Incontinence Like Dripping Faucet

Reminderman:

I agree with 142, that seems like way too many Kegel exercises. You can help nature but you can't hyperdrive your way to continence with an overabundance of Kegels.

I know folks here have gotten on my case for measuring but, keeping a urine diary with some concrete numbers has really helped me see the progress I have made. Instead of just guessing at the weight or the number of pad used (that is really a gross indicator of progress) I could see the totals come down as I am healing.

Your words mirror my own progress. At 2 months post surgery, using only pad use data, not weight of the contents, I went from around 5 pads per day to around 3. However, those three were filled to the brim when I checked them for periodic changes.

I leaked when I stood. It felt like I was just draining my bladder into my pad. Walking made it drain even faster. However, as healing kicked in to the point where I could notice some change, one day I could stand perfectly still and NOT leak. Walk a bit and the leaking started. So, that might be a milestone you can start to use to track your healing process.

A few weeks later, I could move slowly about my kitchen and not leak profusely. Actions were a bit slow motion, but progress was being made.

My next milestone was to walk a short distance and still have something in my bladder to void when I finished my walk. Until then walks were a slow dribble until the walk ended and my pad was near full and I had nothing to pee out.

Some anxiety relief came when I could move about for several hours and NOT fill up the pad to the max. Weighing them gave me some meaningful data so I knew the fluid was just not hiding somewhere deep in the pad. They really were lighter in weight.

Now (early in my 6th month post surgery journey) my big spurts have become small ones and my dribbling has become a weeping kind of leak. My pad at the end of 13 hours (a complete work day) looks like nothing is in it. Measuring it indicates around 12 - 15 cc of fluid. Not completely done with this ordeal but getting close. My concern right now (comments very welcome on this) is that for the last month is that progress from Sept to Dec was dramatic, nearly 50% drops each month in pad volume. Progress now very small. So is the tail end of the healing process a really slow turning off of the dribbling and weeping?

Oh, to address your concern about holding (a continuous Kegel) while standing. Sure, you can try doing this but you will tire after a minute or so and leave the muscle weaker than before. Hard to describe this but keep yourself firm without doing a kegel and just keep walking. If you leak you leak. Your sphincter and the pelvic floor muscle are not ready to hold back the pressure yet. On the amount of Kegels, the U of Penn urology center describes an "aggressive" amount of exercise as 10 two second kegels followed by 10, ten second kegels. Do both short and long sets laying down, sitting and standing only 2 times per day. Yes, you will leak doing the standing short 2 second kegel since it is the same move we all use when finishing urination to get the last bit out. Eventually you will leak less and less doing the short 2 second kegel.

I sure hope that helps. Also thanks in advance for anyone who can address my question about the slow down of dramatic progress.

Mike S.