The Adult Diaper Trap
This piece was inspired by a reaction to one of my Facebook posts. I suggested a device to eliminate incontinence, and a lady angrily replied: “It costs 35,000! Good thing you can buy them!”. 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, specifically an device, and a lady angrily remarked: “It costs 35,000! Good thing you can buy them!”. But is she right? Is that really expensive? Let’s take a look.
Incontinence—the inability to hold back urine or feces—is a serious problem, but in most cases it actually does not result from a disease.
At younger ages, due to sitting or standing jobs and lack of physical activity, weakened pelvic floor muscles cannot properly close the urinary outlet. So when climbing stairs, sneezing, or lifting a somewhat heavier object, a bit of urine leaks. In women the muscles are often damaged during childbirth from the stretching itself, and frequently from poorly performed episiotomies.
In older age the bladder muscle tends to become more active, and the urge comes so quickly that the toilet is often not reachable in time.
The result is the same in both cases. A stain on the clothing. If others see it, shame. Psychological torment. The affected person begins to develop anxiety. Hours before leaving home they already start to stress. What will happen on the tram? How will people look at me in the shop? How will colleagues humiliate me today? Many become depressed and withdraw. Their sex life and relationships suffer. Their lives fall apart.
You go to the doctor, who prescribes a pill (I have yet to hear of a case where a pill had a meaningful effect). Surgery is suggested, which usually solves the problem for at most 2–3 years.
So you go back to the doctor. Helplessness… eventually they recommend diapering.
For a vigorous 40+ year-old woman/man !!!!
How much does a surgery cost?
Type “incontinence surgery” into your browser’s search box. Check the offers and the prices!
Laser treatment costs about 250–300 thousand forints. You can also find prices around 650 thousand forint for sling implantation for incontinence.
These are private clinic prices. In the public system you may not get seen soon, and there are also often under-the-table payments.
Moreover, surgeries do not give a 100% guarantee. They do not solve the real problem (muscle weakness or muscle hyperactivity); they only reduce the symptom. They “trick” the urethral opening by tightening it with a sling. Since you don’t receive real treatment for the sphincter muscles, their condition continues to deteriorate, and consequently the effect of the surgery “evaporates.” A few years later you may have to go “under the knife” again to adjust the slings to the further deterioration.
How much does the incontinence diaper cost?
Type “incontinence diaper” into your browser’s search box. Check the offers and the prices!
Adult diapers are typically sold in 30-piece packs so that you can get through a month.
That means you put one on in the morning and then sit all day in your own urine at work or on the bus, or while waiting in line at the shop. At 35°C in summer bacteria multiply quickly and begin to cause odors. In summer one diaper a day is certainly not enough.
But for simplicity let’s count just 30 diapers per month. The average price for that is about 4,500 forints. That makes 54,000 forints per year.
If you are 40, you probably have about 30 years left to live, which means if your incontinence is not effectively eliminated you will spend several million forints on diapers over those years. That is, if prices don’t rise.
If someone starts diapering themselves, it also means they have given up hope of recovery. Because it is completely obvious that
AN ADULT DIAPER DOES NOT IN ANY WAY CONTRIBUTE TO IMPROVING INCONTINENCE.
If you wear it all day (if you work, you have no other choice), urine will chafe your skin, you will develop eczema, and you will be treated for recurrent urinary tract infections. Not to mention how much you will spend on psychologists and antidepressants. So the diaper isn’t your only expense.
Is 35–40 thousand forints a lot for an incontinence stimulator?
Certainly 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 immediate burden—you can spend one-and-a-half times that amount in just one year on a “treatment” that does not aim at recovery. In my view that is the truly expensive option.
Incontinence stimulators are not miracles; stimulation does not work for everyone. However, 80–90% of treated patients experience improvement.
Incontinence treatment devices
Stress, urge and mixed forms of incontinence can be treated using several methods. Muscle stimulation is one of the most effective among them. After 2–3 weeks of treatment a beneficial effect can be felt, and with persistent treatment in most cases it completely eliminates or at least significantly reduces the symptoms.
Summary
You don’t have to be a math genius to decide which incontinence treatment offers the best price/performance ratio.
- Diaper: millions in expenses / 0% chance of improvement + additional costs due to depression, skin infections, etc.
- Surgery: ~350,000 HUF / 80% short-term effect + may need repetition in 2–3 years.
- Functional stimulator: ~40,000 HUF / 80–90% chance of improvement.
