Issue Codes Incontinence Accessories and Hygiene

A hospital in Surrey hopes to raise awareness of adult incontinence by holding an awareness day next month.

The event, which will take place at Frimley Park Hospital, will teach members of the public about bladder and bowel problems, as well as the treatments that are available.

Many people believe adult incontinence only affects older people, but in fact as many as one in five women and one in ten men will experience problems at some point.

Jane Bibey, urology nurse specialist at Frimley Park Hospital, told the Get Hampshire website that people are often “reluctant” to discuss urinary incontinence.

“Embarrassment is a huge factor in stopping them from seeking help for what is actually a very common but nevertheless distressing problem,” Ms Bibey said.

“Incontinence can be soul destroying but there is a range of treatment solutions available.”

People who wish to find out more are invited to attend the hospital between 10:00 and 16:00 on September 28th, when they will be able to talk to urology nurse specialists and physiotherapists.

Frimley Park Hospital is an NHS foundation trust hospital that serves Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire.

Issue Codes Incontinence Products for Women

Women who perform pelvic floor exercises on a regular basis tend to be less likely to experience stress urinary incontinence and gain better control over their bladder, it has been claimed.

Writing in the Daily Mirror, writer and medic Dr Miriam Stoppard has provided some useful pointers for women who are unsure of the technique.

She claimed: “The beauty of pelvic floor exercises is that once you’ve mastered how to do them, you can do them pretty much anywhere, any time.”

According to Dr Stoppard, women should start by identifying the relevant group of muscles – this can be done by stopping the flow of urine several times while urinating.

They should then practice tightening these muscles for five seconds, relaxing them for five seconds, then tensing them again.

Dr Stoppard noted: “You may not be able to hold the tension for the full five seconds at first, but you are likely to develop this ability as your pelvic floor muscles grow stronger.”

The muscles should then be tightened and relaxed ten times as quickly as possible, before contracting them for longer “in a more controlled fashion”.

“After about six weeks of these exercises, you should find stopping the flow much easier,” the expert claimed.

Stress incontinence is one of the most common forms of female incontinence and may be caused by nerve damage during childbirth, pregnancy or a lack of oestrogen.

Some 129 residents of county homes, including Argyll House in Dallington, Northampton, Lucas Court in Moulton and Pytchley Court in Brixworth could be affected by the situation, reports the Northampton Chronicle.

Earlier this week care home operator Southern Cross Healthcare revealed that it was struggling to meet its rent obligations because the NHS and cash-strapped councils are not providing enough referrals.

Residents at Argyll House told the publication that cutbacks are already starting to bite as incontinence pads were being rationed, but Northamptonshire County Council said it would re-home anyone affected by possible closures.

The UK’s biggest care homes operator, Southern Cross Healthcare caters for 31,000 elderly people living in its 750 properties across the country.

Southend Council is looking to implement widespread cuts in a bid to plug a £15.5 million deficit in its budget and authorities are considering a reduction in the payments allocated for residents, reports the Echo.

Each care home user could see five per cent of their share hived off, but operators have expressed concern that the move will have an impact on the level of service provided.

Care home owner Barry Gelfand told the publication that the move could also result in closures because it would “cost thousands of pounds” to keep operating his premises.

“It would affect the sustainability of the business. Our other costs – minimum wage, National Insurance, food and VAT – are all going up. There are only so many cuts we can make ourselves,” he said.

Meanwhile, £50 million worth of cuts, which will lead to the closure of five care homes in Wirral, were recently approved.

According to the Malvern Gazette, the cash raised by members of Lansdowne Crescent Methodist Church will benefit a charity, which looks after 92 severely disabled people aged from three to 30 years.

The congregation chose to support the Four Homes of Mercy in Bethany through the annual outreach project, the proceeds from which will benefit victims of the conflict between Israel and Palestine and those born with disability.

Incontinence products are vital to helping make the lives of those suffering from the condition easier as they allow them to go about their business without worrying about going to the toilet all the time.

Pads such as Tena flex are designed for maximum security against leakage under heavier conditions and could be particularly useful to those who have lower levels of mobility.

Dutch researchers found that among 401 children and teens treated for chronic constipation at their center, one-quarter were still having symptoms 11 years later, as young adults.

The odds of long-lasting constipation were greater when the problem arose later in childhood or when years passed between a child’s first bouts of constipation and his or her referral for specialized treatment.

The findings, reported in the journal Pediatrics, are based on a group of children and teens with symptoms serious enough that they were referred to a specialist clinic.

So they may not be representative of kids treated for less-serious constipation by their primary care doctors, note the researchers, led by Dr. Marc A. Benninga of Emma Children’s Hospital in Amsterdam.

Experts generally recommend that children see their doctor if they have constipation problems that last more than two weeks. Typically, treatment involves diet changes – such as eating more fiber-rich grains, fruits and vegetables – and, with a doctor’s approval, stool softeners or laxatives.

The new findings suggest that children whose symptoms do not improve with initial treatment might benefit from earlier referral to a specialist, according to Benninga and his colleagues.

It’s estimated that functional constipation – constipation not caused by an underlying health condition or medication side effects – accounts for about 3 percent of all visits to the pediatrician. But there has been little research into how often those problems persist into adulthood.

The current study included 401 children and teenagers who were treated for chronic constipation at the researchers’ center in the 1990s. All had at least two symptoms of chronic constipation – such as having fewer than three bowel movements a week and two or more bouts of fecal incontinence per week – and had not improved after using laxatives for at least two months.

After six to eight weeks of “intensive” treatment that included medication and behavioral therapy, the children were followed, through yearly surveys, to track their long-term progress.

After 11 years, the researchers found, three-quarters of the study participants were showing a “good” outcome – defined as having had at least three bowel movements per week in the past month, and fewer than two bouts of incontinence.

That left one-quarter who were still suffering symptoms. For comparison, that rate is much higher than studies have found among adults in the general population; in the U.S., for example, it is estimated that between 4 and 5 million Americans have frequent constipation – with older adults accounting for a large portion, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Benninga’s team also found that certain factors – including constipation problems starting later in childhood, and longer gaps between a child’s first symptoms and treatment referral – seemed to increase the likelihood of persistent constipation.

For example, they say, a boy whose symptoms began at age 3, and included only two bowel movements and multiple bouts of incontinence each week, would have a 7 percent chance of adulthood constipation if there were a one-year gap between the onset of his symptoms and his referral for specialist treatment.

Those odds increased to 31 percent with a 9-year delay before referral.

The findings, according to Benninga’s team, suggest that referring kids for specialist care earlier on might cut the risk of long-lasting problems.

“Referral to a specialized clinic should be considered at an early stage for children who are unresponsive to first-line treatment,” they conclude.

Tena Incontinence Products, one of the major players in the US incontinence market are due to launch a new range of female incontinence pads named the Tena Ultra Thins.

Till now for moderate to heavy leakages there was little option and pads were rather bulky. Tena Ultra Thins are improved and less bulky incontinence pads designed specially for the moderate to heavy segment.

Spence Deane Deane from Personal Care Products Marketing VP at SCA Pesonal Care North America, Tena’s Parent Company, has said that these new incontinence pads will provide more discretion to female users.

There are no set dates for a UK launch but stay tuned on our blog as news emerges we will sure have it first hand.

Carers are paying a heavy price – no money, no breaks, many forced to give up work and a constant battle for support. Some are pushed to the point of collapse.

The government has invested in carers’ breaks and other support for carers. But this falls far short of the action needed now if it is to make good on its promise that by 2018 carers will have a life of their own and not be forced into financial hardship.

Tell the next government it’s time to support carers by signing the letter to the next Prime Minister here.

Like many drugs that became popular in the 90s, the extent of its long-term damage is only now – a decade or so later – becoming apparent.

Speaking to BBC’s Newsbeat, doctors reported an increase in new evidence that supports claims that the drug is causing symptoms ranging from serious stomach pains to incontinence among once-ketamine users

Doctor Angela Cottrell, who is researching the link between ketamine and bladder damage at the Bristol Urological Institute, said:

“People need to be more aware of this, the short-term effects can be severe enough but we just don’t know what the long term effects are.”

Right now, ketamine is considered a Class C drug, but there are speculations that it could be upgraded to Class B and studies like the one conducted by Dr. Angela could well help support this upgrade.

Ketamine use has reportedly doubled in a single year amongst 16-to-24 year olds who still consider it a “clean drug”. The common perception amongst young drug-takers is that Ketamine can’t ‘mess up your body’, but what they don’t realise is that, in extreme cases, the drug can cause lasting damage in the long-run.

A handful of ex-ketamine abusers have needed an operation to have their bladders removed leaving them incontinent for the rest of their life. Whilst a link hasn’t yet been scientifically proven, there is a worrying correlation between ex-users and people suffering bladder and incontinence problems. Enough to indicate that there is indeed a link between incontinence and the drug itself.