www.incontinentsupport.org

Has anyone ever talked to or used a continence nurse? I was curious ho many urology offices have one and what all they help with and what they know.

Reason I ask is because every doctor I have seen seems to know nothing about absorbent products and which is best for what patient. They don't know what questions to ask in regards to selecting the best product for their level and type of incontinence.

I saw one at the local pharmacy I used to buy my Tena Supers at, she was more helpful in external catheters and such, but did know absorbent products too, just not as much as Ostomy stuff and the like. Still friends with her today, we hit it off, and she was very nice, non-judgemental 100%, unlike some docs!

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

I have been to different urology groups including major military hospitals and the Mayo Clinic. If you have questions regarding medication or procedures or even catheters, these are the kind of topics urology nurses cover. Generally, absorbent products come up when the rest of the treatments have failed. They know pads exist but they are for patients where other therapies have been unhelpful. Even my doctors at Mayo (which is one of the premier research hospitals in the world) did not know anything about the products I choose to use. My urologist was a professor of urology at Mayo’s graduate school of medicine. He knew I chose to wear diapers due to my condition only after other treatments failed. There were other options but it was found that I was not a good candidate. To my urologist (and every urologist I’ve seen), my choice to wear diapers is on me. I tried many other therapies though. But as far as absorbancies and products, that’s not generally something that is covered in medical school. Something like that is learned from experience by people in the market for such products. Or talking to others found on boards such as this. My guess is, just a little bit of research on the web and you will have learned more about the products you use than the urologists. That’s just not one of treatments they offer. Actually, I get my diapers from the VA and I’ve had to educate my VA physician about the products he prescribed me as he knows nothing about them!