Small leaks wearing pads for bladder diary?

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This may be a really stupid question, but here goes...

I have been battling mixed incontinence for a couple of years now. The first urologist immediately wanted to do surgery and that scared me off. I've tried physical therapy to no avail. I went to a new urologist yesterday and I'm optimistic. He wants to do a urodynamics study and that seems like a step in the right direction. Prior to the study, I have to do a voiding dairy. I've done these before, but determining when small non-stress induced leaks occur has always been a challenge, as I do not feel them (the stress induced ones are easy). I believe urine seeps out slowly during the day. If I don't wear a pad, I can tell pretty easily by wet underwear. However, if I do wear a pad, the pad absorbs the liquid and I can't really tell when it happened until enough accumulates that the pad gets "full" and it's time to be changed.

So, do I just not wear pads and carry a stack of underwear with me and change every time they start feeling wet? That's the only solution I can come up with to know when exactly I am leaking...

 

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For light leaks you can pick up depends underwear/realfit and that should work ok.

For the diary, go to the bathroom every hour (if possible) and check then. Give approximate size of wet spot in pad/underwear/pull up. Just make sure you use the same product.

 

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Hi Terramd,

I hope you are able to get some answers soon! You can try Carin for both absorption and timing of leaks. The website is: carinwear.com. This way you don't have to worry about changing your underwear, as they keep you dry, but the external sensor will also allow you to figure out when and how much leakage occurred. The underwear can also be washed and reused as much as you like.
Good luck!!
rw

 

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Hi so I am I the same situation where I drop randomly during the day and most of the time I do not feel it. When I'm at home I don't wear a pad I change my underwear so that I am aware of when I do have a leak as it's only drops most of the time . When I have stress episodes as in try to exercise or I leave the house I do wear protection. Please let me know how you go with your study I'd be interested in what their findings are. Good luck

 

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Thanks for the suggestions and comments. I will try the Depends underwear, as I understand you can see the leakage and since it won't leak through, I won't have to worry about stress leaks or bad smells. I will let y'all know how the urodynamics study goes. I am hopeful that I will finally have an answer as to what caused my problems and maybe a fix... I am excited to find that there's a community of people who can relate to me!

A little more about me... I am 42, so this has been hard for me. Some people tell me that it's no big deal because everyone experiences this after having children. In fact, my mom told me to get used to wearing pads, as she apparently struggles with the same thing and has have no hope this is fixable. She and my husband also seem to feel it's related to my weight and where I carry my excess fat (around my midsection), but I'm only a little over my optimum weight. Also, last year, when I was doing physical therapy, I went on a pretty restrictive diet at the PT's suggestion and made it back to my optimum weight and still had these problems. I even asked the doctor about my weight and he said weight loss would improve bladder capacity and leak point pressure, but suspected I would still leak even if I lost weight. He thinks it's related to the lumbar stenosis I have, but I guess we won't know for sure until this study.

It's just all so frustrating. I cannot possibly imagine how this is normal and it definitely impacts me in ways I never expected I would have to deal with.

Thank you for understanding and your help!!

 

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Have no worries or feelings of shame. I’m a 39 yer old male who wears diapers because of neurogenic bladder issues. It’s just part of everyday life and no one knows about it. By looking at me you’d never guess.