rubbersheetmike

My bladder is becoming progressively weaker as I age. I can barely hold on these days once I feel the need to go. It doesn't really bother me unless I don't take precautions. I agree with Freta that if something happens I'm glad to have a diaper on, usually a pull-up brief when I go out.

Last winter I went to see a movie at a multiplex and had a gift certificate for a large soda so sat and sipped it throughout the movie. I knew I was desperate as the movie was ending but then had to stand in a long line for the bathroom once the show finished as other shows were getting out at the same time. I didn't realize it at first but I started wetting in my pants as I stood waiting and by the time I got to a urinal I'd wet down the inseams and past the knee on both legs. I quickly finished emptying my bladder and zipped up my pants and my coat. Luckily because it was winter I was wearing a fairly long coat that covered most of the evidence.

For me drinking has long been the most common bedwetting trigger. I first started drinking beer in my late teens with inevitable accidents and after

Unless I'm lazy or busy I usually wash my wet pjs and bedding. I don't mind sleeping in the same pjs and bedding once or twice after I've wet as long as they're dry when I go to bed at night. That's usually easier in the summer when I can dry them outside.

I don't know how to tell but I think most of the time its just once a night. But I think my bladder usually fully empties when I go so maybe that's why.

For years now I use a fitted plastic cover over the mattress and then an absorbent fitted cotton sheet above that. It works pretty well given that I'm now an intermittent bed wetter. One thing about the plastic cover sheets though is that they can dry out over time and become brittle and can then leak so you have to replace them.

Well I'm

I think the worst I got was the leather strap

Poetry of Life: I agree that it's best to use a mattress protector if your a bedwetter even if you wear a diaper. But I'm not sure it's bedwetting if there's not enough urine to wet the sheets. Its probably from wet dreams or maybe just minor leakage. Because I experience incomplete bladder voiding I can get residual leakage if I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. One remedy that sometimes works for me is to sit on the toilet to pee. If you do experience bedwetting you should look for and adjust the triggers which for a lot of adults includes alcohol consumption especially within a few hours of going to bed. Also for me I never drink coffee or tea beyond the late afternoon. There's always the common sense approach too which many of us were subjected to growing up like consuming no liquids after dinner and urinating immediately before going to bed as well as maintaining consistent bedtimes.

There's various kinds of mattress protection that's pretty easy to buy. Growing up my mom used a rubber sheet for both me and my brother. She put an absorbing pad over it. Later when I lived on my own after ruining a couple mattresses I started buying fitted plastic mattresses protectors at a local department store. They're pretty effective but they do dry out and crack after a while so have to be replaced in order not to leak onto the mattress.

It bothered me when I was younger and dating but is less common now. I agree that when I was growing up it bothered me more especially being teased or kidded by others my same age.

I hated it when I was a kid growing up but then started to like it as I went through puberty. And then I didn't want it to stop.

I went to school in Canada in the 1960s and early 70s. Strapping on the hands was the common punishment especially for boys. And it was usually followed up by a belting at home.

kevindhca: I have post voiding leakage too but it's usually related to daytime issues rather than nighttime wetting. I can go to the bathroom in a urinal or toilet and think my bladder has emptied but then when I tuck in an zipper up there's a large wet spot in my crotch. I've had this issue for a few years now and its often embarrassing which is why I often wear pull-ups when I go out. As for nighttime, it's kind of odd that your bladder doesn't fully void when you wet in your sleep. I wonder if that's unusual? I grew up as an overly heavy sleeper with the predictable result of nighttime bedwetting but I was never tested to see if I fully voided. I think the sphincter muscles, which can often act involuntarily, play a big role. I was once told these muscles can behave in a habitual fashion, meaning that if they're used to voiding and contracting involuntarily they will continue to do so if no intervention or deliberate strengthening occurs. I was hurt in a car accident why I was young being thrown from a moving car

Drinking beer is my favorite excuse for being wet.

kevindhca: It sounds like your bladder retains between 25 to 35 percent of its normal capacity after involuntary voiding. Is this correct?

When you lose bladder control while sleeping the bladder empties completely as far as I understand it. When your awake you can usually control the flow unless your totally desperate but enuresis is different. I remember going to a doctor for it when I was younger because of my bed wetting. I was very embarrassed about it but he said that I was completely normal except for the 30 to 40 seconds it took for my bladder to empty during the night.

I've done this and had it done to me but it doesn't stimulate me to the same extent as wetting myself. I can't explain the difference but I guess for me losing control of my bladder has a kind of primal appeal.

I haven't been in a situation like this so I don't want to judge but I think I'd have been up front about the issue. I'd have made an excuse like 'hey guys I have a urinary tract infection so have to use some protection just in case'. What are they going to say? They might kid around a bit but probably not much else. Adult protection is so commonplace these days with TV commercials for it. Here in North America retired pro athletes have even appeared in some of these commercials. There is no shame in it as far as I'm concerned. I figure it would be more embarrassing to wake up wet if you hadn't said anything.

As an adult I've been spanked many times but don't think I ever cried. As a kid I did almost all the time when I got spanked, whether by hand, with the hairbrush or with the belt. I think the issue is one of humiliation and that the crying is caused more by psychological factors than by pain.

Nappied Dan: If you stopped bedwetting would you regret it? I started bedwetting again about 6 years ago and hadn't had an accident for at least 25 years before that. I had started on a medication and that along with underlying medical problems was probably the reason. The first accident was quite a shock to me. It gave me a reason to start wearing a diaper at night when I can afford to. I learned to live with it. Traveling is inconvenient but not impossible although I don't have the money to travel much and I hardly every visit relatives except during the day. I'm a heavy sleeper too but find it difficult to sleep well without protection. What kind of alarm do you use? A wet alarm or just a regular alarm to get up at 3 am?