They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We say the road to wet panties is paved with coping mechanisms. Women with urinary incontinence demonstrate extraordinary powers of coping—coping skills that start with baby steps. Unfortunately, while coping can help women deal with symptoms of urinary incontinence, it can also prevent these women from seeking real cure.
Does This Sound Like You?
You don’t have time to run to the bathroom at the grocery store so you try to “hold it” until you get home, only to discover that you don’t quite make it. Instead, you find yourself digging through your purse for your house keys while urine streams down your leg.
You decide you are never going to allow this situation to happen again, so you start scouting out and using bathrooms at various stores as you run errands. Maybe you carry an absorbent pad with you in your purse, or start wearing pants that are easy to pull down.
If your condition worsens, you might even start carrying a change of clothing with you or stop going to the gym for your morning workout to avoid the embarrassing “wet panty” look that sometimes happens. Before long, “girls night out” and dating fall by the wayside, not to mention sex.
Does this sound like you?
The Shrinking World of Urinary Incontinence
If you are coping with rather than curing your urinary incontinence, you are living in a shrinking world, whether you realize it or not. You live in a world confined to locations with convenient bathrooms. You are tethered to your purse, in which you carry absorbent pads and maybe a change of clothes. Perhaps even your fashion sense is now dictated by clothing that you can get off in a hurry. Plus, your social life diminishes as your fear of a public accident increases.
What you may not realize is that when you cope with urinary leakage instead of focusing on cure, you deny the effect it has on the quality of your life. Did you know that 40% of women experience urinary incontinence before they reach age 40? And 23% of women have urinary leakage before age 30. Are you prepared to “cope” with urine leakage for half of your life or longer?
Focus on Curing Rather Than Coping with Urinary Incontinence
It’s never too early to seek cure for your urinary incontinence symptoms because the earlier you seek help, the faster you will see positive results. According to the Agency of Healthcare Research and Policy, urinary incontinence can be improved in 8 out of 10 cases. Those are pretty strong odds in your favor.
So what are you waiting for? Isn’t it time to stop living a shrinking world where you just cope with your urine leakage? Isn’t it time to start living your life to the fullest by focusing on cure instead?