Incontinence pads vs diapers (seeking advice)

[Tom92]

Hi!

I am seeking for some advice from you guys. 

I have been dealing with bladder problems for quite some time now and last few months I did not have a dry day or night. I am wearing diapers, 24/7 as of now and I have various small leaks, dribbles, when I feel some pressure in my bladder I know that there are seconds before it will release. At the moment I change 5-6 diapers per day (I wear Tena Slip Super) and I rather change more diapers then stay in a wet one for a long time.

I think I would be able to manage this with incontinence pads, you know these big ones. This way I could go back to wearing underwear at daytime and the changing is much easier. I feel bad for wearing diapers when I could manage it with pads, but I cannot get these pads to work comfortably. They move around, they sag real bad. I have tried wearing different stuff, fixations pants, various underwear. At some point I used these Tena Man pads, but they are extremely uncomfortable to me. I have also tried Tena Pants and Molicare Pants, also SERIOUSLY uncomfortable when wet. 

Am I wrong for wearing diapers when I could use pads? Maybe someone has any advice how to wear pads properly to get comfortable? 

[babyalan]

You need to do what makes this work best for you and no matter what try to make it enjoyable however possible thst might be and never worry about what others think

[deewet]

Re Tom92 concerns, a lot of what he said holds true from my experience as well.  When I listened to my wife and tried the pads, (I started with the belted guards but found them uncomfortable), I tried the men's guards originally, and found them to be irritating as well as they were generally too wide in the crotch.  I switched to the lady's style, and with the proper underwear, they work great, no bother at all.  It is a total package though, as they will not work with loose fitting underwear, but as I have had to wear medical compression hose for poor leg circulation, starting years ago I started to wear woman's briefs under these for comfort again with wife's suggestions (no extra material in front to press into me all day) and they work great together!

[Little Sherri]

I would say that the nature, volume and duration of the leaks probably inform what would work for you, but for me, nothing eclipses the security of a properly fitted diaper. There are just too many potential failure modes with a pad - if something runs off of it, it has nowhere to go except into the wilderness, IE, soaking through your clothing. Pads can shift, they are easily overwhelmed, your equipment can end up pointed in the wrong direction, sitting and standing and laying down all present different potential issues that you're trying to stem via a small landing strip. I think of it like this: a pad is the green on a golf course - everyone wants to hit it, but, it's a tight target. A pull-up adds the fairway to the equation - you're much more likely to end up still within the boundaries. A proper diaper hands you the entire hole to shoot for - the green, the fairway, the rough, even the trees and brush. Sure, once in a while, you might hit one onto a road or into a neighbourhood behind the course, but most of the time, your ball lands somewhere on the hole. And to me, a leak is much harder to conceal and contend with, when it occurs, than a bit of extra bulk under my clothing. 

[Oops]

Timing and volume of urine are important to get the right combination. If you have "predictable" incidents of relatively low volume, pads work fine. They are much more convenient to carry, change and dispose. If one chooses the correct pad for the volume, they are usually reliable. They are less bulky under clothes, etc.

And, as all of us have learned, one must experiment a lot to find the right product. Like "deewet", I've found that bladder pads sold for women fit better and are more absorbent. The "overnight" pads have loads of absorbency. Men will find a better fit if the pad is reversed, so the wider portion is in front, providing more absorbency where needed. Many pads have adhesive strips that hold them in place.

Pads "made for women" seems to mean they are packaged and bordered with flourishes and colors like lavender and fuchsia. They are also located in the women's section of the incontinence aisle at the store. Otherwise, they offer the same paper-pulp-polyester absorbent pads covered in polyester net. However, the range of absorbency levels is far greater for "female" pads than those offered for men.

At some point, most of us opt to buy online in bulk. There are SO many more options online. For instance, you can buy Poise Overnight from one drop ... all the way up to eight drop absorbent levels. Walmart makes an Equate brand overnight 6 drop pad that is currently $0.33 each vs. Poise 8 drop overnight for $0.59. If you use lots of pads, that price difference is significant.

Underwear also makes a big difference with pads. You must wear snug briefs to hold the pads in place. Otherwise, you get dribbling and surges that spill outside the pad, rather than get absorbed. Any brief with spandex will work. However, as "deewet" learned, women's briefs hold pads better than mesh hospital pants and don't add unneeded bulk, like Y-fronts. They are also much cheaper.

Being incontinent is at least inconvenient. It makes one focus on hygiene and clothing in a completely new way. Experimenting with absorbency products and clothing adjustments introduces an element of "adventure".

[stevewet]

I wear tena comfort large pads and net fixing pants quite often during the day. As long as the net fixing pants are nice and tight so have no problems.

[BabyBoi91]

I would say the number one issue with pads is placement/moving, and “direction of flow” (especially with males. They also tend to be poor while sleeping unless it is extremely light and you barely move in your sleep.

have you considered using an adult pull-up style “pad”? Like depends has pretty discreet products (they are pretty lightweight tho and usually need to be changed after one wetting which you describe you prefer. They also don’t handle flooding well). Other brands, especially ones with leg guards do better. 
 

another option would be to vary your diaper options. Maybe use your current diapers for nighttime / when itay be awhile before u can change, and find a thinner diaper for daytime use / when you know you can easily change. 
 

I know some people have talked about having 3 options: nighttime/extended use, standard daytime, and quick use / exercising. 
 

but I agree with those above. Find options that work for you. And if diapers are a problem (like you really don’t want to wear and wish you wet less), see a doctor about different ways to help. 

[Old_PA]

I use stents quite a bit, usually with Tena pull ups. Sometimes I need protection for just an hour or so. Here the thicker Tena mens’ pads or Depend guards are just fine, used with fairly close fitting panties. (I changed to panties 9 years ago to accommodate pads after a prostrate op.) Never had them move.