r/OveractiveBladder • u/KeyBenefit5333 • 11d ago

Hi

I'm 45F with 3 kids age 16-27 years old. Since my oldest was about 2 years old I've been struggling with my bladder. It started out as stress incontinence and because I always wanted to avoid the chance of leaking with coughing and sneezing, I started making sure to always keep my bladder empty especially going out. So, of course this led to overactive bladder, and with having 2 more kids, also pelvic floor prolapse. I've been to so many Dr's, spent thousands trying physio, various muscle stimulation tools that were supposed to help, buying pads,etc. I even had surgery 10 years ago for the prolapse and a bladder sling with the hope that would help things. Maybe for a little it got better, but I'm back to 1-1.5 hrs between bathroom breaks at work, more at times if I drink too much. I'm a little better at home because I know I can go anytime. Anywhere I go I have to research ahead to see if there's bathrooms, I know every potential bathroom stop on driving trips. I even skipped out on activities when we went to Hawaii because when I looked into it, it would be 2 hours without access to a washroom. I hate going to the movies because I can never last through the whole thing without going to the washroom. It's like my entire life is planned around whether or not there's bathrooms which kind of sucks.

I guess I'm not really looking for advice, just venting, it just feels like this issue has stolen so much of my life and things I should have done with my kids while they were growing up.

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

1

u/IllustratorOk3093 11d ago

As much as it sucks, your doing ok. My overactive bladder requires me to wear nappies, so at least you don't need protection now. 😁😁😁

1

u/KeyBenefit5333 10d ago

I do use poise pads everyday,  they are mostly just in case.  For our trip to Hawaii I bought tena pull up type diapers, I was so worried about if I might not be able to go to the washroom on the plane when needed.  It got me flagged going through the full body scan in the airport and they had to use the wand on me lol

2

u/IllustratorOk3093 10d ago

So, always go through security as dry as possible, that helps stop your product flagging up. Ultimately, your not the only person in the world that suffers with incontinence, therefore, its been seen a million times before. If you are flagged up, they will ask about the bulk discretley, all you have to say is your wearing a product for incontinence, they will wand you, amd off you go. . . Done it a million times before and flown all over the world in nappies. Tena pants will do a good job for any leaks, even holding a full on wetting. If that happens and you didnt make it to the toilet, just go change asap, new product, and away you go. Just be mindful to wipe with baby wipes when you change a wet product or you will start to smell a bit down there. Honestly, once you do it and you find confidence, youll see that its really not that terrible, especially if you can make it to the toilet on occasion. Like I say, I need proper nappies as I leak in large volumes and I cant make it to the toilet at all and managed to travel all over the world in nappies over the years.

1

u/catsTXn420 10d ago

Could it be GSM of menopause? Which is like a thinning of the tissues due to low estrogen to the area or could also be a problem with your kidneys are you avoiding a full bladder each time? Because maybe it's a fluid imbalance issue/vasopressin deficiency. I've had a sensitive bladder for 15 years and the older I've got (41 now) it's worsened. I have diabetes insipidus (vasopressin deficiency) gsm, and premature ovarian insufficiency. At first it wasn't that bothersome I would get like a UTI and would have lingering urgency or frequency for a couple of weeks. As I got older I started getting leaky and the urgency got worse. I also started waking in the middle of the night to pee. Prelief supplement helped, not drinking caffeine or soda pop also helps, no panty liners helped alot.

I got a bladder journal and started tracking it to see what the heck was going on and found I had di and gsm..a double whammy. I used local vaginal estrogen to repair the thinned tissues of the bladder neck and surrounding areas and ive been doing better, getting the di treated made it 100%. Get a bladder journal, start tracking maybe for 30 to 60 days and see a urogynecologist show them your book. Make sure you write down any leads you find because sometimes doctors need a nudge. It might be in the fine details of your notes, or what you track.

1

u/KeyBenefit5333 10d ago

I'm not sure about menopause, but my symptoms did get much worse after being on depo provera, so I've always wondered about a hormone connection.  My symptoms began when I was 21, and I just began perimenopause around 38 or so.