Some things are unspoken. Despite the fact that we live in 2007 and live in a generally free and open society, there are some things that people will hardly discuss or if they do it's with the whisper of shame. What I'm talking about here is specifically incontinence but in broader terms any issue surrounding the bladder in particular. A conservative estimate puts it that 10% of the population have problems, this is higher in women and a bit lower in men, and the causes range from neurological, age related and just unknown, yet no one likes to talk about it. Now I'm not particularly advocating that we all wear our heart on our sleeves, but its no great shame to admit that all isn't well and seek appropriate treatment is it,.....or is it? Seems that many many people are unable to see a doctor in the first instance and struggle on for years and years until something forces the issue, which is really sad because often it can be alleviated relatively easily.
I generally suffer huge over continence. This basically means that the full message doesn't get from my bladder to my brain, so I get fuller and fuller and fuller. I have a HUGE bladder capacity, at a guess I think it must easily be the size of a party balloon. Amazingly I can go forever without knowing I need to pee, which sometimes can be a big advantage. But the downside to this means that if you go too long, it all backs up into your kidney causing infection, damage and eventually kidney failure. So you can see that's not great. Just to throw a few extras into the pot, over the last year Ive had increasing numbers of incidents of incontinence which frankly you can just live without. This ranges from being mildly damp to being very wet. You know what, this whole thing isnt pleasant at all. My biggest fear is becoming one smelly individual. I'm not but I could be. Of course the other fear is that I pee myself very publicly. Again this hasn't happened but it could. Let me tell you it knocks your confidence. On the one hand I appear confident, but on the other it makes me nervous. I spend a lot of time in loos just checking everything is OK. So it seems I have a bit of a dyssynergic bladder. Not all the time, but enough just to make life uncertain. Add a persistent and unpleasant infection and you have a mix that can make my life quite stressful. Know what.... somethings got to give here and soon.
I am going through some urology problems at the moment too and up until now its been dictating what I do and what WE do as a family. Mainly because I have been pretty stuborn.
ReplyDeleteHang in there - you seem to express exactly what goes on in my head with your subject matter. It makes good reading.
Take Care
John
http://aguardsmansblog.blogspot.com
Yup. Been there, done that. Not all the time, but as you say, just often enough to make you nervous. I have reached the point that I always wear dark pants when out .... less likely to show, and not as obvious when you re-appear suddenly in different pants!
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