Incontinence question

I had surgery 16 years ago and radiation 12 years ago. Five years after radiation, my incontinence problems started. Since then, it’s gotten progressively worse, A lot worse.

For some people it comes on sooner. Doing Kagles doesn’t always seem to resolve the problem, They take a long time to become really effective. There are some videos on YouTube about resolving incontinence. You might check them out. They have some different ways of doing it..

First of all, I'm not a medical professional so take my layman comments with a grain of salt. After surgery last year at age 70, it definitely took me a few months for my body to figure out the new normal. For me I'm pretty sure there was some minor variability along the way, but nothing major and the trend was general improvement week to week. Once I got past the post-op 6 weeks of lifting nothing more than 10 lbs restriction, I started resuming normal activities and that definitely caused a few inadvertent minor releases. What I think was happening for me was I was consciously thinking less about continence while simultaneously resuming more demanding physical activities. But my body was still adjusting to the new normal so I'd dribble occasionally as I resumed a wider range of physical activities. My accidental releases were usually associated with some event, such as like straining a bit to lift some heavy object or doing some body movement without thought; it wasn't persistent random dribbling. Also, even though I'm very happy with my continence now at 18 months, I still do Kegels twice a day and plan to continue forever. All that said, it'd be a good idea to discuss it with your health care team and see what they say. Best wishes.

You are very early in your recovery and yes, my husband's incontinence improved gradually and there were sudden improvements and some setbacks but general trend was "upward". It might help you to keep a record of daily amount by weighting your pads. (one gram equals one milliliter of urine). I bought small digital scale on Amazon and we kept it on bathroom counter for convenience. It helps to see actual trend and it might help with any consultations that you plan to have with your doctor. If your doctor asks you "how many pads a day you use " he/she is not knowledgeable enough about incontinence and find another specialist. People have different levels of tolerance for wetness of a pad and number of pads is not correct measuring.

Please continue with Kegel's ! It sooo important ! Also, if there is no improvement in a month or 2 you might try to find personal pelvic floor PT - many people found great help that way and it usually results in big improvement. Some members here found rowing machine and stair climber to be an answer ! So just do not despair or think that this is something that will stay with you - it will improve gradually over next 6 mos or more - everybody is different but keep in mind that 95% of patients get full continence by year one. : ) And ... - DO your Kegel's in the meantime ; ) !

@surftohealth88
Not only to do Kegel exercises, but also with urinary incontinence different periods of time, the introduction of squat.
The exercise of pelvic floor muscles is the key heavier and longer urinary incontinence has a good effect.
Do 30 squats three times a day. 100 squats a day 0k.
Use abdominal breathing when practicing. Is to inhale while squatting and exhale while standing. The next two rounds take less than four seconds.
Hold on for four weeks and you'll find less incontinence and more urine.

I found that most ‘accidents’ were caused by intestinal gas. Your sphincters are finely tuned and work in concert so sometimes they can misfire and a gas bubble passing by your bladder can elicit a signal to empty.
I also found that posture had a lot to do with it. If I dozed off watching TV sitting upright I usually had some leakage; if I was reclining, it never happened.
Phil