One night, Emma Heaslewood, an Englishwoman, had just urinated in the toilet, flushed the toilet and lay down in bed.
As a mother with two babies, she was exhausted at this time and just wanted to go to bed quickly.
But in less than five minutes after lying down, she lifted the freshly heated quilt and got up and went to the toilet.
This was just the beginning, she had to get up at least four or five times a night.
(Emma Heathlewood)
Emma is now in her thirties, and she's no different from a healthy person just by her appearance.
But she suffers from an annoying condition called overactive bladder.
The cause of this condition is unknown, but it may be related to abnormal muscle contractions, bladder hyperesthesia, and abnormal function of the urethral and pelvic floor muscles, which can make people want to urinate suddenly and frequently, and it is difficult to control themselves.
The main symptoms are urgency, frequent urination, frequent nocturia, urge incontinence, etc., all of which Emma has experienced.
(Bladder of normal bladder and bladder of patients with overactive bladder)
For as long as she can remember, even if she doesn't have the urge to urinate before going out, she has to go to the toilet, otherwise she may have to find the toilet just after going out.
The first thing she does when she arrives at a new venue is to determine the location of the toilets.
When she was in middle school, Emma noticed that she went to the toilet more often than her classmates.
She had to urinate every time between classes and during lunch breaks, and even then, she started to pee a few minutes after class.
If she encounters a teacher who is not good at talking and does not let her go out to the toilet, in order not to pee her pants, she can only choose to leave the class and never come back, preferring to miss a class rather than make a fool of herself.
(School toilet, schematic)
In her early 20s, Emma thought she was doing something wrong and went to the doctor.
Soon after, she was referred to a urologist who offered her medication and pelvic floor exercises, but to no avail.
One nurse shook her head and said, "At your age, you haven't given birth to a child yet, so there's obviously something wrong with that." ”
"We're going to have you do a couple of tests. ”
The process is not pleasant and can be embarrassing.
The doctor inserted a urinary catheter and filled her bladder first, telling her to tell them when she wanted to pee.
"Right now," Emma said almost immediately.
After examination, Emma was diagnosed with an overactive bladder.
(Urgency and frequency, schematic)
Because of the urgency and frequency of urination, Emma will be affected in all aspects of her life.
For example, after graduating, Emma entered the education industry and started as an apprentice.
In her first job, because she often went to the toilet, she made a bad impression on her boss, who suspected her of being lazy.
When she goes out with friends at night, whether it's a long walk or just a short walk between two bars, she often can't hold her pee, and has to find a place outdoors where no one is around.
Most of her friends know about her situation and can understand what she does.
But there are also a few people who will ask her in shock: "Can't you just hold it for a while?"
"I can't hold it back," Emma was helpless.
To make matters worse, when she is sick or drunk, Emma will spread a towel on the floor of the toilet at home because when she vomits, she always can't help but incontinence.
If there is one thing in life that has not been affected, it is probably Emma's love life.
She would be honest with her date about how often she needed to go to the bathroom, and she found that men seemed to understand it more easily.
"They'll shrug their shoulders and say, 'Just go to the bathroom.'" ”
(Emma)
When she was first diagnosed, Emma felt relieved.
She could finally be sure that her problem was caused by a disease, not just because she had it, and that it was treatable.
The doctor advised her to give her Botox injections to her bladder to relax and relieve her symptoms.
The treatment was a little painful, but the effect was worth it.
She can stay in the car for 15 minutes without worrying about traffic jams;
At night, she can only get up once, sometimes even without getting up at night, and can sleep until dawn, and the huge change makes her feel incredible.
(Botox injections for overactive bladder)
Just when Emma thinks she has a savage, she gets pregnant, which worries her.
Because a friend who already has a baby told her that the uterus will squeeze the bladder during pregnancy, making it easier for pregnant women to urinate frequently.
Moreover, the pregnancy also meant that she could not get the second Botox injection as planned.
During that time, Emma had an extremely difficult time.
Her toilet is downstairs, and she has to grope her way downstairs five times every night to go to the toilet, and she is always careful when going down the stairs, for fear of accidentally falling.
When she went to work, she had to get up and go to the toilet as soon as she sat down for a while, and she repeated it many times a day.
After giving birth to her eldest son, Emma's condition became even more serious.
She has urinary incontinence and urine leakage, and going out for a dance with friends will inevitably have some episodes.
This caused her a lot of psychological stress, and she often felt embarrassed and nervous.
Later, Emma became pregnant with a second child, and the plan for a second botulinum toxin had to be postponed again and again.
(Pregnant women are more likely to urinate frequently, schematic)
Earlier this year, Emma, who is now two years old with her second child, finally got her second shot of Botox.
To her disappointment, the results this time were not as good as the first time.
After the injection, the urgency was relieved, but the problem of frequent urination could not be solved, and the toilet still had to be visited.
(Emma)
Suffering from overactive bladder all the time, Emma has missed out on a lot and she doesn't want to miss more.
Now she wears diapers and goes to holiday celebrations with her friends.
Despite the frustration in my heart, this is the only way to go, because there is a long queue to go to the toilet on such occasions.
Compared to the possibility of urinary incontinence and having to carry clean clothes with you, diapers are the best solution.
(Diapers, schematic)
Emma is also fortunate to have a RADAR key that can open the doors of more than 10,000 disabled toilets in the UK.
Now she can use the handicapped toilet when she goes shopping or to a bar.
(RADAR key, schematic)
However, she doesn't look like a disabled person, and when she does, she is often looked at and spied on.
Someone will look at her with strange eyes, and someone will ask her directly, "Should you really use this toilet?"
It's been a long time, and Emma has been tired of asking.
She doesn't want to answer that question anymore by pointing to a sign that says "Not all disabilities are visible" and people usually shut up.
("Not all disabilities can be seen" sign, diagram)
Although Emma's life is easier than it used to be with the help of Botox, diapers and the bathroom for people with disabilities, these are not long-term solutions.
With the development of medicine,
Maybe there will be more effective treatments,
Help alleviate the pain of Emma and other patients who have the same problems as her......