Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Adult Incontinence
Bowel or bladder incontinence is a common symptom of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), causing discomfort, loss of confidence and impacting quality of life. For people with MS, the need for comfortable and absorbent incontinence underwear to manage the leaks and avoid embarrassing situations is important.
How Does Multiple Sclerosis Cause Incontinence?
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune condition affecting the nerves of the brain and spinal cord in which the immune system, instead of working to protect healthy cells, attacks them instead and causes a wide range of symptoms.
Two of those symptoms can include bladder or urinary incontinence and bowel incontinence.
Bladder incontinence in MS happens when nerve signals to the bladder and urinary sphincter (the muscles surrounding the opening to the bladder) are blocked or delayed because of MS lesions in the brain and/or spinal cord.
Two major muscles are involved in emptying the bladder: the detrusor muscle and the sphincter muscle. MS impacts the proper function of the detrusor muscle; causing it to involuntarily contract which elevates the pressure in the bladder and lessens the volume of urine the bladder can hold. This causes symptoms of urgency, even if the bladder is not full, frequency due to this feeling of urgency and inability to fully empty the bladder and incontinence i.e. leaking urine due to the inability to hold urine in the bladder.
Similarly, Bowel incontinence is the loss of voluntary bowel control. MS delays or stops signal transmission to and from the brain and spinal cord. This can interrupt the normal bowel movement process, leading to constipation, diarrhea and incontinence. Bowel retraining can help encourage normal bowel movements, but losing control of one's bowel movements significantly impacts quality of life and confidence.
Manage Incontinence With Incontinence Products
Incontinence symptoms add stress, make people think twice about engaging in their normal routines and therefore can trigger behaviors of staying at home, not visiting family or friends and other actions to isolate oneself from situations that may lead to public embarrassment. However, these symptoms can be managed using incontinence products like absorbent adult diapers or underwear.
The right products should fit your body shape snugly and provide enough absorbency for your symptoms, making it easier to manage urinary and bowel incontinence. You can ultimately minimize the risk of leaks both during the day and night by wearing incontinence products that match what you need.
Ask yourself how often does leakage occur - frequency can be an issue for people with MS - and the selected adult diaper needs to offer the most protection for your situation. Also ask yourself is the leakage heavy or light - due to MS's interference with normal urinary or bowel activity, it can be either depending on your condition - again selecting the appropriate adult underwear for your symptoms is critical.
Conclusions
Multiple Sclerosis is a serious autoimmune disease that causes a wide range of symptoms, including urinary and bowel incontinence. It can cause anxiety, insecurity and embarrassment, but, with the right adult incontinence products, the symptoms can be managed effectively and restore a good quality of life.
Find adult diapers or underwear that is fits your body shape well, has the level of absorbency you need, is easy to change and looks fine under regular clothing. It will allow you to feel more confident, in control, and independent. UnderX has a good mix of incontinence products, including adult underwear, disposable washcloths and skin relief cream. You can also utilize our online tool to identify which adult underwear product fits you best!