Urinary Incontinence Support Group

Don't let my username fool you..I'm born and bred American..i just wanted to use my Chinese name, cuz it sounds cool.. Hi, my name is Rob. I suffer from what i guess one could call moderate to heavy urge and stress incontinence. Not really sure what to call it, it seemed that every time i saw my urologist, he marked something different on his sheet. All i know is sometimes i wet small amounts, and other times i can flood with no warning. I use adult diapers to manage it.. as far as what causes it.. I was just diagnosed with idopathic peripheral neuropathy, and if the right nerves are affected, it can cause incontinence. So far, its the best explanaiton the doctors have found. I seem to have some control left, but its not much. I hope soon they will find a resolution. Ive been wearing 24/7 for over 5 months.. howerver, i still use the bathroom when i can..however, i dont know if ill do that for much longer. Thankfully, my bowel control is still intact.

I am 25 years old, a senior in college, and hope to be a social worker with a wife and family some day. If my incontinence is permanent, i can deal with it.. but it will take getting used to. Thanks for reading!

Rob

Hi Rob,

Welcome to the incontinence group. I'm Mary. I'm suppose to be "overseeing" this ragtag group till someone more "qualified" shows up to take over!

Just curious, how did you come by a Chinese name?

I have Over-Active Bladder - OAB - and urge incontinence. Now EXACTLY what the difference is between them, I can't tell you, but apparently that's what I have. I do experience mild stress incontinence, but that is not my main problem -- URGE is!

I have been fairly fortunate that Detrol LA DOES improve my situation. When I take it faithfully, I am finally human again! ...I'm just really bad at taking any medication with any regularity. So, I'm off and on Detrol fairly often. Sometimes I can go months without significant problems, but once I start losing control, I search out my little blue friends.

"Idiopathic peripheral neuropathy"... Hmmm... Are you, perhaps, diabetic? Isn't peripheral neuropathy a common occurrence with diabetic? ...or I guess, "idiopathic" does mean "unknown cause", right?

I appreciate your upbeat attitude about this. Doesn't sound like your going to let this get you down. Good luck in your studies.

Thanks for joining us and feel free to keep posting! The more subjects the merrier!

~Mary

Grr.. i was typing out a long reply to your message..but i clicked on a link and boom.. there it goes.. So ill simplify it.. I came by a Chinese name because i took Chinese I last fall..which in turn i took because i studied abroad in China in summer of 2007.

I am not diabetic, and yes, idopathic peripheral neuropathy means that they dont know the cause of it. In addtion to incontinece, i have lovely symptoms such as dizziness, vertigo, tingling in my exteremities, muscle twitches, pain, and other lovely symptoms

I'm glad detrol works for you. It didnt do much for me.. i still had spots on the pads.

My urologist is running out of treatment options. He actually suggested i consider just living with it.

What really bothers me is sometimes i have control and sometimes i do not. I wish it was consistent.

For me to give up using diapers, i would have to have a treatment that was guaranteed to be successful in restoring my continence.. My urologist recommened peripheral nerve stimulation Percutaneous Tibial Nerve Stimulation, Urgent® PC Neuromodulation System i think.. and he also mentioned interstim. He said we can try another medicaiton, but im not sure i want to. I take enough medicaitons as it is.. I take ritalin, catapres and minocin.

I think i covered everything.. yeah, its not so much a total devastation, its a bit of inconvinence.. i do get my diapers free from medicaid, that helps a LOT..needless to say, i wish i didnt have to use them. But, i really do see little alternative.

One side note.. im actually grateful that the incontinence medications didnt work, because if they did.. i may have never found out about the neuropathy. Since some forms of neuropathy can be life threatineng(but these are very rare), it is good to know that i have it. I had other symptoms with it, but i may not been able to connect the dots. Anyway, enough about that.