www.incontinentsupport.org

I was wondering, in you personal dealings with incontinence, have you come across anything that you can not do anymore that you use to be able to do?
Reason I ask is I wonder if there are members here that have found a way around those obstacles. For example I thought I would never be able to go to the water park with the family again. What i figured out was I could wear a swim diaper made also for urine and first wade in to the wave pool or lazy river to get your shorts wet to cover any leaks. Then each time you do a ride or attraction, get wet from the waist down and when you get out, crack one of the leg openings to drain some of the water. This dose two things. First it gets the water out so it dose not look like you have a water balloon around your hips. The second thing it dose is it flushes out any pee that has leaked out so you don't smell and makes room for more urine. If you do this between each attraction, you can go all day and not have a leak or smell like pee at all.

Rope_Wrench,

Good topic. I am moderately bowel incontinent from an old accident which caused extensive pelvic trauma. I am reasonably controlling the fecal incontinence with daily morning preventive enemas (doctor approved). I wear diapers 24/7.

Although I have a fecal containment swim diaper, I have to be cautious about the times of the day when I use it to minimize my risk of an accident. Due to the hassle I find that I do not partake in water activities as much as previously.

When am with my young granddaughters at a pool, I cannot go into the water with them because of my diapers. I lack the privacy to quickly change into the swim diaper and back into my street clothes. I really regret not being to play with them in the pool.

The protection from accidents that my enemas provide slowly decreases by the hour, so that for evening social functions I become more concerned about the increasing risk of a fecal accident. I may either have to take another small clearing enema before the event (a minor nuisance) or plan to leave fairly early. Of course, I always have to have a Plan B as, even if public restrooms are available, I do not wish to be caught changing a messy diaper in a public restroom by people I know.

I stay fairly active, but often experience fecal accidents during my morning exercise (before my enema and shower). if I am on a long exercise walk by myself, that is not a big deal. However, if I am in our local athletic center, I have to be prepared to immediately stop what I am doing and exit quickly before fecal odor becomes noticeable to others.

I do risk international travel - mostly cruises, as that gives me a safe base of operations. Of course, I have to take my enema gear with me and have to pay a considerable sum for an extra large suitcase full of nothing but diapers. I have to skip long shore excursions that would keep me away from the ship for so long that my risk of an accident becomes too high.

After my accident I was paralyzed and told that I would never walk again. I slowly did regain my basic mobility again, but suffered extensive permanent damage to my anal and rectal nerves. All in all I am fortunate that I have been able to cope this well.

On the bright side, I use fewer diapers per day than most of those on this forum with IC.

Best wishes,
--JD

Hi, Rope - it's Wetters.

I went "back there" today to see if anything is going on (pretty dead, as usual, and I never re-registered like they asked me to). A poster with the screen name WP35 posted to your Real Stories article. He talks about how before becoming incontinent, he enjoyed water skiing and swimming, but that he probably won't make it to the lake this year because of 'protection logistics'. Although he talks about his "swim suit", he doesn't mention using a wet suit, and I'm surprised that he didn't talk about any experiences he's had with a swim diaper. Could it be that he doesn't know about them?

I think I remember seeing posts by him before. I say "him", because early on in the post, he talks about wearing Real Fits to the gym. I might be sticking my neck out here, but if you haven't seen the post, maybe you'd like to read it and then re-post the comments you've made here on this topic to the other place so he can read them. Of course they deleted your link to here (which is so bogus, since no one sells anything here, so no competition).

Wetters

Hey wetters,

Yeah I saw the post. I can see how a trip to the lake could be problematic but like you, I don't think he is aware of swim diapers. Now, just a quick not to anyone that is looking for information about swim diapers, you will need to find one that says it can be used for urine. Most will only do fecal matter but there are some that will do urine at least for a short time.
Anyways, back to this guy, with a swim diaper one could go to the lake but you would need to stay proactive. I would thing about every 20-30 minutes, just tell the boat driver you are hot and hop in the lake for a quick "cool down". When you do that, used the water to flush the swim diaper out.

As for them deleting my link to this site, you are right. It was a load of BS but to tell the truth, I don't really care anymore. Those forums are dead. I contacted Lori today because I was looking to the post where I did the review on the incontinence book she gave away because I wanted to use the book at a new live support group I just started. Anyway, even Lori could not find it. It must have been lost when they changed ting over. So, like I said. I am done with them. What is sad is i was suppose to have done one of the Real Story videos but backed out at the last minute. I was on the fence about the whole thing but when they called to get get my schedule to plan the shoot was when I finally said "no". Part of me regrets not doing it but I was worried they would use the footage for commercials and advertisements. I could get no guarantee on how it would be used.

Hi, Rope -

Congratulations on your support group! I know what you mean about the Real Story video. I wouldn't have been able to bring myself do it, even if I had been "eligible" to participate, and someone like you needs to be even more private than I do about being incontinent and wearing. Maybe it's more about regret for not being in a position to do it than regret for backing out.

Wetters

I understand that this is an incontinence board, so please bear with me.

I have bi-lateral Meniere's disease, plus a brain injury. If you have ever been on an amusement park ride whose sole purpose is to make its riders as dizzy as possible, take that dizzyness to the third power, then make it last six weeks, and you have my experience of bi-lateral Meniere's. It also gives me momentary lapses in consciousness, which can add a dash of excitement to many daily activities, including driving. Separating the disability of incontinence from Meniere's is difficult. Meniere's has prevented me from doing more things than incontinence alone would have, and it has impeded incontinence management in numerous ways.

I look at a situation and decide whether I can participate, or how my participation will be influenced by my need to stay within sight of a restroom. I deal with the sour looks of folks who think I'm drunk, or on illegal drugs, and the fear of falling is my constant companion. I used to enjoy hiking and running, before Meniere's and incontinence. Those activities are forever in my past.