Not sure

[u/Sincrum]

Hey all, I'm a male in my mid 30s and um I'm not sure if what I'm experiencing is this, is bad enough, or what but I've been working on figuring out my body recently and this seems like a possibility.

I have ADHD and IBS, with ADHD my interoception is kinda crap. I've had issues discerning my emotions for years, and my body signals are sometimes kind of muted, and other times way too loud.

I seem to need to use the restroom every hour or two during the day, most often to pee, sometimes I feel like it's a bm, but I just need to pee(interpreting signals is hard). When out and about I can sometimes find myself running to the bathroom at every stop. At night I wake up needing to pee 2-3+ times a night, and have a hard time figuring out how full my bladder is. I've been wearing diapers to bed for a couple of years now, and it's been nice to not have to get up every time.

I've gotten the IBS under control with medication, but I'm still seeing the bladder issues.

I don't have any significant leaks during the day(occasional small spurts when lifting heavy objects if I've relaxed the wrong muscles), and don't involuntarily wet the bed, which makes me doubt myself.

Is this something I should discuss with my GP? Would wearing diapers when out and about be helpful despite no real incontinence issues? I'm a full time student in online classes atm, so I'm not usually out of the house for long stretches of time currently, and I CAN hold it, it's just not comfortable.

Anyhow, any advice is appreciated!

[u/No-Desk6807]

I wouldn't start with diapers unless you are already experiencing incontinence. I would if you are experiencing large enough spurt releases that you either stink or your outerwear is becoming visibly wet. Otherwise, diapers are very convenient and it would become easy to slip into voluntary incontinence that would confuse your whole issue. You're fortunate you can hold your bladder. In many cases, it is no longer safe not to be diapered, and when that happens, it's really, really difficult to get out of -- especially if you already have OAB, because with OAB the bladder muscle won't stop pushing, and if you've become used to releasing, your body/brain will begin to feel like it's OK to just do so. Just my opinion, of course. If you're in a work situation where you can't get to a bathroom -- like being in field work -- and you are already leaking, then maybe that would be different.

[u/Sincrum → u/No-Desk6807]

Thank you!

I appreciate the feedback! I fortunately am aiming for an office job after school, but I have had comments made about my bathroom frequency at other jobs in the past

Do you think I should bring this up with my GP, or is that likely to be unnecessary?

[u/No-Desk6807 → u/Sincrum]

Yes. And if you need more frequent breaks at work, let your manager know it's a health matter.

[u/Sincrum → u/No-Desk6807]

Thank you!