I am wondering, does anyone use a pessary to help with incontinence

@dreams
I had a bladder sling put in in 2001. It was fabulous! But it failed last year (not sure what that means exactly, how it fails). I went to pelvic floor physical therapy and that really helped. I tried a pessary, but we couldn't find one that fit well and didn't cause a lot of pain when I removed it. Plus, my leaking was worse with the pessary (it was a round one). I am now following a gal on the internet who is extremely helpful. You can do a 7 day free trial, which I did and found it to be a worthwhile program. Her website is http://www.thevagwhisperer.com. I think you can also go to http://www.thevaginawhisper.com. I believe there are some videos on youtube as well, which is where I first saw her. She teaches you to train your brain to do kegels before you do any movement: bending, stretching, lunging, sliding to the side, etc. It takes some work, but it has been revolutionary for me. The benefit to it is that you're not just doing kegels; you're doing a mini workout! So good for the whole body. She also teaches you what's going on in there and how so many other muscles are connected to your pelvic floor. I'm 68 years old and all I was told when I was 31 in childbirth class was, "Just do kegels everyday." Better late than never!

@trishdub I'm curious... 24 years before the sling failed; why did you not want to redo the sling surgery?

@lesliesara
I did not want to have another sling surgery simply because I want to avoid surgery, period. Any surgery, if I can help it. Surgery is serious business. I went without the pessary for several months and used an estrogen cream twice a week in order to bulk up the vaginal tissue so that inserting and removing a pessary wouldn't be so painful. I had success in that area. While I was without the pessary, two things happened: 1, I had very little leakage because my urethra was kinked due to the prolapsed bladder, and 2, my prolapse got worse. It is very uncomfortable, having that weight always pressing down on my vagina.
I went back to the doc, and we tried a different kind of pessary. It has a bulge in one place on the ring which presses against the urethra so that there isn't a straight shot down and out. Imagine trying to stop the flow of a garden hose with your thumb while the hose is straight versus while it's somewhat kinked. Can't do it when the hose is straight. Apparently there are muscles in the urethra that we can't control, so we can't strengthen them. My pelvic floor is strong; I can stop urine flow with and without the pessary. So this pessary worked great except that it moved around and it didn't want to stay in. So my doc has ordered the next size up and we are waiting for it to come in.
If this doesn't work, there is an injection of a urethral bulking agent that can be done, so that's a possibility.