At Allanda we are constantly trying to raise awareness of the prevalence of incontinence and how many people this condition affects, both women and men and young and old. Therefore it was good to read this blog post from Liz Campbell of Wellbeing of Women in the Huffington Post.

"Statistics show that one in three women over the age of 30 will suffer with some kind of incontinence.

This is not a condition of the elderly; it is something that will probably affect you or the woman sitting next to you at some time in your life.

The most likely times for incontinence to hit are after having a baby (especially if it was a big, heavy one) or as you approach and go through the menopause. Research is still being done to find out exactly why.

Suffice it to say that there are plenty of unanswered questions about why women (and men) wee when they don't want to. And yet it is a condition rarely discussed and attracting very little funding. Presumably it is a topic best whispered about like so many health issues in earlier generations. However the longer we are content to avoid the topic, the longer people will suffer.

There are thousands of women in the UK today who have not left their house because they are too worried about wetting themselves.

Despite the best incontinence pads, despite having a map of all the local toilets sometimes it all becomes too much.

I think that two of the saddest stories I have ever heard are of the high-flying business woman who sneezed on the underground and wet herself. She was so embarrassed that she rearranged her coat over her knees and stayed on the train to the very end of the line where she could hurry off the train.

Then there's the attractive 45-year-old who put an end to a happy new relationship because she was worried she would 'leak' during sex and couldn't bring herself to talk to her new boyfriend about it. She was heartbroken.

At Wellbeing of Women we urge women (and men) to speak up about these health taboos, to openly discuss the treatment options because it is only when there is a noise that the money will be raised to find the answers to these profoundly debilitating conditions."

You can read the full post at //www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/liz-campbell/botox-bladder-female-incontinence_b_1347999.html