A dry cleaning business owner admits her incontinence was so bad she wet herself on her wedding day and would even wear a nappy. Sarah Stevenson has struggled with bladder problems her entire life – wetting the bed on a nightly basis and having numerous accidents each day.
The 34-year-old said she was unable to control her bladder asleep or awake and was forced to bring a spare pair of clothes with her wherever she went. Sarah, who owns a laundrette and dry-cleaning business, said her condition left her unable to sneeze, jump or run without dribbling urine – and trampolining was an ultimate no-go.
Sarah, who lives in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, said she hit breaking point after waking up having wet the bed on the morning of her wedding. Sarah, who is married to 37-year-old Matthew Stevenson, only noticed symptoms drastically improve after having Botox injected into her overactive bladder to help stop unexpected spasms.
Sarah said: “I’ve always struggled with incontinence. I started going to an incontinence clinic when I was about 15 so I was quite young. I can remember being incontinent from about four years old. Even when I was 10, I was still wetting the bed and was having three or four accidents a week.
“I couldn’t control it when I was awake. There was never any rhyme or reason. I went to the doctors because kids could be quite cruel. Every Friday, I used to go to the clinic and they found there was no reason why anything was happening.
“I went on some tablets and got a bit better but I was still going to the toilet around 14 or 15 times a day and you’re meant to go around six times a day. At the worst of it I was probably having three accidents a day. I would always have a spare pair of clothing in my school bag.”
Sarah described her incontinence issues as ‘soul-destroying’ – often facing criticism for not growing out of the ‘baby phase’. Sarah said: “I’ve lost control of my bladder walking down the road before and obviously didn’t have a change of clothes with me. Sleepovers and school trips were always hard.
“I’ve had to wear adult nappies in the past if I knew I was going to be out for a full day and knew there weren’t going to be available toilets. Sneezing, jumping, running all affect it. I was a big swimmer growing up but that was hard for me because I was losing control in the pool.
“I get really bad hayfever and every time I sneezed, there would be a dribble. I can’t go on a trampoline unless I have a nappy on. Constantly growing up I got ‘you should be fine now, you’re an adult, this is what babies do’. I always got comments like that from people thinking it was a phase and said ‘it wasn’t normal’.
“I woke up on my wedding day in tears because I wet the bed. I only had four hours sleep and I still managed to wet the bed. I just burst into tears. I probably had about three glasses to drink all day and it was really hot because I was so worried about having an accident.
“My husband is very supportive. We would literally plan our day through toilet stops. It’s so soul-destroying and life-consuming. Mentally it just knocks you for six.”
Sarah began getting Botox injections into her bladder seven years ago and says she finally feels like a ‘normal person’. Sarah said: “The average person can hold around 600 to 700ml in their bladder and mine could only hold 200ml before I had to go to the toilet. I can only hold a third of the average person.
“The botox just stopped my bladder spasming randomly, which was causing accidents. Now my bladder can function basically like a normal person. I’m not worried about how much I’m able to drink, I’m not having any accidents. A big weight has been lifted off me.
“You know your body better than anyone else. It’s finding the mental strength of knowing it won’t be like this forever. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about – there’s so much help out there.”