The Adult Diaper Trap
This piece was inspired by a reaction to one of my Facebook posts. I recommended a device to eliminate incontinence, and a lady angrily remarked: “It costs 35 thousand forints! Good thing you can buy diapers!”. But is she right? Is that really expensive? Let's take a look.
This piece was inspired by a reaction to one of my Facebook posts. I recommended a device to eliminate incontinence, and a lady angrily remarked: “It costs 35 thousand forints! Good thing you can buy diapers!”. But is she right? Is that really expensive? Let's take a look.
Incontinence — the inability to hold urine or stool — is a serious problem, but in most cases it is not actually caused by a disease.
At younger ages, due to sitting or standing work and lack of exercise, weakened pelvic floor muscles cannot properly close the urinary outlet. So when climbing stairs, sneezing, or lifting a slightly heavier object, a little urine leaks out. In women, childbirth itself causes stretching, and often poorly performed episiotomies also injure the muscles.
In older age, the bladder muscle tends to become more active, and urges come so suddenly that the toilet is often unreachable in time.
The result is the same in both cases: a stain on clothing. If others see it, shame follows. Psychological torment. The affected person gradually starts to become anxious. Hours before leaving home they begin to stress. What will happen on the tram? How will people look at me in the shop? How will my colleagues humiliate me today? Many become depressed and withdraw. Their sex life and relationships suffer. Their lives lie in ruins.
You go to the doctor, who prescribes a pill (I have yet to hear of a case where a pill had a meaningful effect). They recommend surgery, which usually solves it for at most 2–3 years.
So back to the doctor again. Uncertainty… finally they recommend using diapers.
For a vigorous 40+ year-old woman/man!!!!
How much does surgery cost?
Type “incontinence surgery” into your browser's search. Check the offerings and the prices!
Laser treatment is around 250–300 thousand forints. You can find prices of about 650 thousand forints for sling implantation for incontinence.
These are private clinic prices. In public hospitals you may not get an appointment soon, and there's also the informal payment to consider.
Moreover, surgeries do not give a 100% guarantee. They do not solve the underlying problem (muscle weakness or muscle hyperactivity); they only mitigate the symptom. They “trick” the outlet by constricting it with a sling. Since you don't receive a real treatment for the sphincter muscles, their condition continues to worsen, and the effect of the surgery “evaporates.” After a few years you may again need to go under the knife so the slings can be adjusted to the deterioration.
How much does incontinence diapering cost?
Type “incontinence diapers” into your browser's search. Check the offerings and the prices!
Adult diapers are generally offered in packs of 30 so you can last a month.
That means you put one on in the morning and sit in your own urine at work, on the bus, while waiting in line at the shop. In 35-degree summer heat bacteria multiply quickly and things start to smell. In summer, one per day is certainly not enough.
But for simplicity, let's count just 30 diapers per month. Their average price is 4,500 forints. That is 54,000 forints per year.
If you're 40, you probably have 30 years left to live, so if your incontinence isn't effectively eliminated you'll spend many millions of forints on diapers over your remaining lifetime — assuming prices don't rise.
If someone starts using diapers, it also means they've given up hope of recovery. Because it's perfectly obvious that
DIAPERS DO NOT CONTRIBUTE IN ANY WAY TO IMPROVING INCONTINENCE.
If you wear one all day (if you work, you often have no choice), urine will chafe your skin, you'll get eczema, and you'll be treated for recurrent urinary tract infections. Not to mention how much you'll spend on psychologists and antidepressants. So diapers are not your only expense.
Is 35–40 thousand forints a lot for an incontinence stimulator?
It certainly is for those whose monthly income is a pension or minimum wage. For them, 35–40 thousand is indeed a huge expense at once.
However, based on the above — although a single purchase of diapers seems like a smaller burden — within a year you can end up spending one and a half times as much on a treatment that doesn't even aim for a cure. To me, that's the truly expensive option.
Incontinence stimulators are not miracle workers; stimulation does not work for everyone. However, 80–90% of treated patients experience improvement.
Incontinence treatment devices
Stress, urge and mixed incontinence can be treated with several methods. Muscle stimulation is one of the most effective among them. After 2–3 weeks of treatment you can feel a beneficial effect, and consistent treatment in most cases completely eliminates, or at least significantly reduces, the symptoms.
Summary
You don't have to be a math genius to decide which incontinence treatment gives the best price/performance ratio.
- Diapers: millions in expenditure / 0% chance of improvement + additional costs for depression, skin infections, etc.
- Surgery: 350,000 forints / 80% short-term effect + may need repetition in 2–3 years.
- Functional stimulator: 40,000 forints / 80–90% chance of improvement.
