Does Prolonged Diaper Usage Shrink Bladder...

[babykeiff]

This was a PM I received...

Hi Babykeiff,

You seem to be very knowledgeable about incontinence, I was wondering if you could answer my question.

Does wearing diapers for a year or so shrink the bladder? By a lot of a little?

I have worn diapers for nearly a year, and after stopping (decided I didnt want to wear full time). I have noticed a great reduction in the amount my bladder can retain.

I do not have accidents, but I hold about 4-6 ounces before my bladder is screaming for relief. I was given meds by my doctor but it didn't really help, I still needed to go the same amount of time.

If the bladder does shrink, is it possible to grow it again? Or am I destined to have a small bladder now?

ANSWER

The answer is obvious, long term usage of diapers both weaken (to the point of atrophy) the muscles concerned AND will shrink both the bladder and bowels. Whether this is reversible, all depends on the time frame concerned and the age of the person concerned. The longer in diapers (years) and the older the person is (past the age of 35/40), the less likely it is for both the bladder and bowels to be able to stretch back to previous sizes. As a result, post diaper wearing will result in a more frequent need to void to the extent that the person may not last overnight / long periods during the day without having to void.

It is highly likely that a person who wears diapers out of choice for a number of years will become completely dependent on same, and that the 'choice' is no longer available.

PS - to the person who PMed me looking for this answer, I would prefer if you would post such questions to the board. To seek this type of 'one to one' consultancy seems a little presumptuous to me!

Also, to the person who decided to answer this post before I had the chance to finish posting the topic... congratulation, you seem (in my opinion) to have a problem with patience. FYI, medically bladder walls, unlike most muscles, do NOT thicken. The bladder is classed as a muscle, but it is more analogous to a balloon, that is made from rubber. It can stretch, and it is the stretching that creates the sensation of needing to void. The average size of an empty bladder is no larger than a peanut. A person who wears diapers for a long period of time, has a inbuilt ignorance of the stretching of the bladder, OR the autonomic response of opening the external sphincter to void. As a result, they will have a problem regaining continence. What you stated re: walls thickening is a common myth.

[Darkfinn]

It's going to take more than a year for significant changes in the bladder to happen.

In either case, it's not that the bladder shrinks so much as the walls will thicken and it will lose elasticity. Your bladder is actually relatively small when it is empty... it is this ability to stretch that enables it to hold larger quantities of urine.

[dogpiss]

I'm convinced my bladder is the size of a walnut anyway, but yeah, if I quit "trying to fight" for a while, I notice that what little continence I do have greatly decreases in as little as a week, but again YMMV.