About to Burst?

You’re not alone. We talk openly about a lot of once-taboo topics—sex! menopause! mental health!—but it can still feel like incontinence is unspeakable. Chatelaine wants to change that.

I WAS AMBLING DOWN TORONTO’S swankiest shopping strip when I felt moisture bloom between my thighs. It overflowed the pad, soaked my extra-thick panties and left a wet patch inside my jeans. Of all the places for an accident, I’d been cursed with Gucci. I hotfooted it to Nordstrom Rack, bought the cheapest panties on offer and ducked into a change room. No one saw me toss the evidence into a dumpster.

Urinary incontinence had dogged me for at least 20 years, ever since I entered menopause in my mid-40s. At first, it only struck when I sneezed or set a pace on the hiking trail; now it could ambush me anywhere. I swung between damp days and will-I-stay-dry days, not breathing a word to anyone, not even my doctor. Surely he’d tell me I was just getting older. At 68, I’d resigned myself to wet pants.

Then my doctor retired, and his successor sat me down to take my medical history. She asked about incontinence as if it were no more shameful than a migraine. She told me many sufferers see dramatic results from pelvic floor physiotherapy. In more than 30 years of fitness, I’d become a believer in physiotherapy. It had done wonders for my shoulder, knee and shins. But my pelvic floor?

One in three women will experience urinary incontinence in their lifetime. The bladder, along with the bowel and the uterus, needs the support of resilient pelvic floor muscles. Pregnancy weakens them; delivery can injure them. When estrogen levels drop during menopause, they take another buffeting. Although most common in women over 50, the problem can set in at any age. “The biggest risk factor is being female,” says Claudia Brown, a pelvic floor physiotherapist in Laval, Que.

This 3 x 5 ft. mat is leak-proof and stays in place without velcro or straps. Our tester said that while the mat tends to retain body heat (which may be a no-no for women dealing with night sweats), it absorbs well and doesn’t slip around the mattress. $76, peapodmats.com