www.incontinentsupport.org

JD,

Your ignorance is an ignorance that I share. I just cleaned myself following a bowel accident some thirty minutes ago. Balancing medications, diet, and fluid intake/perspiration makes incontinence management about as difficult a chore as I care to endure. I'm sure there must be a relationship between stomach paralysis and bowel/colon incontinence, because both are caused by nerve injury. However, just what that relationship is, or how to manage it, is beyond me. I hope that my meeting with a dietician next month will shed some light on this issue, and give me a little more skill in managing it. I may have to use metoprolol, with its hallucinogenic side effect, more frequently, which will severely limit my participation in family and community activities. Hallucinations, even when I know what is causing them, are worse than Tumarkins attacks.

Thanks for your support. Life has gotten frustrating recently, so I had to vent.

Patrick, venting is one of the reasons we all are here. Please vent away - you have earned the right.

You mentioned your recent accident. I had a very good run - until yesterday. An unexpected (aren't they all) bowel accident yesterday ruined an excellent 30+ day continent streak for me (any accident during my early morning pre-walks is not counted as that is my normal transit time). Fortunately I was not wearing a cloth diaper. Starting again at day 1.

--John

Well, wet sheets this morning for the first time since I began wearing a cloth diaper on top of my disposable at night. Understandable as I recently had surgery for skin cancer on my left ear and so was sleeping almost totally on my right side, plus it was only a day-weight diaper. Nonetheless I and a very good dry run and my wife was supportive.

JD,

I regretted reading about your wet sheets. Take advantage or the flexibility of cloth diapers, and simply add as many layers as you need for a full night's protection.

Keep up the good work.

Patrick, thanks for your comments.

When we move to our new house in a few months I will change over to heavy overnight cloth diapers and skip the disposable diaper underneath. I may need to fine-tune with an extra flat diaper or a cloth booster to get the right absorbency, but then I should be fine. I'm sure I will have more questions at that time.

Currently, with my combination of a Dry 24/7 with small booster, covered by a day-weight diaper, I usually get 10 - 11 hours without leaking into the cloth diaper. That's not bad. It lets me get up, watch the news, and have breakfast without rushing to change.

--John

John,

My diaper is always wet when I wake up. However, I have enough Scottish blood in me to keep it on through breakfast, so I do not change it until it is well and truly used. Laundry is always a challenge, especially when I've had a bowel accident. But that is just another chore incontinence foists on us.