www.incontinentsupport.org

Dave...

Yes, I tried Angel Fluff...

I like Loving Comfort over them due to the thickness. It is completely through out the diaper.... no center panels.. the entire diaper is triple thickness like the center panels of some diapers. These diapers are designed specifically for night time heavy wetters. Also, no pins required.

However, they are on the expensive side. (39.00 ea) But, like they say, "you usually get what you pay for". And, I feel they are worth the cost... also, like I said in my earlier post, VA will pay for them if you are a vet as I am.

I intake large volumes of water/fluids to stay away from Urinary problems, and these diapers allow me to go ten hours in bed without any fear of leakage.
If you are happy with Angel Fluff then by all means stay with them. It took me many years to find a diaper that I am comfortable with and one that works.

BTW ... on another subject, I've seen posts here where some are having a hard time mentally with wearing diapers.
Let me say, after all these years, in and out of medical facilities, wearing diapers no longer causes me any embarrassment. I too remember those times I would be depressed and have the woe is me attitude. I can only say don't dwell on it.... sure, I have had to learn to laugh at myself. One must get on with life.
All my family, friends and neighbors have at one time or another seen me in diapers. If I feel like going to the street to get the morning paper in only diapers so be it. .Here in Kentucky it gets hot in the summer time and I'm not against being outside in the yard with only diapers/plastic pants. Also, my wife and family has never given it a second thought about me wearing diapers.
I guess you get to an age (65) whereas you don't give a hoot when people stare or talk.... what's important is enjoying life and I do.

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IMR

IMRinkY,

It's not a question of being secretive abut wearing diapers or flaunting the fact that you do, it's a question of decency. It's hot where I live too (Louisiana), but I have always considered diapers underwear and not appropriate to wear by themselves in public, even with plastic pants over them. I always pull on a pair of shorts when going outside to pick up the mail or newspaper. I don't mind if someone can tell I'm wearing a diaper, it's definitely bulky enough to be noticeable, but I just don't feel comfortable walking around in public wearing only my "underwear."

On a more practical note, since you are willing to be seen outdoors in only a diaper and plastic pants, why bother with the plastic pants? They are worn to protect your clothing and furniture, but you are not wearing any other clothing and outdoor furniture doesn't need protection from wetness, so where's the need for plastic pants? In hot weather you will be much cooler if you don't wear the plastic pants than if you do, especially if your diaper is wet.

I agree with you that Loving Comfort makes an excellent pull on diaper, I have a few of them and have been wearing them for about a year. I also have some pin on pre-fold diapers that I usually wear to bed because they are heavier and a little more absorbent, but if I am tired and don't feel like taking the time to pin one on, I'll just grab one of the pull ons.

Tom...

I totally agree about wearing diapers in public...it is something out of the norm. People have a hang up on many things (men in skirts, dresses, sexual orientation, etc) I happen to be very liberal and broad minded.

I don't consider diapers underwear. They are a protective garment worn under plastics pants to protect an individual from urinating in public. It's no different for a continence person having pajama bottoms on and I have seen many men and women retrieving thier paper in that manner.

I do not make a habit of wearing diapers outside to retrieve the morning paper, however where I live our neighbors are a mile apart and only have I been seen as an occasional drive by incident. However, If I so desire to be outside on my property with only them on, I am not uncomfortable about it.

The times that I have done it is prior to my shower having the want to enjoy my coffee while reading of the paper

I guess what I should have said is, it's no big deal about being seen in them.

I don't want anyone to think that I walk around flaunting diapers! That is not the case. That is out of the norm and should be looked at with a very different view.

Also, as I have posted, as soon as I take my morning shower most often I transfer to a catherter system as most days I do have to leave the house.

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IMR

i've been useing the kins brand cloth pull-up diaper and find they work good for me. since i'm primarily bowel incontinent i always use a disposable as a liner to facilitate easier changing. i use the pull-up cloth diaper with the disposable during the day fairly often and find that it virtually eliminates leaking.

i admit that the cloth / disposable combination can be bulky and difficult to hide. the diaper primer provides a multitude of good "stealth" ideas. the method iv'e become most comfortable with is the elastic bike short. granted, with a good disposable under a cloth pull-up and plastic pants covered by tight bike shorts, changing can be difficult and time consuming. but with the extended "wear" time of that diaper combination, having to change is no longer an immediate need. i have become vigilant in applying a heavy application of desitin and rarely experience any skin problems.

i keep meaning to make a contribution to the primer reguarding diapers and bowel incontinence but i'm not really sure how to go about it. perhaps a little direction from the powers that be. usefull info is the biggest asset of this site.

jack

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don't drink te koolaid

Hi Jack3295!
Thank you for considering adding info to the Primer! That's exactly what we want and all of us will benefit from more info from as wide a range of sources as possible.

I'd like to suggest you e-mail your input to me.

Dogloverjoek@netscape.net

I will go over it and submit it to our editor, a retired professor in Canada and he forwards it to the webmaster who adds it in to the Primer. That's all there is to it and we move fairly quickly assuming no one is on vacation and even that only delays things for a week or so.

We'd love to add your input!

Joe K

I am replying to Tom's 3/23 post and IMR's 3/22 post commenting about going out in just a diaper to pick up the newspaper. Well, that can be a hot topic for sure, and I'll simply say I do it, too. I sleep in a cloth diaper, plastic pants and a tee shirt. I am also an early riser so I can go down the walk and retrieve my paper with no fear of being seen.

So what is underwear from a modesty standpoint? For continent folks, I would consider it NOT modest for someone to run out for the paper wearing brief type underpants...the Jockey shorts. But what about boxers? I do see folks out in the yard in colorful boxers and they are being worn like shorts....but they are the only garment being worn. And I've gone well off my property, walking the dog, wearing a colorful boxer over my diaper. Boxers are lighter for the most part than shorts and fit less restrictly over a diaper. Still, I would not go most places, like to the store, without wearing "real" shorts, ie with pockets and all.

While swim suits are normally relegated to the beach, I've seen some pretty skimpy swim suits and I'm NOT talking about on gorgeous females where most of us like to see them...and the skimpier the better. No I'm talking about males here! So, is the diaper the underwear and the protective waterproof pants then the outerwear? Can you pull a blue pair of plastic pants on over the cloth or disposable diaper and then be properly covered for venturing out in public? I really don't know but then, I wouldn't want to try it to find out.

Joe K

This is another reply to an older post, made 3/23 by Tom, when he asked IMR why bother with plastic pants if he was wearing his (cloth) diapers outdoors in the yard.

I have experimented with that since I've the luxury of a private backyard with fencing and trees that provide me with total privacy from neighbors. I would think cloth diapers would be much cooler without waterproof pants and further cooling would be realized as wetness evaporated from the surface of the diapers. Well, the theory is all good...but in practice, it comes up short.

The experiments I carried out consisted of cutting the grass, hanging laundry and lounging in the patio furniture.

Cutting the grass seems like the best case for enjoying the expected comfort of no plastic pants. Well, I was wearing a wet diaper (my incon is such that I never know when I am wetting and I wet frequently so I am always in a diaper that is wet to some degree) and I pulled off the plastic pants to cut the grass. Well, the slip value of the plastic pants between the legs was now gone. Walking in a wet diaper was not that comfortable. The rubbing would lead to chaffing of the inner thighs. Next, as I am cutting away, following the lawn mower, comes the tickle of dribbling down my legs. I stop and note the stream of wetness follow down a leg and soak into the sock and sneaker. OK, that was the end of that experiment. It has nothing to recommend it. The "heat" of the plastic pants is a better alternative to the discomfort of peeing down a leg and into the shoes which now have to laundered.

Next, hanging the laundry or retrieving the laundry, ie folding diapers and so on which I do all outdoors with a handy picnic table to work with. For this experiment I ditched the shoes and socks! The clothesline area is paved so no worry about stepping on a sharp stone or a bee and getting stung, as with mowing the lawn. Less strenuous walking so the chaffing factor is much less with the damp cloth between the thighs. But I experienced the same disconcerting dribble down the leg and, of course, a puddle of pee soaking into the ground. Well, you know that will lead to odor problems until the rains come to wash it into the soil. So we have to get the hose and dilute and wash the puddle away. Plastic pants seem so much easier than this, I am saying to myself.

The last experiment, lounging, reading the paper and enjoying a cool beverage sounds ideal for the cloth diaper and no "hot" waterproof pants! In my lounge chair, I don't even feel any tickle or other disconcerting evidence of peeing. But at the end of the lounge, when I have to get up and do something else, I now have a lounge chair and a puddle of pee under it, both of which must be delt with for sanitary reasons and to avoid odor problems. And look at it this way, would you knowingly pee while sitting in your chair on the patio, knowing you have to clean up the chair and the patio? I don't think so. Therefore, plastic pants are an integral part of the diaper. I want to contain the pee (for sanitary and odor reasons) so I can effectively deal with it in the washing machine. I do NOT want to deal with cleaning up patio furniture and puddles around the yard.

So, for me, not wearing plastic pants was the pits. I don't find plastic pants all that "hot" but we all have various degrees of perception and what is comfortable or tolerable. I will strongly suggest that folks try different waterproof pants for comfort in the hot weather. I can tolerate plastic very well but I will recommend nylon pants-especially the DuraTex since they do breath and the clamminess is not uncomfortable in the heat and provides some small measure of evaporative cooling between the legs.

For others who may dislike the damp feel, there is Kins Softees vinyl pants that feel more like silk than plastic. I find them very comfortable even during the swealtering heat we've all been experiencing to some degree. You may think that they are no different from, say, Gary plastic pants, but I really feel they are different and more comfortable to wear if you hate the sweaty feel of vinyl between your legs on a hot day.

On a final note, waterproof pants are more comfortable when you wear nothing over them. Now you can only get away with this in the privacy of your home and perhaps your yard. But the lack of shorts allows the air movement that keeps it cooler on your thighs. Even light boxer shorts have legs that capture that heat to some degree and interfer with air circulation. Sure we have to wear shorts when we go out, but as soon as I get home, the shorts come off and I can tell the difference in comfort level. So for those of you who have never "uncovered", try it if you can. Yes, I know most have spouses but if the two of you are trying to beat the heat, neither of you will be wearing any "excess" clothing, and with you in a diaper and plastic pants, the shorts are clearly in the "excess clothing" category. But that is a domestic issue for the two principals to work out!

Joe K

That was a great set of tests that you did Joe, Thanks for posting your results.

One thing that I have found out that helps to deal with the heat of the plastic pants, is to use snap-on plastic pants. Unless you are laying down, you can leave the snaps on the middle of the plastic pants open. Keep the snaps snapped on the legs and the waist so the pants can do their job. But with the middle snaps left open, the heat that builds up in the pants can excape and make them a lot cooler to wear in these hot summer days.

You will have to experiment to see what works best, having one snap left open on the side, or if there are 4 snaps on each side, you can try having the middle 2 snaps open to allow more heat to excape. The pants still do their job on holding the wetness, but its a lot cooler.

The snap-on pants are normally a lot cooler to wear than the pull-on pants as they do allow the heat to excape even if you have all the snaps snapped. The pull-on pants really hold the heat in as they dont have any way for the heat to excape.

Also, if you are out working in the summer heat, make sure that you change the diapers more often than you normally do to help prevent getting any heat rashes.

Schoppy

Joe, your observations are very interesting, and when you stop and think about it, it makes sense that a diaper will be more likely to leak if it’s not covered with plastic pants. Gravity works faster than wicking and once the crotch area gets saturated pee will simply run out the bottom. Plastic pants hold it in long enough for the diaper to absorb it.

When I think of being outside in the yard, I think mostly of grass where a little pee won’t hurt anything, but I agree that there are areas in the yard where leaving puddles would not be a good idea. I wouldn’t have a problem with sitting in a lounge chair in the grass. Our lounge chairs get hosed off regularly because my wife likes to use lots of sunscreen which can leave a residue if it’s not rinsed off. In my case this discussion is purely hypothetical since my yard doesn’t have enough privacy to go outdoors without shorts, and I use diapers for bedwetting and almost never wear them during the day.

My comment about skipping the plastic pants when outdoors was most likely from memories of when I was very young and it was quite common for toddlers to play outside in the summer in just a diaper and t-shirt. They were almost always wet but you never saw one dripping. But then again, we were probably too busy playing to notice that. And we went barefoot in the summer so wet shoes and socks were never a problem.

Tom