I have double incontinence. That’s the polite way of saying I do not have full control of my bladder and bowels.

After 2 years of tests, I was finally diagnosed with IBS; treatment has improved my quality of life. Before diagnosis, I was completely housebound for fear of not being near the toilet, so I was well-prepared for lockdown during COVID. Staying home was a relief. After several tests, including 2 colonoscopies, a really good GI consultant pinpointed the problem, and accidents are much rarer, although I still need to be vigilant, and my work often gets interrupted. (The phrase “Ah, shit!” is often the last thing you hear on a cockpit voice recorder before the plane crashes – second only to “Hey, what’s this button do?”)

Then urinary incontinence began in 2024. We’ve been trialing and failing several medications, but as of July 2026, we seem to have found a really good combination that reduces accidents from 3-4 daily to once or twice a week. Yay! Just to be sure, urology still wants a set of ultrasounds on the abdomen and kidneys to make sure nothing structural is causing the problem. Since the medication combo is helping so much, I’d like to stick with the hope that things are structurally normal.

The current theory is that my spastic quad cerebral palsy plus aging means the bladder is still spastic. Unlike muscles, you can’t really do as much physiotherapy on the bladder itself, although there are exercises I do anyway. The hope is that we can manage it with medication instead of available surgical pathways.