Hi web265
Since I began keeping records on December 7 I have done about 10,000 kegel squeezes building from 3 second hold to 15 though sometimes 20 and the longest I can hold is about 40 seconds.
Its important to use the correct technique and my PT gave an iPhone app with video demonstrations.
My PT has me voiding every hour to "train" my bladder to expect a duration. When this is "dry" I'm to move to 90 minutes or two hours. Dry at one hour is 70 or more days out without sudden improvement.
Being a compulsive numbers guy records are average daily grams and the three day moving average grams, both over a 24 hour period.
Three day running average: 342 started at 522 19 days ago.
Daily average: 406
Average grams per hour: 17
Highest 24 hour: 613, Lowest 213.
I use a postal scale.
I've tried to post the past 19 days showing a continuous improvement, albeit too slow in my view.
For my hoped for sudden improvement I am looking for certain food, acidic in particular, that may affect the bladder. Its a process of elimination. So far ID's, sugar. Apparently okay caffeine and red pasta sauce.
Being this quantitative is my way to avoid that hopeless feeling and becoming depressed with this aspect of recovery.
Anyway, this is what I'm doing. Do not stop kegels.
I love your chart! That is a great trend line!
My PT emphasized deep, prolonged breathing much more than kegels (which she prefers to call pelvic floor exercises.) I think, though, that was advice tailored to my specific profile, including physical exam of pelvic floor contraction. Apparently, as one responder has pointed out for himself in this thread, there is some danger of excess tension in these muscles?
Fortunately for me, this was one of the areas where I had unusual success, and I still have the large bag of diapers to prove it along with several packs of unused pads. I am grateful that while I have ongoing problems, I don't have every problem :-).