Not Sure If It Is Ok For Me To Post Here

[DiaperdAspie]

Hi,

I am autistic (Asperger Syndrome).

I have learned to hide all kinds of problems during my life. One of them had been, that I have always had problems detecting when my bladder is full. Sometimes it worked, other times I would not notice, or it would signal 'full' prematurely. Because of this I had numerable small (manageable) accidents, where I would suddenly notice that I started urinating. I nearly always managed to stop myself bevore any major 'damage' was done, but wet underwear and a small wet spot on my trousers where the result most of the time. A few times I also had bigger accidents, where most of my bladder would empty, luckily this only happened when I was alone. Those bigger accidents where all during times where I had a lot of stress to deal with in the first place.

This caused me quite a bit of stress (something that I already have enough of). To prevent these accidents I would drink very little, causing me to be slightly dehydrated most of the time.

In March this year, I have decided to wear nappies 24/7 for good to solve this problem (I had a few short experiences with 24/7 wearing). I have accepted that this would most probably result in total loss of control sooner or later. However, in my opinion, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for me. Right now, I have pretty much lost most of my control already.

However the considerable stress from not knowing if my bladder is 'telling me the truth' is gone. I can now savely imerse myself in an activity, without being scared that I will not notice a full bladder. I have also started drinking 'enough' again, so all the small problems that where a result of the dehydration have disappeared as well. This all has made my life considerably easier.

If, in your opinion, I should not post here, I will respect that decision and keep my activities to the other parts of the forum.

DiaperdAspie

[full nappy]

Hi,

I am autistic (Asperger Syndrome).

I have learned to hide all kinds of problems during my life. One of them had been, that I have always had problems detecting when my bladder is full. Sometimes it worked, other times I would not notice, or it would signal 'full' prematurely. Because of this I had numerable small (manageable) accidents, where I would suddenly notice that I started urinating. I nearly always managed to stop myself bevore any major 'damage' was done, but wet underwear and a small wet spot on my trousers where the result most of the time. A few times I also had bigger accidents, where most of my bladder would empty, luckily this only happened when I was alone. Those bigger accidents where all during times where I had a lot of stress to deal with in the first place.

This caused me quite a bit of stress (something that I already have enough of). To prevent these accidents I would drink very little, causing me to be slightly dehydrated most of the time.

In March this year, I have decided to wear nappies 24/7 for good to solve this problem (I had a few short experiences with 24/7 wearing). I have accepted that this would most probably result in total loss of control sooner or later. However, in my opinion, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for me. Right now, I have pretty much lost most of my control already.

However the considerable stress from not knowing if my bladder is 'telling me the truth' is gone. I can now savely imerse myself in an activity, without being scared that I will not notice a full bladder. I have also started drinking 'enough' again, so all the small problems that where a result of the dehydration have disappeared as well. This all has made my life considerably easier.

If, in your opinion, I should not post here, I will respect that decision and keep my activities to the other parts of the forum.

DiaperdAspie

seems ok to me

[DailyDi]

There's a lot of folks here with mild wetting problems who have chosen diapers rather than worry about accidents or feeling like they are tethered to a toilet. Welcome

[sarahjane]

If, in your opinion, I should not post here, I will respect that decision and keep my activities to the other parts of the forum.

DiaperdAspie

Seems correct for me as well, given the circumstances.

Dehydration is also dangerous. As long as you still use the toilet as normal when you can, I would doubt that this would result in any more incontinence than you already have.

[Hunter1076]

Drink, drink like the fishes

Dehydration can and does kill many people.

And I don't just mean by lack of water alone, the body needs water to help with Everything and lack of proper amounts of water can lead to breakdown and sickness.

Bladder infections, kidney infections, constapation, eletrolyte imbalance, vitamine intake, ect. ect.

Yes incontinence sucks, but it's a minor problem compaired to the health risks you would take by dehydrating your body just to remain more continent.

please drink fluids

[DiaperdAspie]

Dehydration can and does kill many people.

I am aware of that.

Well, since I don't feel thirst (unless I don't drink anything for over 48h), it is easy for me to get dehydrated. Especially if drinking just causes you to run to the toilet or risk an accident. (I have several sensory 'differences')

Well, for a few months I have been buying 1-1.5l of fluids to drink over the day. I also make sure that I drink enough when at home. But whenever my regular routine does not apply and I am not careful, I will just get dehydrated again (not drinking much has become a bad habit over the years). The only way that I can really tell that I should be thirsty, is the 'symptoms' of dehydration.

One thing that I noticed since, is that most of the time I only notice that I am wetting when I am nearly finished. My best guess is that this is because there is no stress about having 'accidents' anymore, the part of me that was always alert and ready to intervene to stop the flow before it got problematic has diappeared (and so has the 'stress' associated with it). I pretty much guessed that this could be a 'one way road', and took that into consideration when I decided to wear nappies, so it does not really bother me.

PS: The one time I did not drink anything for over 48h was when my asophagus was blocked. It got blocked on a Friday evening, and I got to the gastroentologist on monday morning. I could not even swallow my own saliva.

It is annoying when the physitian at the emergency clinic does not listen (that was late that same Friday evening). I told him that I could not swallow anything (not even water or saliva), and he concluded that since I was not drooling this must be false, and told me to swallow some pills. I was spitting into a tissue regularly, to keep from drooling. Now, if I am confronted with such a totally unexpected and unlogical response, I lose the ability to communicate (I can speak though, just not communicate my thoughts anymore), so all that I could do was leave. If I had not gotten that appointment on monday morning, I would have gone to the emergency room of the local hospital and told them that I did not have any fluid intake for 48h, and asked them for an IV to replace the fluids.

[AutieAB]

Haven't posted here for a while but I'm still reading

As DD said, you'll be far from the only poster around here with that kind of problem. You'll also find you're by no means the only autistic poster

I'm guessing that you're well aware of this but the problems you wrote about are very common amongst autistics. Very common indeed. An inability to properly and fully understand the body's messages while you're doing something else is normal for us and doing something to mitigate against it is normal too.

I guess I'm lucky that I don't have any of the issues you described (well... ok, maybe once or twice ) so I wouldn't normally be found on the incontinence section but I'm very prone to totally failing to notice that I'm hungry until someone nags me or I get faint (passed out in the Dr's office not too long ago because of that...) and lots of fellow autistics will tell similar tales.

I guess at the end of the day, if you wear diapers to keep your pants dry, that's a good enough reason to be on the incontinence section

<returns to lurk mode, probably...>

[DiaperdAspie]

You'll also find you're by no means the only autistic poster

I know, I have also seen (and filled out) your poll.

but I'm very prone to totally failing to notice that I'm hungry until someone nags me or I get faint

Well, I have no problems there, but I sometimes misinteprete some signals as hunger. That can be annoying too...

I guess at the end of the day, if you wear diapers to keep your pants dry, that's a good enough reason to be on the incontinence section

Well, I was just making sure... ...I have read a few threads, and noticed that often people who want to be incontinent are not welcome here, I was not sure if prefering to become fully bladder incontinent over having frequent smaller accidents and lots of stress would be seen differently.

[anned]

Dehydration can cause kidney stones and I can tell you that is painful to the max.

I have Partial Agenesis of the Corpus Colosum with a mild center-line defect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenesis_of_the_corpus_callosum

I had bladder incontinence till i was about 12 and had surgery to repair the defect. That is where i got started as a DL.

After that as i got into my 40s i started having urge incontinence. my bladder would only signal it was full at the last minute.

Since i had wore diapers till i was 12 it was the first thing i did was start wearing again anytime i knew i could not get to a bathroom quickly. It was not a hard decision to make as i had always liked the feel of wearing

Now at 57 years old i just wear all the time. With gas prices as high as they are I ride the metro rail and buses to get to my doctors appointments and not having a bathroom around at bus and train stations makes the diaper handy.

[Dill_Pickle]

(snip)

PS: The one time I did not drink anything for over 48h was when my asophagus was blocked. It got blocked on a Friday evening, and I got to the gastroentologist on monday morning. I could not even swallow my own saliva.

It is annoying when the physitian at the emergency clinic does not listen (that was late that same Friday evening). I told him that I could not swallow anything (not even water or saliva), and he concluded that since I was not drooling this must be false, and told me to swallow some pills. I was spitting into a tissue regularly, to keep from drooling. Now, if I am confronted with such a totally unexpected and unlogical response, I lose the ability to communicate (I can speak though, just not communicate my thoughts anymore), so all that I could do was leave. If I had not gotten that appointment on monday morning, I would have gone to the emergency room of the local hospital and told them that I did not have any fluid intake for 48h, and asked them for an IV to replace the fluids.

That's kind of dangerous...48 hours is long enough to die in some circumstances. I think, I would have told you to go to the ER...and an after-hours discussion with the Gastroenterologist's office is not inappropriate in that circumstance. I've seen normal people need the IV fluids 2 or three times, including myself, though the problems were further down. A couple of times I have avoided the ER by making a point of drinking a bunch when I felt horrible.

As for drinking enough water: If it gets hard, make sure you are getting enough electrolytes -- that is, drink some fruit juice, or eat something salty, like a pretzel. And if you are exercising heavily, just drink enough to make sure you pee from time to time.

[DiaperdAspie]

That's kind of dangerous...48 hours is long enough to die in some circumstances.

Well, I did not need to sweat, and once I had lost enougth fluids, I did not have to spit out my saliva all the time any more. But as I said, I would have gone to the ER if I did not have that appointment.

It turned out that I have GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) and a (too) low pH in my stomach. My stomach will reflux frequently, and the acid attacks the lower part of my esophagos (which is quite badly scarred according to the picture that was taken). I now take Omeprazol (proton pump inhibitor), to make sure that my stomach is only mildly acidic.

It does not stop the reflux (which in itself is not a problem), but it stops my esaphagos being attacked by the acid, and swelling shut again. The Doctor said that he had never seen an esaphagos as badly scarred in someone as young as me.

The next time a doctor tells me to take some pills, as a response to: "I cannot swallow, not even water." I will tell him that he should get his ears checked, and that I mean exactly what I say, however unlikely he might think it.

But back then, I never imagined that I could be so misunderstood. The Doctor told me clearly that what I was telling him was impossible, and ignored that I told him that I could not even get small amounts of water to my Stomach.

I had several blockages bevore that, but I always managed to get them unblocked within one or two hours.

But even after over 24h of no drinking, with my mouth and eyes dry, I was not thirsty yet. I washed my mouth with water frequently, in the hope that some would be absorbed, or that I would lose less water that way. Only at the day I had that appointment, I was thirsty. Very thirsty... ...but when the blockage was cleared up, and I could drink again, only ~250ml of water was enough to quench that thirst. But I still drank more than that, because I knew, that I had lost a lot of water...

[babytommy1981]

i feel your pain. i have kinda the same problem of not knowing if my bladders is lying or telling the truth. this is why i been wearing 24/7 mostly the depends pull-ups. they dont make noise and no one really can tell you have a diaper on. unless you let them see it.

I also have a bad problem is IBS all my life. now its worst now some times i cant make it to the restroom because the pain in my tummy is so bad.

i have once past out from the pain and then messed my self so bad that some called 911 and i went to the ER cuase this person thought i had food poision. at least i didnt.

with me wearing 24/7 now i dont have to fully stress out if im not gona make it the rest room in time. if i go i go. just clean it up and change my pull-up diaper when i do get to the rest room.