My Story – Submitted by: Anonymous
I developed bladder incontinence years before I began to have bowel incontinence. The bladder incontinence began in my late fifties, and the bowel at age 61.
Neither of them were due to accident, disease or other outside causes. Perhaps they were inherited, as I know my mother had bladder incontinence in her later years. I don’t know if she had bowel incontinence, and I no idea whether my father suffered from either condition.
When the urinary incontinence (UIC) began, I found that I could keep embarrassing accidents from happening by urinating as soon as I felt just a faint urge to do so. It’s still like that for me. If I ignore that first, faint urge, very soon after I find myself in an “emergency” situation.
I have never lost all control, so that I urinated all over myself. The worst that has happened at times is that a little urine starts to flow before I am able to find a bathroom or a suitable outside area to use.
Re the bowel incontinence, (BIC) it began as a problem similar to the UIC. If, when I began to feel a slight need to empty my bowels, I did not immediately find a facility, there was a significant chance that I would have a bowel movement in my pants.
The BIC worsened into a constant problem of leakage, so that I soiled my underwear regularly. That has been happening for several years. It occurs day and night. Usually, it is accompanied by by the release of gas. When I release the gas, fecal matter leaks out, as well.
I refused from the first to wear “adult diapers.” I decided instead to try kegels. There is no doubt that they have worked for both UIC and BIC.
The most important thing with regard to being successful at kegel exercises is to DO them and to do them REGULARLY.
A good while back, did kegels regularly for a couple of weeks, and the BIC ceased for about a week. But I stopped doing them, and the BIC came right back.
Two weeks ago, I began kegeling again, and am doing the exercises regularly. Last week, I had 4 or 5 days in a row without any leakage. But even though I have continued the kegeling, over the last 3 days, I have had leakage.
I don’t know what the reason for that might be. But I will continue to do kegels, and chalk the accidents up to one small step backwards, with many large steps forward to come.
As for the UIC, I am not paying much attention to kegeling for that, because I have always been able to find a place to empty my bladder. Also, I always dribble just a little bit after urinating. That’s not due to incontinence; that just IS. I don’t think I can do anything about it.