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Hello all, was hoping I can get some insight on incontinence. Why does it get worse on rainy days, and why is it worse when it gets cooler outside? Another strange thing I have noticed is whenever going up hill (in a car, truck, lawnmower, etc) I leak. what is that all about? Strange questions i know.

I don't think it's a strange question, I believe with cold weather it makes muscles contract, I find the cold really affects me. In regards to going uphill I'm not sure I do find I rarely leak when sitting but going from a sit to a stand and that's the worst. I hope this is at least a little use to you

Not a strange question at all. Just the other day I picked up an ice cold bottle of water and next thing I knew I was wet. In fact, most things dealing with water send my bladder into spasms. So if my feet/hands are wet or just drinking from a water fountain can be triggers. Sucks when it is raining outside and I have to walk from one building to another. Can't really say about going up and down hills, but elevators are one of my worse enemies. Especially, the fast ones. Changing positions also gets me. I can be driving fine, feel the urge and can control most of it, but stop to head to the bathroom now the stop has changed into clean up mode. Same thing with getting out of bed in the morning.

Cold weather gets me to, most times last winter when I get out of a nice warm car and start pumping gas I start to pee as I get colder, running tap water also seems to trigger my bladder to release.

theres never a strange question as our bladders seem to have a mind of thier own we just never know when or where it will decide to act up.

Easy, the answer is science and body chemistry.

Rain and humidity get absorbed into the skin. This adds to you water intake and will affect your output too. Most people just don't notice as easily as we do.

Higher heat will also make you sweat more (most of which you won't normally notice). This decreases you water/pee output. Conversely, cold increases your blood circulation so the body can heat its self more. The increased circulation also translates to more urine being produced by the kidneys and therefore also increases you water/pee output.

And, when seated normally you are applying pressure on your urethra which will help prevent leaks. When you recline back enough (going uphill included), or even stand up, that pressure is relieved. This not only allows for urine to escape more, but can also trigger the sphincter muscles in that same area to also want to be relieved.

A toilet flushing in a public restroom can trigger a flood for me. Have walked into a restroom thinking I am going to make it and someone flushes the toilet and the flood starts.

Very interesting my friends, thank you for the insight.

I have all of that, except for the going uphill urges. Seeing/hearing/touching running water, sitting to standing or lying down to standing, and cold weather all trigger urges/accidents for me. Flushing toilets don't affect me, but I have the "approaching one's front door" urges. I thought the cold weather urges are due to muscle contraction as well.

W.

That's wrong. Almost no rain or humidity is absorbed through your skin. Your outermost layer of skin is made of highly keratinized, squamous epithelial cells, sealed together with lipids secreted from lammelar bodies (a specific organelle) during apoptosis (programmed cell death). High humidity decreases evaporation, which has a minor influence on eccrine gland secretion, and interstitial fluid loss. Most sweat loss it due to body temperature homeostasis, not fluctuations in humidity.



Also not true. Cold weather decreases circulation, to conserve warmth in the body core. That's why extremities (fingers, toes, etc.; not the other male extremity) tend to shrink in the cold, decreased blood flow. However, extreme cold reduces the humidity in the air, which increases moisture lost during respiration, and can, in fact, dehydrate you.

Interesting, because that isn't what I was taught, and it isn't what the internet says either.

While it is true water will not penetrate the skin (for the exact reasons you stated) the outermost layers absolutely do absorb water. This is why your hands get wrinkly after a long bath. Because the absorbed water causes the skin to expand. The rest of your skin is the same way. In fact, water will slowly get absorbed and released with even minor changes in humidity. When it does get absorbed, the lower living layers of your skin become more hydrated (because all of our living cells constantly need water). This in turn required less water from withing the body, and also slows down your body's natural sweating (again the small amount we don't normally notice). Hence you loose less water overall which then kicks in you urine production to keep things balanced.

And the cold cutting off circulation is what happens in moderate to extreme cold and is normally called hypothermia. In low cold situations (like stepping into the ac or grabbing a bag of ice on a hot day) your body absolutely does take advantage of this cooling to keep you core body in temp (no sweating needed). It does this by increasing the blood pressure and by dilating certain blood vessels which lead to the skin. This increased circulation also has the side effect of producing more urine as I mentioned.

Or at least that's what I've been taught by biology professors, and which can be fact verified by a simple internet search or two.