Incontinence, A Cure For Oab?

[Nappycouple]

Most of my life I have suffered from Over Active Bladder. Even as child I would have accidents from this condition. My urologist told me after urodynamic testing, that only half my bladder would empty when I voided, and I retained the rest. He suggested intermitent catherization. I tried this for three months, but I contracted several bladder infections and stopped catherizing. When my OAB kicks in, I fully wet with a complete bladder voiding. This meant I had to wear diapers that could take a full voiding in a short peroiod of time. Then I needed to change ASAP. I have discussed the drug option for treatment of OAB, with my Doctor. But after we reviewed the drugs negative side effects and interaction with the drugs I must take now, we both agreeded that this was not a good option. So here is my plan, which I started 18 days ago, become totally diaper dependent, shrink my bladder and reduce it from retaining so much. This way I could get a diaper to last for hours, and would not have to change right away. I have not used the bathroom for urinating since then. So far I have not had a OAB incident, and wetting is becoming much easier. Based on what I have read here, after 6 to 7 month's I will be diaper dependent, wet often and not retain, and have a much more healthier urinary system. Please provide with any feedback or suggestions. Thanks Bob.

[babykeiff]

Bob,

your concept and theory is sound, but in practice, I don't know if you wish to go through the stages. If you wish to become totally diaper dependent / urinary incontinent, the methodology is not physical, but mental training with physical stimulation. I will explain. You have to convice your mind that whatever you throw at your diapers, they will have the ability to hold and keep going, rather than leak and create the cause/effect trigger. To do this, cloth diapers are suggested. Cloth can hold small and/or large wettings without leakage, and the mind will get used to not holding your urine. Disposable, as you have experienced, can leak with full wettings, but don't when you weep urine. That is one reason I suggest cloth.

The second reason is the tactile feedback from cloth - as most cloth diaper wearers are aware of, they don't feel their cloth diaper getting wet since the diaper tends to keep the warmth of the body with it. Full-time wearers change on a time schedule, rather than when they feel wet, since the cloth is almost always moist / damp.

To achieve what you wish -

1 - Change to cloth diapers 24/7/365 and set specific times to change the diaper (lets say first thing morning after you wake and before you get out of bed (or just after breakfast), 1 hour after your mid-day meal, in the early evening, and then last thing at night). If you wish to be totally incontinent, you can wait until an hour after meals to change - since it will take that time to process and soil the diaper.

2- If your diaper happens to leak inbetween times, wear a thicker / more layers cloth diaper. This is important. You want your mind to forget about your toileting needs and to trust the diaper completely to its job.

3- Make sure that you clean the area well between changes. Permanent hair removal from that area will keep you rash free. Shaving tends to increase the sensitivity, and the rashes accordingly. Rashes are a negitive influnce on diaper usage, and were one of the tools used to toilet train you - so avoid them without making your skin too sensitive - this is done by hair free and clean diaper area - to enhance your comfort etc.

4- Increase both the amount of liquids you drink and due to you being male, take a Zinc supplement daily.

5- Relax completely - and when you feel the urge to wet, ignore it. You need to train your mind that you are going to ignore toileting urges and that it is up to your mind to relax your bladder without your direct control. This 'ignoring' means that what ever you are doing when you get the urge, you continue without even thinking. i.e if you are sitting watching TV, you dont even change position, you just let the urge pass. Your bladder will eventually relax, and then it will stay relaxed.

At that stage, your goal, you will weep urine 24/7/365 and not notice your diapers getting wet. When you stand / sit up from lying, the weight of your internal organs pressing on your bladder will cause you to void with no warning. This will be due to your internal sphincters being completely open. Then, you can return to disposable diapers.

Most of this is 'mindset', as I stated already. You already 'know' how to become diaper dependent, you chose to supress when you were trained.

It would be easier / more succesful, if you were to aim at total incontinence rather than just bladder incontinent, and to do that, you may need to change you diet to suit.

*Most important, don't keep a journal / diary of you progress. You want to totally forget about your urinary needs, and get into the habit of wearing diapers cause that is just what you do.

[Nappycouple]

Thanks Babykeiff for your feedback.

I used to wear KIN's cloth velcro diapers and baby pre-fold booster and plastic pants. This worked fine for OAB, because it could take large void. Also, if I did not have an accident that day I did not waste a disposable diaper. But since I started this plan I have been wearing Tena's Ultra Stretch Diapers and KIN's plastic covered terry trianing pants. I have total confidence in this diaper system, it will last upto four hours.

I wake around 6:30AM change out of my nighttime nappies, (three drylife nappies) shower and put on my Tena's, I will need a change around 10:00AM to 10:30AM which I do in our office bathroom. After Lunch one more change, and after work I will change into cloth for the evening, and as mentioned in another post, Dee has me put on my nighttimes Nappies around 8:00PM.

I have no plans to become bowel incontinent. I work with the public, and meet with people all day, being bowel incontinent would make this very hard. I have already found that my bladder is holding less, and I would be happy if all it would hold 3 to 4oz, before emptying automatically. Based on what is happening so far, I have no doubt I will reach my goal. Thank you again for your insight, I will keep you posted. Bob

[DartDodger]

You sound like you have the OAB in check all you can do is wear.

Lots of others in the same boat as you.

[Nappycouple]

Well it has been 31 days of diaper dependency. In that time I have not had any OAB flooding, just as soon as I feel the need, I wet. My bladder is starting to hold less and wet more often. Based on what is written on DD forums I should be diaper dependent in five more months, and my OAB will be cured. We shall see, and wish me success. Bob

[Creepymouse]

Sounds like a plan! I hope you get the solution that you're looking for.

From what I've read, once you've retrained yourself for full time diaper use, you might still feel your bladder spasm when it gets into overactive mode, but it shouldn't be too unpleasant.