It’s funny, well not really funny probably more ironic really, that what you think will be your biggest fear when you are younger turns out to be little more than an inconvenience, and what life has to throw at you is something that you never saw coming. Not even in your wildest, young dream did you ever imagine that you would be happy to discover disposable incontinence products.
For a healthy, young woman thinking about battling cancer, fearful thoughts emerge about losing her hair or maybe needing to have a mastectomy. For a healthy, young man thinking about battling cancer thoughts may focus on interfering with his sex life. It’s funny how the world works though, because by the time you actually are battling cancer, you really don’t care about your hair or having sex, you really just want to be alive.
Then once you determine that you treatments are working thoughts may turn towards vanity, but it will not carry the same weight as it did in your younger years, because you are simply thankful to be living another day. For a man dealing with prostate cancer, while flirting with impotence may not have been your choice, you too are grateful to be alive. Then life throws another curve ball at you, and you emerge from your cancer treatments with a full case of urinary incontinence. Of course sexual function is very important, but it can be shelved until you are ready to deal with it, while incontinence cannot. You have to deal with it right now, today, and this is where you find yourself thankful that you discovered all levels of disposable incontinence products.
So there you are as a full grown man wetting yourself. At your core you are depressed, distressed and uncomfortable, and you have every right to be. Learning at your mother’s knee, continence is a huge developmental milestone in a young child’s life, and here you are on the wrong side of the milestone. While incontinence is normal after prostate surgery, there are some things that you can do to improve the situation long before it happens.
Your doctor will tell you about Kegel exercises, and this may very well be the first that you have heard of them. However, just about any woman who has had a baby is all too familiar with the drill. These exercises strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor, which are responsible for supporting all of your internal organs, including your bladder. So the more fit these muscles are, the more quickly you can return to normal function everywhere.
Studies have shown that prostate surgery patients who begin practicing Kegel exercises before their surgery and continue practicing them after their surgery recover their continence in three quarters of the
time that it normally takes to recover continence after prostate surgery.
The causes of urinary incontinence after prostate surgery can happen for a variety of reasons. For example, radiation can decrease the capacity of the bladder or cause bladder spasms, and surgery may damage the nerves that control bladder function. So your incontinence may have causes other than weak muscles to contend with, but Kegel exercises help to keep the pelvic area strong, which makes your eventual recovery that much easier even with other issues.
As you step through your experience dealing with prostate surgery, you may be surprised to find that you appreciate the world in a whole, new way. Keep doing your Kegel exercises even as you regain continence, because they will help you maintain a healthy functioning urinary tract. As your condition improves, you will be able to use lighter and lighter disposable incontinence products with the hopes that one day you will not need them at all.
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