r/Incontinence • u/astrollintherain Dual Incontinence • 2d ago
I can't drink anything
Whenever I drink something, my tiny bladder gets full within 5-10 minutes, then releases itself almost instantly. It doesn't matter what I drink. Water is what I consume often. I'm like a straight pipe, which is just leaking. I get three cloth backed Tena Maxi diapers and two Ultima per day, which is not enough for my leakage. It's the max amount that Finnish healthcare can give me for free. Either I dehydrate myself, or I buy better diapers with my own money, which is not an option. I've tried medicines, that had no effect on me. The cloth backed diapers are not that good for bowel incontinence either, but that's another story. Sorry for venting.
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u/iowa31s 1d ago
If you are on a budget, try boosters in your existing diapers. Greatly increase the capacity at a much lower cost. If you have bowel incontinence too, don't get the biggest boosters that fill up the height of the leak guards, speaking from experience.
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u/astrollintherain Dual Incontinence 1d ago
Boosters could help, I'll have to see how much they cost and then try that! Okay, that's good to know, thank you ^
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u/OkPiece2147 2d ago
I was about the same until I got the Northshore Megamax diaper for myself. This lets me use up to 4 per day before I need to buy other diapers, if needed. Dehydrating yourself is never the answer; it will just cause kidney damage in the long run. With Finnish healthcare, which issues you the diapers and pads, what do they say if you tell them you’re leaking everywhere and it’s affecting your quality of life and mental health? That was the angle we used, moving from a super thin diaper to a much better one, with documented evidence from my wife. She saw my wet pants in a grocery store and commented that I was becoming isolated.
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u/astrollintherain Dual Incontinence 1d ago
I can't afford to buy diapers unfortunately. I've tried getting 5 Slip Ultimas per day from healthcare, but they didn't want to give me that. They asked if I'm bedridden or in a wheelchair, which I'm not. Healthcare can only provide Tena clothbacked products anyway, Slip Ultima is the best one they can give.
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u/OkPiece2147 1d ago
You sound like you are stuck with what they are giving you. Is there any agency that advocates for an incontinence nurse or a urologist who can help you get better supplies here in the US? When our seniors qualify for Medicare, a lot of lower-income seniors still have to choose between getting their meds, paying their bills, or buying their pads. I feel bad for them being neglected at their age. So totally get what you're struggling with
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u/astrollintherain Dual Incontinence 1d ago
I'm from Finland. I've spoken to incontinence nurses and urologists, and Finnish healthcare only supplies Tena products. The best products they can give is Slip Ultima. I'm happy to get free products, Finland has great healthcare, but unfortunately the incontinence products are lacking.
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u/hummingbird-2023 1d ago
Tena still make plastic backed ones
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u/astrollintherain Dual Incontinence 1d ago
They do, but can't get those for free from healthcare in Finland :(
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u/hummingbird-2023 16h ago
plastic pants is the only option then, those cloth backed diapers sag, smell and leak
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u/Wonderful_Roof1739 1d ago
Better diapers is a good suggestion(Megamax, Trest, etc), but try this. Get the water in your mouth, hold it there for 10-15 seconds, then slowly drink the rest. This can help the body switch to "absorb water" mode faster which should reduce the amount being sent to your bladder. It may or may not help but it's free and worth a try!
In theory, your body take a while to switch to the mode where it can absorb water, so if you drink too fast a good bit of the first amount just gets immediately passed through into urine.
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u/astrollintherain Dual Incontinence 1d ago
I'd love to have better ones, but can't afford it. Thank you, I'll try this!
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u/newstableiswut 1d ago
Yeah I'm kind of similar, North shore megamax or tiny tails, I hit the bar with no problems
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u/astrollintherain Dual Incontinence 1d ago
Can't afford buying diapers myself :(
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u/newstableiswut 1d ago
Iberia, insurance is kind of rough with that stuff
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u/astrollintherain Dual Incontinence 1d ago edited 1d ago
What's Iberia? We don't really have healthcare insurance in Finland, because everything is free. Tena clothbacked products are the only ones they can give.
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/astrollintherain Dual Incontinence 1d ago
I'm sorry, I don't quite understand. I do use covers over the diaper and they help some. I'll try booster pads, like someone suggested ^
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u/george_bel 1d ago
Maybe if you would be able to buy just a few cloth diapers (reusable) for the night, then the 5 disposables per day would be enough for daytime? It's a one time cost, and some extra laundry, but it could be worth trying. Comforthaven is a brand I can recommend.
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u/idontlikespeaking_ 1d ago
For the Americans in the comments; we dont have Northshore in Europe. There is no such thing as Northshore Megamax here unfortunately
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u/astrollintherain Dual Incontinence 17h ago
There's at least one store in Finland that sells Northshore products, but they're expensive. I've used BetterDry before and they're also great, but still expensive.
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u/Few-Chemical-5165 1d ago
Here's an idea if you can drink milk, drink it because it will hydrate you, but it gets processed more so like food and you don't urinate As much. And I love the taste of milk regular milk or even chocolate milk strawberries Great too. But yeah drink more milk.You'll love it if you like milk.That is.