'm starting to add weights to my regimen. I have PT tomorrow so I'll see what the tech says about my leg. I want to start running but right now, he told me to wait. The tech doesn't want me to make matters worse by running on my leg. I have to finish PT first. Its costing me $36 a week so its starting to add up. I don't have a whole lot of money.

When I have had operations, of course you can't drink or eat anything for 12 hours before the operation. My hospital records show that I am incontinent. So I go in for the operation and when I come to I have a diaper on. My last operation was on my shoulder and I was put on morphine. I felt like I needed to go, but the medicine wouldn't let my muscles work enough to release the urine. So they had to cath me ouch!