Weak bladder

[Hiking2015]

I have a weak bladder so I wear Poise pads while hiking. Just completed my first long hike,17 miles, and I am very chaffed. The pad moves around while hiking and becomes uncomfortable. Any suggestions of something else I can wear? Do you think putting chafing gel in the area would help?

[Traffic Jam]

I have problems with girlie-parts chafing from bike riding. Anti-chafing cream helps, but you have to be careful what you use or you'll cause infection. I like this one, it's made especially for women. http://www.amazon.com/Chamois-Cream-.../dp/B004LKXBEW

[GreatDane]

I wear smaller underwear than usual (but not really tight - that causes even more problems!) with my Poise or Tena pads. That seems to help hold the pad in place. If the adhesive isn't sticking to the fabric of your panties (which I understand is a problem with some of tbe high tech and wicking fabrics) I'd recommend using the same underwear you use at home on a test hike. I'm not 100% convinced high tech undies are necessary. Just my opinion. I also use BodyGlide for chafing between my legs, but not necessarily on my more private places. Staying dry by not hiking so hard that I'm dripping sweat also helps (both to keep the pad in place and to reduce general irritation), as does making a point of cleaning myself often, either with water on a clean bandana or with non-alcohol wipes. Not so easy to do sometimes, though, especially when the trail, shelters or campsites are really crowded.

[squeezebox]

My ex-wife does well on medication, she only uses lite day pads occasionally. Does a pad in between 2 undies make any sense. Talk to your Doc about meds, biggest side effect , dry mouth.

[The Old Boot]

I like the pad between two pairs of panties approach for chafing.

After watching my elderly mom try 4 or 5 different meds for incontinence without any measure of success and having one of them land her in the ER with the side-effects I was more determined than ever to avoid traditional western medications.

Pumpkin seed oil capsules are worth their weight in gold. Within 6 weeks I have gone from a fairly substantial Poise to the teensy lightweight ones just because if I sneeze hard or slip in the mud, I'm more confident.

I now have mom on them too and she's sleeping twice as long as before between wake-up calls.

They're not a miracle cure but they sure are helping and they're a whole lot safer to use than medication that a urologist will prescribe. Actually mom's gerontologist had no disagreement with her using them.

[kizzybean]

I'm a urology nurse and have patients that use "incontinence panties". They are a regular type under pant but have built in padding to absorb the leakage. If you need to use a large pad they may not be absorbent enough. You can google them for different brands and styles. If you are not leaking a lot this might help as it would get rid of a moving pad with the plastic backing. Also more eco-friendly as they are reused, not thrown away. They cost around $8 -10 a pair. If you are clever you could probably sew a "pocket" into your panties that you could slip a pad into so it's not chaffing against your skin. Getting good panty fit is important to prevent chaffing, with or without a pad. The drawback with the reuseable incontinence panties are they would require washing daily so on an extended hike you would need several pairs wash/dry to cycle through each day. Good luck.