The Ultimate Guide to Adult Diapers and Alternative Incontinence Products
The Ultimate Guide to Adult Diapers and Alternative Incontinence Products
The decision to consider introducing adult incontinence products into your life can be difficult to overcome and is a topic that many people prefer to keep to themselves. Incontinence is a completely normal part of life for many adults, especially through the later years of life. In this article, we cover all the information needed to make sure adult incontinence doesn’t get in the way of your everyday plans with the help of adult diapers and other incontinence products in the market.
Learning to Live With Adult Incontinence
While age commonly plays a role with incontinence, it’s possible to begin seeing tell-tale signs of the need for adult diapers before your elderly years. This is perfectly normal as adult incontinence can also be related to medical issues and underlying neurological problems that may affect the timing of your need to be relieved.
As soon as you begin to identify signs of adult incontinence, it is important to seek professional help to further diagnose your issue and seek guidance through your problems and how to move forward in a positive direction.
The Types of Adult Incontinence
- Stress Incontinence: Unintentionally applying pressure to your bladder can cause Stress Incontinence. This type of incontinence is induced through typical everyday movement such as physical activity, sneezing, coughing and even laughing.
- Urge Incontinence: Mostly common amongst the elderly, Urge Incontinence refers to the sudden urge to use the washroom at any point in the day. People who suffer from this type of incontinence experience the need to urinate often and receive no mental notice of the need to do so until shortly before the time comes.
- Overflow Incontinence: Adults who suffer from Overflow Incontinence experience a sense of urine blockage that does not permit them to relieve themselves at the moment, while the bladder expels itself at a later time with no mental notice of doing so and causing accidental leakage.
- Functional Incontinence: This type of incontinence refers to the inability to physically use the washroom due to a physical or mental impairment that does not allow adults to do so.
- Fecal Incontinence: Also referred to as bowel incontinence, adults who suffer from this experience the inability to control defecating at any point in the day.
When Do You Know to Wear Adult Diapers?
Listening to your body and raising awareness to trends in abnormal leakage throughout your day-to-day is an important part in making sound decisions during your journey with adult incontinence. Wearing adult diapers is nothing to be ashamed of and can greatly improve your quality of life when learning to live with adult incontinence.
Wearing adult incontinence products is 100% a personal decision and can be done in private as adult diapers are designed to be extremely discreet and can remain a secret to others for as long as you require these products.
Getting Used to Adult Diapers
Wearing adult incontinence products such as adult diapers should not be the cause of anyone losing their dignity. While it may come as a significant adjustment to everyday life, getting used to adult diapers means wearing them often to familiarize yourself with how they work and how to simply feel comfortable when wearing them. The transition from wearing adult undergarments to incontinence products may take some time to get used to, but rest assured, adult diapers were made to make this change as seamless as possible.
Finding Comfort During Social Settings
Wearing adult diapers were designed to be discreet and unassuming and meant to be worn during all of life’s moments. Cancelling social plans because of one’s incontinence should not be an option and can easily be solved with the help of adult diapers. Using adult incontinence products can remain a personal choice and can be worn in total secrecy throughout your day. To find assurance and make the most out of wearing an adult diaper, here are some tips to wear one with the upmost confidence:
- Wear Comfortable Clothing: Pants and bottoms that simplify everyday movement is most ideal when wearing and changing an adult diaper. Being mindful of needing to easily slip in and out of your clothing when using a public washroom is important when wearing incontinence products on the go. Read our article to get more tips on wearing the right clothing to keep adult incontinence products discreet.
- Change Undergarments Regularly: The same hygiene principles of wearing clean adult undergarments also applies to adult incontinence products. Wearing a clean adult diaper is not only most comfortable but helps in preventing any skin irritation or unwanted odour throughout the day. Alongside wearing the right clothing, changing your undergarments can be simple and private.
- Keep Personal Care Items Handy: Handbags, topical ointment, personal hygiene wipes and disposable bags are all recommended items to keep on-hand when travelling with adult incontinence. These items are essential to keep you from experiencing any discomfort, while also discreetly carrying incontinence-related products with you everywhere you go.
How Do Adult Incontinence Products Function?
Adult incontinence products such as adult diapers all have an absorbent material in the padding that will turn urine into a gel-type of material that helps the diaper to retain urine and fecal matter. Adult diapers also scented with an odour protectant to ensure that others cannot smell a soiled product when in public.When to Wear Adult Incontinence Products
Adult incontinence products come in options for daytime and nighttime to ensure that users have all-day protection that is designed to be comfortable and easy to discreetly manage. Many adults choose to stop travelling and attending public events, although this is not ideal. The benefit of wearing an adult diaper is to allow you to not miss out on life’s important moments.
Read our article to learn about how to travel stress-free when you experience leaks.
Everyday Maintenance of Adult Diapers
Adult incontinence products should be replaced often and after every incontinence-related occurrence. Constant maintenance is important in practicing good daily hygiene while also reducing the potential for any risk of infection due to unclean incontinence products.How Do I Deal with Leakage?
Adult diaper leakage can be extremely frustrating, especially after having taken all the precautions required to stop it from happening. It is important to know that wearing a second adult diaper does not mean additional absorption, but rather, less absorption as the plastic backing on the first product will greatly reduce the potential for the other product to absorb leaks.
In the case of leaks at night, an adult diaper can be accompanied by a bedding pad to reduce leaks, but not the use of two incontinence undergarments worn at the same time.
Read our article to get tips on how to get uninterrupted sleep despite incontinence.
Changing & Disposing Adult Diapers
Changing into fresh adult incontinence products and disposing of the previously worn undergarment can be a very discreet process. When at home or on the go, there are a few tips for disposing adult diapers easily and effectively:
- Use Disposable Bags: Disposable bags designed for adult incontinence products do exist and are made to ensure that your products can be disposed into public waste bins without anyone knowing. Disposable bags are commonly odour-resistant to maximize the discreetness.
- Do Not Flush: Adult incontinence products are not designed to be flushed down the toilet and should be disposed in the garbage. Trying to flush adult diapers down the toilet is likely to cause blockage.
- Buy an At-Home Disposal Unit: At-home disposal units are designed to make it easy to consolidate your adult diaper waste and throw it away in an organized manner, away from other waste disposal in your home.
There are Better Alternatives to “Adult Diapers”
With all that being said, adult diapers can be bulky, uncomfortable and difficult to wear discreetly. Depend® incontinence underwear however, are designed to fit any lifestyle with industry-leading research to apply the real needs of consumers. Unlike typical adult diapers, Depend® incontinence underwear is flexible to move with you, not against you, with specialized waistbands to help keep it in place and provide a comfortable and close-to-body fit.
With you always in mind, Depend® has developed a suite of incontinence products for men and women that come in various sizes, styles and absorbencies to help you feel in control and confident as you take on your day.
The Different Types of Depend® Incontinence Products
It is important to be aware of the different types of Depend® adult incontinence products for men and women to understand which one will work best for your lifestyle. Depend® underwear and other incontinence products comfortably fit your body the way undergarments do and will also ensure maximum comfort.
Depend® leak-proof adult incontinence products are available in daytime and nighttime variations to provide you with enough padded protection to last the duration of time that you wear it.
Shields & Guards for Men
Designed for being on the go, incontinence pads such as Depend® Shields and Guards are pocket-sized and can be discreetly worn as liner inside your own underwear to stop any potential leakage from occurring throughout the day. Pads are commonly pocket-sized to ensure that it is as secretive as possible. Depend® Shields are ultra-thin to prevent any drip-size leaks, while Depend® Guards are designed for maximum protection for larger leaks.
Underwear for Men and Women
Depend® incontinence underwear for men and women exist in day and nighttime variations which differ by the amount of padding. While still equally as discreet as Depend® Shields and Guards for men, Depend® underwear is to be worn in place of fabric underwear to prevent leakage, but with the familiar feeling of wearing undergarments. Depend® also offers unisex adult undergarments with tabs to make for an easier time applying when lying down, sitting, or standing.
Night Defense Underpads
Also referred to as bedding pads, incontinence underpads for use when lying down or sitting absorbs leakage as quickly as the other Depend® incontinence products but can cover more space in your bed or in any other area of rest. Night Defense Underpads can also pose as an additional source of protection when wearing incontinence underwear at night.
For more information about adult incontinence and the use of Depend® products, learn more at our incontinence help and support page.
