Hello, everyone

[Old_Trainspotter]

I am a 74 year old man, generally fairly fit and well. I have type 2 Diabetes, and I am Urinary Incontinent having had issues with it most of my life (mainly Bed-wetting). Following a Radical Prostatectomy a couple of years ago, my incontinence is now total, and I need to wear Adult Nappies 24/7.

[Hidden]

Hi there. I am so very sorry to read your post; it must be truly wretched for you. How are you managing? On a different and happier topic, did you have a favourite place to 'train spot'? Mine was King's Cross, watching the up 'Elizabethan' arrive, hauled by a Gresley A4. Take care, Sine

[Old_Trainspotter in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your kind reply, Sinewave. I have say though, that I don't actually feel wretched about it, as incontinence to some degree or another is something I've dealt with all my life.

I was an almost every night bedwetter until my mid-teens, and had some daytime issues as well. Then things improved and I thought I was over it; however I began to wet the bed again in my thirties. At first occurrences were fairly rare, but became more frequent over time and I began to have problems again during the day too.

A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had a radical prostatectomy. I knew beforehand, of course, that a prostatectomy often causes problems of incontinence, but I was told that this was normally a temporary thing. But it seems that I am in the up to 2% of men that never regain continence; despite over a year of pelvic floor exercises and various meds, I am now to all intents and purposes totally urinary incontinent. The plevic floor excercises had no effect whatsover, and the side effects from the meds made my problems worse rather than better, and had no effect on my incontinence.

In the end, I decided to give up on both the pelvic floor exercises and the meds, and use adult nappies to deal with my incontinence, and to be perfectly honest, strange though it might seem to some people, I find that infintely preferable to the aternatives. And in fact more than one doctor and specialist nurse have agreed that for me I have probably made the right decision.

Sinewave, since we are only supposed to post about medical matters on here I will send you a private message about our hobby in the next few days.

[Hidden]

Hi again. Thank you so much for your response. The important message of your post is that we all have to do that which is right and works for us as an individual. Yours is a condition no one, I feel sure, would wish to have to cope with, so I am very glad that you have found the best way of living with yours. It's good that the medical professionals agree with and support your decision.

Yes, please do pm me whenever you have the time; it will be a pleasure to hear from you. With my very best wishes and kindest regards.

Sine

[Old_Trainspotter]

There have been discussions about catheters, but I have had some bad experiences with them. In fact I have to say that I suspect that my problems have to some degree been caused by catheters. Obviously, I was catheterised firstly during the biopsy which confirmed my prostate cancer. A few months later (before the prostatectomy) I was hospitalised with a severe UTI, and again found myself catheterised; this time I found it unbearably painful, and insisted that it was removed and that I was given pads to contain any leakage. I'm glad to say that the doctor looking after me agreed to this.

When I had the prostatectomy, again I was catheterised, (which was only to be expected) but this time I was told that I would have to wear it for two weeks. Again, it caused me a great deal of pain and discomfort, and was quite ineffective as far as containing leaks was concerned. So you might imagine my dismay when after two weeks I was told that it would have to remain in place due to th fact that my bladder had sustained some damage which had not yet healed. So I had to endure a further two weeks of the infernal thing, when, thankfully, it was finally taken out.

As I have already said, I have my suspicions that my problems may in part be down to the catheters; certainly my OAB symptoms began within days of having the first one put in. Significantly, I think, my urologist would neither confirm nor deny the possibility.

I personally find that wearing adult nappies is infinitely preferable to having to endure the torture of catheters, and I don't trust medications, and I have no intention of considering any more surgery, unless it is necessary to save my life.