How can wetting accidents be avoided?

[Adrian6970]

I don't think accidents can be avoided completely, although not allowing the bladder to get too full might just help. Most of us are brought up to go to the toilet on rising in the morning and retiring at night as well as before car journeys and, of course, during breaks at school, college or work. Precationary visits to the toilet 'work' up to a point in making accidents less likely. However the other side of the coin is that they can induce a belief that people need to go when in reality they don't and weaken the bladder, or at least reduce its capacity to hold. There is certainly a school of thought which says that people should only go when they need to. However the realities and routines of daily life mean that opportunities for relief in response to need don't always coincide with the need to actively go. People can make it a rule that they only pee in response to need but, if they do so, accidents are bound to be more likely than would otherwise be the case.

[AlphaJock]

Desperate guys are often much more concerned with avoiding losing face in front of their mates which can lead to very unwise bathroom decisions.

True. Among beer-drinking mates, the guy with the apparently small bladder is often the butt of jokes when he makes several trips to the toilet. This motivates some to hold as long as possible.

It's a classic situation - the small bladder bro excusing himself to the toilet at the first feelings of desperation only to break the seal and find himself back at the table thoroughly bursting not 30 minutes later with a group of mates who haven't even taken their first piss. And then, a few minutes later when he realizes he simply cannot wait a moment longer and rushes back to the bathroom to find a lengthy queue… trying not to look overly frantic even as he's bent over, pacing in place, hands deep in his pockets as his mates look on in amusement… and still he forgets to plan ahead the next time.

[Fred]

… and still he forgets to plan ahead the next time.

It's a medical fact that some men don't develop the ability to plan ahead until age 25. Some never develop it!

[Bigdog]

So far I never never seen anyone loose control of their bladder, but give it time

[Bigdog]

My guess is, drink water because it’s less likely to irritate the bladder. Don’t drink before any event, and always drink at least 1 hour before. Try and have good distractions also

[Adrian6970]

I always remember being told to use the toilet even you don’t need to go, it’s something which has stuck to me

I suspect most of us have had the importance of going 'just in case' before car journeys or even leaving the house for any length of time, drummed into us. Getting rid of such precautionary habits, even though they're undesirable from a bladder training capacity, can be difficult. Also going 'just in case' is informed to a large extent by the fact that we have to go to school, college, work etc and the need to pee, particularly if left to its own devices, doesn't necessarily coincide with the availablity of convenient or authorised breaks. There is, I gather, a stronger tradition of precautionary toilet breaks in America than Britain, due to the sparser availability of public toilets/bathrooms, although the tradition is alive and well on both sides of the pond.

[Fred]

Our family had a cottage in the woods that we went to on weekends and for longer periods during the summer, and as soon as I was driving my own car there - and secretly into desperation - I avoided using the toilet before I left on the 2-hour drive. Males are often into rebellion by their late teens and like to defy conventions, like taking a leak before a car trip!

I've had several male friends over the years whom I have labeled "improvident" because they never thought to pee before getting into the car or starting a project or activity, and I've seen them quite desperate because of it. Whether they were never trained to do a precautionary pee or just being rebels I can't say, but I enjoyed the effects.

[googlism2008]

If the mother of a late teenager always yell at him to "GO TO THE TOILET BEFORE LEAVING", there is a good chance that he would refuse to go instead.

Well, learning typically involves trying things out and see what works and what doesn't work, and it takes time to learn and gain the relevant experience. It is often said that if one has not failed, one has not learned. This includes learning the behaviour of one's own bladder under the various situations that one might be put under. And each person's bladder is unique to the person, and everyone learns differently - some picks things up very quickly, but some will take a very long time to figure out. Some will resort to experimentation by testing their limits in order to determine what their limits are, but they will have to face the consequences when they go over their ultimate limits, perhaps unintentionally. Also, the environment one is in matters as well.

It is easy to state that one should use the toilets and not consume too much liquids before getting into a situation where one cannot conveniently use the facilities for an extended amount of time. Application of this theory is much harder. Firstly, one needs to have this awareness at the right points of time - it would be too late to remember it only when one has already embarked on a long journey without a break. The consciousness of going before leaving might need to be inculcated through experiencing desperation or even wetting, and subsequently become second nature over time. At the same time, it would be ridiculous if one goes to pee each time before going out for a 15 minute walk regardless of the state of his bladder. So there is also the figuring out of the finer points, such as "I just had a medium sized coffee but I barely peed half an hour ago, should I use the toilets again before I go for the lecture" or "I am feeling a very mild urge but the toilets here are disgusting, however I know there are clean toilets at the train station half an hour away, should I hold it until I get there" kind of questions. Perhaps the holding it in decision works for 99% of the time, but there's always that 1% of the time when the unexpected happens - meetings going over time, the bus or train breaking down in the middle of nowhere, or the toilets closed for cleaning. However, this amount of residual risk might turn out to be acceptable. And for some people, once they reached the legal age, they start boozing up. This represents a change in situation, and the effects on their bladders is something to be learned as well. For the older folks, they might find that their bladders cannot hold as much or as long as what they were used to. I suppose these are life experiences that are to be learned, as people fine tune their decision making processes over the passage of time.