Who Knew!!??

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Hooo boy, SciFiFan, ya really hit the jackpot on that one! Having a courier deliver to your door a big box with huge pictures of Dry Nites bed mats. That would be hugely embarrassing to me. I would have wished the floor would have opened up and swallowed me whole! Best we could hope for is the neighbors are all inside sleeping, watching TV or at work or school! So that is proof positive that ordering online isn't always fool-proof! Maybe the next time you could ask, or insist, for discreet packaging. Just point-blank say "I don't want anybody around my neighborhood to see what's being delivered." Hopefully a company is in tune with its customer enough to have a clue of what's going on.

 

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@Sci_Fi_Fan

Well that was awkward. Course the delivery guy probably has seen all kinds of boxes used to ship stuff. Might have even thought it was something else and the sender was just using that box.

I could see how being in a place where the few people that you do know know that you are there on your own. No playing that off on buying for a relative.

I'm guessing he's probably used to it, I mean I guess tons of people use Amazon for purchasing products which are more embarrassing. Plus, for all he knew I had a kid or a younger brother or something. It's more the neighbours I was worried about!

Hooo boy, SciFiFan, ya really hit the jackpot on that one! Having a courier deliver to your door a big box with huge pictures of Dry Nites bed mats. That would be hugely embarrassing to me. I would have wished the floor would have opened up and swallowed me whole! Best we could hope for is the neighbors are all inside sleeping, watching TV or at work or school! So that is proof positive that ordering online isn't always fool-proof! Maybe the next time you could ask, or insist, for discreet packaging. Just point-blank say "I don't want anybody around my neighborhood to see what's being delivered." Hopefully a company is in tune with its customer enough to have a clue of what's going on.

There isn't the option for discreet packaging unfortunately. I won't order them from Amazon again.

 

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Years ago I was living in an apartment. Somehow the UPS delivery man left my case of ConfiDry 24/7 on my neighbors doorstep. I didn't think anything of them not arriving on time as I had enough left. 2 days later my neighbor sees me and tells me she has a package for me.
I went over and the box was open and one of the bags of my diapers had been placed back in it upside down. She said sorry, I opened it without looking at the name on the box. I thanked her and took them. It mat have just been me but she seemed to always look at my groin area after that when we would see eachother like she was trying to tell if I was wearing. The fact that I lived alone should have been her clue.

 

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Our UPS and FedEx drivers would always leave my cases at the wrong condo building. And almost always some nice neighbor would put the big box in a cart and bring them over to our building. You think with the numbers being 5 inches tall and each building clearly marked they could get it right.
After a few months I had to complain to both companies and it never happened again.
Guess sometimes we have to get on people to do their job.

 

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These stories here are getting scarier and scarier :O!!! For those like us, a real nightmare, and Jim Poorman, Marine John and Sci Fi Fan have lived to tell about it! Since I get a lot of my stuff delivered either by UPS or FedEx, I have always had that nagging fear in back of my mind that someone will leave my protective underwear next door, or even one street over! The good news is the suppliers I use send it in discreet packaging and at a casual glance at the shipping label, you can't tell what's in the box. Of course if your neighbor recognizes the business name and address, well you and your neighbor have something in common! Marine John I'm surprised your neighbor made her mistake so obvious by replacing one of the bags upside down in the box! At least she could have put it in right-side up! SciFiFan, you made a good choice not to order from Amazon again. I will need to keep that in mind for myself. If they can't comply with such a request then rightfully, your business will go to someone who can! Good going, there!

 

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To be fair to Amazon, I imagine that they come that way direct from the manufacturer but a 'discreet packaging' option would be nice. Plus, the driver did go back to the van once I'd opened the door and quickly give me the packaging so that was good of him!

On a related note (beware a bit of a rant!), I’ve just moved into a new flat in a different area and it turns out that waste disposal is something a minefield. All non-recyclable items such as incontinence products go in a see-through blue sack. You're also given a limited supply to cover you for a year in one go (and you can't get any more). The idea of all my used nappies on show doesn't fill me with joy (especially as I'm a teacher so don't want students/parents making any connections!) and given that I get through three-five in a day at the moment (plus boosters and disposable changing mats/bed pads, wipes etc.) the basic allowance won't cover all my needs. It also hasn't helped that this has coincided with the onset of some debilitating neurological symptoms which have made my incontinence worse. Changing standing up is a no-no at the moment due to coordination issues and so the bed pads have been a godsend.

Fortunately, you can apply for more if you wear incontinence products but I have to say that I'm not overjoyed at having to tell people at the council that I wear nappies. Surely, requiring people to divulge (rather embarrassing) medical information is a step too far. Whilst I am aware of the environmental impact of disposable products, as you can see from my other thread, reusable products are just not practical for a variety of reasons. I'm going to contact them and express my concerns but again, just the fact I have to annoys me somewhat! Has anyone else had similar issues? This is the first place I've lived where it's done like this.

 

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Hi @Sci_Fi_Fan, Seeing as how I live "across the pond," I'm not familiar with the council that you mentioned. I don't know what they can and cannot do and what hoops you have to jump through to get anything done. Lord knows, things are complicated enough these days in the U.S.A,! But I can suggest that from reading your post you may be officially considered disabled. My thinking is people considered disabled may possibly get considerations to make things easier for you. I have the impression you would need to go before that council (or some other body) to apply for that. Do you have some kind of an office for disability affairs where you live now? They would be the best place to start. Or even some place similar to NAFC (whose forum we belong to), or a British version of NAFC, if you will. Or.....maybe even the NAFC itself can lead you to a British office. Send an email to the NAFC exec. director??? And if I were you, I'd take a note or a certificate of some kind from your doctor that states your disability and ask for consideration. I agree that divulging very personal medical information before a government office is taking things "a step too far," but I would think that your situation is not unique and that the people in those bureaus or offices have heard it all before, hundreds of times over! I hope those suggestions help and please keep us posted on how you make out!

 

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Yeah, I imagine it won't be an issue in terms of 'proving' my need. I'd been referred to a urologist at my old address and considering my worrying new symptoms, I've already been in contact with doctors down here and have a GP consult on Thursday. Was just rather annoyed at having to get into any discussions about it with some bureaucrat. I'm technically registered disabled due to my autism, still awaiting a diagnosis on this new stuff. Although whilst I say 'new', it may be a way of explaining the after dribble issue I've had for years as well as fatigue and coordination issues and why my IBS flare ups are getting more and more regular. Really anxious about the new stuff. Whilst I've had the annoying continence issues, I've always been really active.

 

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Actually, @Sci_Fi_Fan, we have something similar to your bureaucrats: it's called insurance companies. They seem to make all sorts of medical decisions about what you can and can't do and that can be rather frustrating. Speaking as a layman it seems to me that your neurological issues would fall into the disability spectrum and maybe your IBS issues as well. It's certainly worth following up on. After all you do want the best for yourself and you really deserve that! If it's a problem to change while standing, maybe a physical therapist could be of some help. Admittedly I don't know how easy it is in your system to contact a therapist like that but if there's a way to at least consult with one that might help with some answers.
Hope you have a good weekend (Already early Saturday morning from where I sit now!) We will continue to try to offer help from the other side of the ocean!

 

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@Sci_Fi_Fan you are not on your own in having to tell a local authority far too much detail. I now have a second wheelie bin so that I can spread the weight of my waste between two bins rather than having one very heavy one. It was very embarrassing to have to describe why I needed an extra bin.

On your other point, you could put your used material in a small black nappy sack and then put it into the blue sack. I don't think that anyone will be able to see what is inside the black bags. You can buy black nappy sacks or use black dog poo bags.

Cheers Phil

 

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Thanks for the support guys! I went to see an osteopath and it's really helped alleviate the worst symptoms. She was also the only person who I've spoken to who seemed to care about my issues! Whilst my right side is still definitely not right and significantly weaker than my left muscle wise, I'm not falling over every two seconds which is better. I think I definitely overdid it when moving house which probably made what's going on a lot worse.

@physlink It's nice to know I'm not the only one in the same boat. Yeah, I always double wrap my used products, one in a black one and one in a green scented one. I'm hoping I can do the same here for discretion. I'll thrash it out with them. It's a bit awkward as I don't have a proper diagnosis as of yet because the urology department at my old address weren't seeing anyone face to face and without a flow test, it's hard to see what's going on. Plus, with these new symptoms it could be neurological. My personal take (without being too graphic!) is that the issues I had when I was younger manifested similarly but had a different cause as I do think in the last two-three years they've gotten worse and the bladder stuff certainly feels different. I had a couple of years around my early-mid 20s (I'm 29 now) without massive issues so I wonder if it was partly developmental and then something new has come along. Given these new symptoms, I feel like a bit of an idiot for putting off seeing someone about my bladder/bowel issues for so long but given how difficult it was to see a doctor at my last address, considering my symptoms were relatively low key, I kept putting it off.

 

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To be fair to Amazon, I imagine that they come that way direct from the manufacturer but a 'discreet packaging' option would be nice. Plus, the driver did go back to the van once I'd opened the door and quickly give me the packaging so that was good of him!

On a related note (beware a bit of a rant!), I’ve just moved into a new flat in a different area and it turns out that waste disposal is something a minefield. All non-recyclable items such as incontinence products go in a see-through blue sack. You're also given a limited supply to cover you for a year in one go (and you can't get any more). The idea of all my used nappies on show doesn't fill me with joy (especially as I'm a teacher so don't want students/parents making any connections!) and given that I get through three-five in a day at the moment (plus boosters and disposable changing mats/bed pads, wipes etc.) the basic allowance won't cover all my needs. It also hasn't helped that this has coincided with the onset of some debilitating neurological symptoms which have made my incontinence worse. Changing standing up is a no-no at the moment due to coordination issues and so the bed pads have been a godsend.

Fortunately, you can apply for more if you wear incontinence products but I have to say that I'm not overjoyed at having to tell people at the council that I wear nappies. Surely, requiring people to divulge (rather embarrassing) medical information is a step too far. Whilst I am aware of the environmental impact of disposable products, as you can see from my other thread, reusable products are just not practical for a variety of reasons. I'm going to contact them and express my concerns but again, just the fact I have to annoys me somewhat! Has anyone else had similar issues? This is the first place I've lived where it's done like this.

Hey, don't you have the brown wheelie bins like we do?

I contacted my local authority and requested a larger bin for my medical waste and they honoured my request and it's really useful as there is a lot of waste. I wish suppliers could make incontinence products more ecological so as not to fill the country's landfill more.

 

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@laalaauk Yeah, I've submitted the online form and the council are going to contact me. Hopefully it won't be a problem. It seems the last tenants took their bins with them rather annoyingly. I'm also annoyed the estate agents didn't check as it's caused something of a headache. Still, it should all be getting sorted.

I do think about the ecological impact but disposables are far more convenient. I thought about using washable nappies and even got some samples but it wasn't feasible for various reasons. I also figure that I don't drive and try to avoid air travel if there's an alternative route so I'm sort of offsetting my environmental footprint in other ways.

 

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@Sci_Fi_Fan, I like your reasoning about environmental impact re using disposables versus reusable. Yes, disposables do have some kind of environmental impact, that's true. But by not driving and not flying anywhere you are indeed offsetting the environmental impact of using disposables! I really applaud that! (environmental mavens may be cringing at this very moment) Besides aren't disposables really so much more convenient than dealing with a bunch of washing and drying and just storing the wet ones until you can wash?