www.incontinentsupport.org

Has any ones incon gotten worse when they finally accepted and just started wearing 24-7?

I think anyone that has a serious enough issue to deal with gets to this piont sooner or later, you can only fight it for so long. I myself am not there yet, I still can manage at home no problem unless I am outside and wearing makes things easier and I get more done too! It will wear you down sooner or later, and from what I have read here and on other sites, once people go that route, they notice a marked improvement in many aspects of life, no more fighting it all the time, just a new schedule to follow. One day, I know that is coming for me too! Puffy

_________________
Puffy
BC, Canada
Fighting the "Bladder Battle" since 1995

Most people seem to lose complete control in a couple of years if they just give in to using diapers. But as many have stated if you are already at the point of going through a couple of diapers a day there are a lot of positives about just giving up. The extra couple of diapers a day is usually a small price to pay for not having to worry at all about your crappy bladder control issues. Also for most it is just a matter of a decade before they reach this point anyway just through gradually worsening incontinence.
This thread covers the disadvantages of what I ran into after many years of doing just that:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=338
But if I had to do it over again I would have given up at about the 5 year mark instead of trying for almost a decade.
It's hard to get real statistics on where most people with urge incontinence end up over the years. I once read an NHS study on youngish 20-50 incontinent people that most with urge incontinence start off with just one pullup or diaper a day but end up going through 2.7 diapers a day after a 5 year timeframe. I did once press a urologist who gave me a hard time about "being lazy" how many patients he has who aren't pretty much dependent on diapers after a decade of dealing with incontinence; he hesitated answering claiming confidentiality but he did shut up and never mentioned the being lazy stuff again. So while the medical profession seems to pretend that is it rare I think it is quite common to eventually just give in.

I know from my experience the control and capacity has diminished significantly since going 24-7. However I have been slightly less stressed out about accidents. Really the most stress I have at this point is wearing diapers at my age and others finding out. The other hard part is managing the heat because I work outside.

I don't mean to steal a thread but one thing that I have trouble with is really giving in. My bowel tend to go in 2-3 day cycles. For most of the time, I don't have a bowel movement, but when it happens, I have a very short time before I go. Then I will likely have 2 or 3 #2s in the next several hours. If I'm home, I sometimes make it but if I'm not home, it can become a big problem. So my question is when people wear diapers for urine, what do you do with #2? I don't think giving in is an easy thing when there is little warning that #2 is coming. I sure don't like the cleanup and the smell is very unpleasant but sometimes things happen. I've considered just not trying to get to a bathroom when I'm protected, but I'm not there yet. What do others do? I've had many times where I get my pants down and a few tapes undone and it is too late. That really "pisses" me off. What can you do? I don't want to be fecal incontinent but probably my success rate isn't great.

I read this with some interest. Visits with the doctor are not as productive as I would like them to be.
When I am in a depressed state of mind I have to wonder if this is my future.

After decades of struggling with OAB and urge incontinence due to Cauda Equina Syndrome, it was a relief 27 years ago to realize that adult diapers (although not very good compared to what we have now) were readily available to help me manage this vexing problem. My incontinence wasn't affected one way or another by wearing diapers, but my peace of mind certainly has improved greatly over the years as the product quality has increased.

I still have control but the past five years I would leak when I threw up and im the.last year I would leak when Icoughed. arecently ive been losing more urine when these things happen ive been wearing pads which help I also have cough ao thats not helping but I have had a couple embarrasi.g accidents while out. so I'm not quite at wear diapers as the pads are working but they start to leak after five hours

My goal is to manage my incontinence in a way that enables me to go wherever I want or need to go and do whatever I want or need to do with a minimum of attention to my bladder. For me, that entails wearing a diaper overnight, anytime I leave the house, and a lot of time when I'm at home. Managing things that way, I do not have to continually be aware of where the nearest bathroom is or worry about whether people may notice a wet spot on my pants. If I didn't wear and use a diaper as much as I do, I could certainly manage to have fewer accidents, but the energy and anxiety which that would entail don't seem worth it to me.

For me life is much better now that I just don't think about it. I know that at certain times I need to change & am able to set those few minutes aside, get things handled & go about my day. I don't worry or stress. Given the products available I can wait many hours & even go beyond my normal change with no worries. Where I get stressed is when I go to place an order for supplies & see those 2 words... Back Ordered. That's when I freak a little as I hate changing brands. I've never had different brands fit the same. I try to always have plenty of stock but funds only go so far.