Important points to consider

Here are some lifestyle questions to ask yourself that may influence your product choices:

• What activities do you do during the day? Are you mainly at home or out of the house?

• What are your sleeping arrangements? Do you share a bed or sleep alone?

• Are there activities you would like to do but cannot because of fears that you cannot reliably contain your leakage?

• Does your leakage currently confine you to your home?

• Does it prevent you from working, socialising or doing certain hobbies?

Try writing down the answers to these questions. Use this information when you are talking about your needs with your health care professional.

Product suggestions

All products have different characteristics. Understanding what these are will help you to choose the right products for your needs. For example:

• During the daytime or when you are away from home discreetness may be a priority

• During the night time or when you are at home, comfort may be more of a priority than discreetness

• When you are on holiday compressed, discreet packaging may be more important than when you are at home

• When you are at work you may not be able to use the toilet and change products when you wish, and need products which you can use over longer periods

People often find that a combination of product types which take these aspects of lifestyle into account work best for them. Here are two examples of how a mix of products can suit an individual's varying needs:

Peter is 65 years old....

He is retired, and has had light urinary leakage for two years following treatment for prostate cancer. He leads a very active life and enjoys long walks and swimming. He lives with his wife and they have a washing machine. He has to buy all his continence products.

Peter uses the following mix of products:

• Washable absorbent pants - when at home as they are quite good at containing his leakage and he is near a toilet if he needs to change. He and his wife find these pants are easy and acceptable to wash as part of the household laundry, are cost effective compared with pads and reduce the amount of household waste to be disposed of.

• Male pads - when he needs a more reliable, leak-free product e.g. when with friends at home. He uses these sparingly as they are more costly than the washable pants.

• Sheaths - when he is walking or away from a toilet for a prolonged period; this system allows larger volumes of urine to be handled without the need for changing a pad and allows discreet emptying of the drainage bag which he attaches to his lower leg.

• Penile compression device – he uses this device for short periods when he goes swimming.

Maria is 82 years old....

She has urinary urgency, and urge urinary incontinence at least once per day; at night she wakes to pass urine 2-3 times. She has arthritis which limits her mobility and reduces her hand control. She lives alone in a flat where she is visited once or twice a week by her daughter. She uses a range of containment products and toileting devices which enable her to manage her bladder symptoms and to continue living independently.

Maria uses the following mix of products:

• Disposable pull-on products - which contain her daytime leakage reliably. Washable products would not be suitable for Maria as she would not be able to cope with the laundry. Pant-style products are best for her as she can manage them with her arthritic hands; she has tried alternatives such as a cheaper pad and pant system but these were unsuccessful.

• Hand-held urinal - Maria uses a urinal with a large grip during the night; this means she doesn't have to walk to the toilet thereby avoiding the risk of falling, and can manage without a pad at night. She is able to walk to the toilet in the morning and empty her urinal herself. She does have a mattress cover in case of night-time leaks.

• Toilet adaptations - Maria has a raised toilet seat on her toilet. She is unable to lower herself onto and get up from a standard height toilet seat. She has a rail either side of her toilet to help with getting onto and off the toilet.

Other things you can do

Limitations on what is available to you or what you can afford may restrict your lifestyle. There are several things you can do to ensure you have the best product solution for you……

• Be proactive and talk to your health care professional about your needs. If a product does not work well for you, don’t be afraid to say so.

• Make what is available work as well as possible for you

• Consider all products available to you - not just absorbent pads

• Consider using reusable products at least some of the time. They can have substantial cost benefits if used repeatedly over long periods of time.

• Use cheaper or less reliable/discreet products when at home and on your own.

• Save expensive products or products that you have the most confidence in for when you are away from home or with other people.

• You can contact product manufacturers if a product does not work well for you. It is helpful for product manufacturers to receive constructive feedback from people who use their products - this way they can make them more user friendly!

• Think about how you can improve access to your toilet facilities at home and when out. For example, you might use a raised seat or a commode at home and accessible toilets for people with disabilities when out

• If you are in the UK, there is the RADAR key scheme that allows access to more accessible toilets and the Great British Toilet Map can be used to find public toilets wherever you go.

• Outside of the UK, you can look at Worldwide to find more helpful resources where you are.

• Recognise that circumstances and lifestyles change from time to time which may affect product requirements. For example, changes in your health and degree of leakage, social or economic circumstances.

• Review your needs from time to time with your health care professional and tell them about your requirement for combinations of different products.

Tips from product users

Top Tips:

'I use an Intermittent catheter before cycling and then don’t use pad; cycling pants are padded so a slight accident is hidden or you can wear a small pad'

'Make use of a selection of products so that you can match your products to your current needs. For example, if you usually wear a sheath, when dancing you may prefer to use a pad with close fitting pants.'

Sharing tips is an important aspect of this website. Please click on Contact to leave your 'user tips'.