Pelvic Floor Therapy

Tuesday saw my last visit for Pelvic Floor Therapy for stress incontinence. Here's the story.

I started nine weeks ago and completed eight visits. One a week but I missed one week. Therapy's basically biofeedback plus a week by week measure of your muscle's strength. Benefit is you understand how to do the kegels correctly and work the right muscles. The nurse gave me a daily regimen of kegel exercises and advice on hydration, and foods and beverages that might irritate the bladder.

I began at five pads a day: four during the day plus one at night. After six weeks I was dry through the night and pretty much in the mornings.

As of this week I use just one pad during the day at work and really don't need it. Just want to play things a little safe until I'm sure.

So all in all it worked for me. I'll soon be on a maintenance level of exercise which I'll do for the rest of what I'm hoping will be a very long life.

My insurance didn't pay for this because they said it was "investigational" however I find a loophole in the small print that said investigational therapies would be covered if they used an FDA approved device. Mine was so I protested. See how that works.

Good luck to the rest of you out there working through this issue.

Hey, thanks... much appreciated. I wasn't getting about the importance of this group as the only place I can share the joy on this. And I work with a bunch of Nurses and Docs not shy about plumbing.

Bill, thanks for the details. There's not much info here from guys who have done the whole cycle of rehab, and even less that have a successful result. Thanks for the data, others following you will find something to be encouraged by when they read your story.

I meant to write "I wasn't kidding about the importance of this group..." Don't know how I tangled that above.

@Clocknut The Nurse tells me I'll have to treat my bladder and urinary sphincter just as one would treat an Achilles tendon injury (I think that was the analogy). Just something to be aware of.

The course of kegels she had me do wasn't arduous. First thing in the AM and then just before dinner. She said don't overdo the kegels because it wouldn't help the muscle.

Thanks for all the kind words above.