www.incontinentsupport.org

I became incontinent about 5 years ago due to a large prostate. I have had to wear diapers since then. I lead a full and active life and do what ever I want. I do not let my incontinence slow me down.

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RetiredRN

My incontinence started after I got ran over by a car back in 1987.

I was in the Air Force and had just arrived at my first base out of tech school. 25yo
I was walking across the street and the driver didn't stop at the crosswalk and I was in the middle of it.
I guess he thought I was frogger or a speed bump
Lets just say that I did some good damage to his car.
I spent the next 4 years in 7 different hospitals. Spending a lot more time in than out.
That doesn't count the MANY MANY MANY out-patient Dr appointments that I had.
I had seizures for 4 years after I got hit. Now its just migraines.
I finally got a medical disability retirement in 1991

Ive had a lot of different tests, scans, and surgeries over the years.
I have to wear large knee braces on both knees and of course im stuck in diapers.
The Dr's did find out what caused my incontinence, I have nerve damage in my L3-S1 in my lower spine.
It only took 4 years after my accident for them to FINALLY find out that getting ran over by a car can do damage in the spine.
That was 4 years of hell. I knew that I was having problems but the dr's couldn't find out why.

But that was MANY years ago and now that im getting older im just happy to be on the right side of the grass in my yard. hehe


Schoppy

Because my incontinence has been caused by Marfan syndrome, a genetic disease, I guess, technically, I was born with it. Marfan is a connective tissue disorder, which affects bones, ligaments, tendons, heart valves, etc., which led to two fractured vertebrae and three compressed discs in my lower spine, which accounts for my urinary incontinence. Bowel incontinence, deriving from gastroparesis, is more problematic. Basically, it involves the tenth cranial nerve, which, among other things, operates the GI system. My best guess as to the cause is that it sustained a radiation injury when I had ringworm, which a radiologist blasted with X rays. He killed a house fly with a stick of dynamite, and I've been living in the debris ever since.

I started to notice some dribbles after my second, an ileostomy, colon cancer surgery. I thought it would be temporary and my doctors told me everything would work itself out as they had been moving things around in that area....again. Well it really didn't and for a while I had to self catheterize. Things did get better with time and exercises, but the dribbles remained. In 2015 things got a bit worse and I had to go from just a pad inside my briefs to a moderate capacity pull up. I tried the tape style diapers but they would always rip out at the tapes So I went on the trial and error journey of testing all the pull ups on the market with samples and purchases, in the same way I had to for my ostomy appliances. You really need to try a wide variety of sizes and styles to settle on one or two that fit you best, as well as provide the best protection. I use certain brands, and sizes, for day and night time use but admit that I continue to sample new products and take advantage of sales.

Mine started about 3 years ago (at age 46-47) with the occasional leak or dribble during the day, and a rare wetting the bed at night. It got progressively worse until I finally saw a urologist at the point I was leaking several times a week and wetting the bed almost nightly. While we are still looking into causes and options for treatment, at this point I've been diapered at night for the past 4 months and wet about 13 out of 14 nights. Daytime is much improved with the help of meds and kegels, and I have stopped using guards as long as I have easy access to a restroom. The only firm diagnosis I have right now is "lazy bladder."

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"When you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."