Anxiety/Panic Incontinence

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Hey guys!

Been awhile since I’ve posted. Been having major health issues that have kept me pretty busy.

I might of asked this before. But does anyone get episodes/periods of time where anxiety and or panic causes incontinence?

I’m usually only a bed wetter and have to wear then. But periodically I’ll have accidents during the day. Either when I’m on a call and working or driving and then all of the sudden I get an urge/ release at the same time. I mean I can go weeks with this not happening. And then today is a perfect example, leaving an appointment and boom, wet pants.

So for now I’m diapered up. Once I go a couple days with no issues then I stop wearing. It’s just so odd to me.

Hope everyone is doing well!

 

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My doc recomended i take sone zinc daily last year. It didn’t directly help with incon but it’s helped a ton with anxiety and panic which I’ve always struggled with silently. If anxiety triggers your bladder then addressing the anxiety may help.

 

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Yes, anxiety & panic attacks affect incontinence. I have OAB/FI. Makes symptoms much worse! I have to urinate more frequently.
Fecal incontinence is also worse. Like "scared shitless." Also have Generalized Anxiety Disorder & Panic Attacks. Was taking Clonazepam, but my psychiatrist won't prescribe anymore. Benzodiazapines linked to Alzheimer's. Took a pill for years. So I never learned any non-drug coping mechanisms for anxiety. Have been anxious since I was a child! Have book called "ANXIETY, PANIC ATTACKS, FEAR AND PHOBIAS -- THE BIBLICAL SOLUTION" by Henry Bechthold. Just started reading it. Looks promising. Deep breathing helps too!

 

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If I’m extra anxious beyond my chronic GAD, I will definitely pee more frequently and with more urgency and pain. I hate it. The last thing anyone needs in an ultra tense moment is to have to pee constantly. If you’re wondering why, scientifically, it happens, it’s because in the face of fear and needing to escape from a predator, your body tries to evacuate all of the substances in your body immediately so that you will weigh less and can run as fast as possible away from the threat or perceived threat. It’s a caveman reaction that we are still stuck with!

If I’m extremely anxious in a full-blown panic mood, a few times in my life, everything in my stomach and intestines instantly turned liquids and evacuated. Fortunately I usually get a 10-second warning, maybe a little longer. I do t wear dus let’s for FI because it happens very rarely and often predictably.

 

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I have pelvic pains that would come and go. My history was I had a microwave tump on the prostate in 1993. I started getting pelvic pain in 2000. I had many test, given antibiotics for months. Finally a surgeon said I had a lot of debris and clogged vessels and he went in the left side. I still had pain and the Drs. we’re good and I learned to live with the pain. I now know it is pudendal nerve pain. About three years ago I started to get urge/reflex incontinence and frequency when the nerve became active and it felt like had to go all the time. Then the nerve deactivate and I would be fine.
Then I had my PSA double and I was scheduled for an MRI in May,2022 to look for possible prostate cancer. I became extremely stressed and the nerve has been active ever since. I have learned anxiety can cause the muscles to tense causing the nerve to be pinched ads well as many other causes. I ended up having the urinary problems and had prostrate cancer. It felt like I had burning in the penis and rectum as well as a radiating pain and electrical spikes. I had prostate cancer and had a radical prostectomy in September 2022 and the bad radiating pain disappeared. The nerve seems to make everything hyper sensitive and after surgery I got pain in the anal area felling like I had to go and when I actual had to go the pain went through the roof and I just went. The penis had an aching pain and felt like I had to go. When I coughed it would radiate electrical spikes down my legs and up through the chest. I had no continence and the pain got so bad I could not sit. I went for pt and was told to stop doing Kegels which would hurt when I did them and given pelvic excercises. Things got better even though the nerve is still active. The pain in the anal/rectum area is minimal and mainly bothers when I sit and I have fecal continence. The aching pain in the penis urethra area is gone but I still feel as if I have to go and my bladder spasms causing incontinence. I feel better than I have been in ten years, being pain free, able to sleep, and being cancer free has made me extremely happy.
The urinary incontinence is still very bad. I now have dress incontinence as well as urge/reflex incontinence. I am now 5 months out of surgery and am wearing diapers day and night. The stigma of diapers stresses me but they allow me to manage the incontinence. I am now doing mild Kegels since they still hurt some and do not want to antagonize the nerve. I leak all the time when walking and sometimes even when standing still. At night I get most of my bladder spasms. I have come a long way from where I was. I wish everyone happiness and best wishes.

 

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@Anxiety Wow, yes, you have come a long way. Sorry to hear you’ve suffered so much pain - and also sorry to hear you have anxiety like me. Out of all of my mental health challenges, I hate useless anxiety the most. My OCD and ADHD have some positive impacts along with the negative. But anxiety is pure, useless torture and terror.

 

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I sometimes get anxiety and panic attacks when I have to pee if I am not wearing any protection and I am afraid I may have an accident.

I can't always figure out if the anxiety is making me have to pee or if having to pee is making me anxious.

 

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@Erin Probably both. And, me too.

 

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For me it’s anxiety caused by OAB. Anxiety itsself doesn’t trigger it. If im anxious about let’s say a work meeting or something it doesn’t impact my bladder at all.

I also struggle with nervousness about wearing protection. Not exactly like I’m thrilled do be walking around in a diaper. Beats the alternative tho

 

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I've always had anxiety. The incontinence would always accompany it after battling for so long had to return to diapers.

 

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@pegasi99 thanks for the book recommendation. I will definitely check it out.

What is weird is I feel my anxiety and stress have calmed down yet I still have no control back during the day.

This morning I wanted to try and go without a diaper to see if it had gotten better. Within 30 min I was having bladder spasms, flank pain and felt like I had to go to the bathroom every 15 min.

So I put a diaper back on and everything calmed down in about 15 min. So I don’t know if I get too tense or what. Hopefully it calms down soon

 

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@sport would you use diapers for a bit and then try to go without?

I just get nervous my body will always depend on them if I keep wearing them during the day. But I just have so much less pain when I wear during the day. And way less stressful

 

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@Newbie2this I said this in a previous post. I just get scared it’s going to become a 24/7 thing. I had a hard enough time accepting the fact I should wear at night. And then the day time issues are now occurring

 

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Growing up, my anxiety is what my accidents and bedwetting were attributed to. In the long run it was the precursor to my oversized bladder and retention. (holding pee is common in kids with anxiety).

I think my injury/accident is what tipped the scales and turned an occasional problem into a constant one.

 

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If I’m extra anxious beyond my chronic GAD, I will definitely pee more frequently and with more urgency and pain. I hate it. The last thing anyone needs in an ultra tense moment is to have to pee constantly. If you’re wondering why, scientifically, it happens, it’s because in the face of fear and needing to escape from a predator, your body tries to evacuate all of the substances in your body immediately so that you will weigh less and can run as fast as possible away from the threat or

you dont really grok physiology, do you, snow? i'm in hysterics thinking of some poor mouse taking a big dump while running from a predator.

detrusor dyssynergia is the most frequent mechanism of incontinence. Most incontinence patients will benefit from behavioral measures like bladder training.

https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-patients-and-visitors/patient-information/conditions-treated-a-to-z/urge-incontinence

Here's an introductory course that should help you understand your body.

Incontinence: Patient Care and Treatment

Discuss different types of urinary and bowel incontinence in male and female patients. Learn about symptoms, causes, patient assessment, care, and treatment. This CEU course is applicable to nursing, OT, and PT. #wildirismedical #continuingeducation

wildirismedicaleducation.com

 

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@JustAGuy Interesting. Having pretty severe GAD, I wonder if I used to hold my pee, too, without noticing.

 

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@tripichick I worked in medicine for seven years while I was at university doing medical transcription, JUST LIKE YOU DID, you who thinks you know it all, even though you sell potholders and live in a car, “reusing” disposable diapers.

My mom works in medicine and is 74 and still working full-time. Don’t tell me I don’t understand medicine! I’ve had two kinds of cancer simultaneously and 24 f*cking surgeries in the past seven years alone!!!! Back off! I guarantee you, I know far more about physiology than you do! It isn’t a contest to anybody except you.

Ask anybody else on this site if they think I don’t understand physiology! I get compliments all the time because of how well I understand physiology and how much help I provide. You’re the scourge of this forum.

 

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kindly explain detrusor dyssynergia in 25 words or less.

and tell me what 'tpcosob' would expand to when using a word expander.

Just had an amazing zoom therapy session after butt sex morning.

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended—
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.

Please accept that I do in fact know better than you.

Check out tripileaks, my resource site, and let me know when you've compiled something similar to help empower others.

You find my potholders risible. Again, let me know when you've crafted hundreds of useful, functional objects and donated bags full to your community domestic violence shelter.

 

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@snow, I’m sorry about your struggles with anxiety. Im curious: Is it the case with you, as it is with me, that whatever you are doing when the anxiety hits (such as washing the dishes) can then become a trigger for incontinence from then on?

I swear it is for this reason I can’t walk by my refrigerator with having a spasm, lol!

 

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@JustAGuy Ha ha, that sounds tough! I don’t think I have quite that connection, but I know that in public places where I’ve had the worst panic attacks, every time I’m in those places again, I can barely breathe. I’ve had a few times where my panic attacks were severe enough that I lost fecal continence within a few seconds.

In places where I’ve had bladder leaks before in public, when I go there again, my bladder tenses up defensively and my body tightens up with anxiety. whenever I pull into my driveway and get close to being in my condo and able to go pee, my bladder has a Pavlovian response and wants to pee before I even get out of the car! I can control those urges much better now that I’ve strengthened my pelvic floor with Kegels.