Do you experience a light amount of urine leakage? Want to try lights by TENA? Chance to win £150 for feedback NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

We have been asked by the team at lights by TENA to find 250 MNers to try lights by TENA and to add feedback on a thread on MN, as well as complete a very short survey.

These liners are specifically designed for women who currently experience light bladder weakness, such as when coughing, laughing, sneezing or due to pregnancy or child birth. Also women who are in their third trimester or have had a baby in the last three months may benefit.

lights by TENA say "there are four products in the lights by TENA range. They’re all specially designed for Oooops moments. They all absorb faster than ordinary liners, to keep you feeling drier and fresher. They all have specially designed odour-control. But they do differ in size and profile."

If selected you will be sent a pack of 28 - worth £1.99 and asked to try them at home. We will then email you a link to the feedback thread and a short survey.

All testers who take part and add feedback as requested will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will get a £150 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list)

If you'd like to take part please add your details here and we will be in touch with selected testers asap. Please note, your anon comments from the feedback may be used by lights by TENA on their website, social media and possibly elsewhere. Please only apply if you're happy for it to be used.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

Useful links, evidence based info:

pelvic floor first, Australia

bladder and bowel foundation, UK

continence foundation, Australia

And, if you follow me @gussiegrips, I'll nag you. "when I tweet, you twitch your twinkle"

Just gotta do the blardy exercises.

that's almost worth signing up to twitter for.

almost!

Thanks for the advice

I would like to try please, so depressed with leaks after two babies.

thease would be no good to me id need xtra plus [stupid accident]

Thanks for the comments about this product test. We know it's a topic many of you know a lot about.

lights by TENA asked Dr Hillary Jones to share his advice with you.

He says: "Light bladder weakness is a mild form of stress incontinence, which thousands of women suffer from, especially after childbirth or during exercise. The leakage from the bladder is only slight and occasional, but nevertheless inconvenient. While there is no definitive cure, lifestyle measures such as not smoking, avoiding constipation, losing weight and doing pelvic floor exercises can certainly help improve symptoms. Surgery is sometimes an option, but it may not always resolve problems entirely. Fortunately for those that do experience light bladder weakness, there are lots of products out there that can make life as normal as possible".

In addition, the team have support for those suffering with a new free app to help with pelvic floor exercises: www.lightsbytena.co.uk/my-pelvic-floor-fitness/app-info/

I never had a problem with leaking in pregnancy or afterwards, but when premature menopause hit, it became a big problem especially when combined with an increase in my sensitivities to my allergies (so a lot more sneezing).

I'm still working on it, but I really recommend Restorative Exercise's Alignment snack 'All Fo’ the Pelvic Flo’ which for a US-fiver gets a pelvic floor focused exercise video made a biomechanics expert who has done a lot in the area of pelvic floors and science. I've found a lot of even medical professionals don't get it or just wave it off, sadly.

Hi Ann Mumsnet

Ok, but, this bit: While there is no definitive cure is splitting hairs - there's never been a "definitive" cure for any condition ever - and the guidelines for best practice in the management of stress incontinence are clear.

This is from the NICE guidelines about management of incontinence in women
"1.3.1 Offer a trial of supervised pelvic floor muscle training of at least 3 months' duration as first-line treatment to women with stress or mixed UI. [2006]

It says that pelvic floor exercises should be used as a first-line treatment because they work in most cases - especially when women make the other lifestyle changes that Dr Jones mentions.

Now, I do understand that Mumsnet's a business, and that this is a sponsored post...but, a significant number of your members are affected by this disabling, insidious condition and curable condition - but, there's nothing in the sponsored post that advises them to seek help.

The pads available now are great, accessible and effecitve. Indeed, there's a Cochrane Review which found that disposable pads were the best management option for women who persistently leak.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD001406.pub2/abstract

But, leaking is not normal. It's not just "inconvenient" or an "oops moment" it devastates lives. Truly, it does.

I'm sorry if Tena are unhappy with the tone of the discussion. But, I'm more concerned about the millions of miserable women whose lives are being ruled by their bladder when they don't need to be.

There's only two pad manufacturers in the UK. If one of them set themselves apart with advice and practical information on their packaging, well, I know which one I'd buy.

A strap line of "make a positive choice with our pro-active product that you use temporarily until you've sorted out your undercarriage, and, here's how to do it" might not be as nifty as "LBL" (which is a marketing construct and not a diagnosis) but, it'd work. Happy to help with that if anyone at Tena's even vaguely interested.

It's a good product, I'm sure they'll get plenty of people who'd like to trial it and will give them valuable feedback.

Gussie - I have been trying to say what you said politely since the Dr Jones post appeared this morning - his advice seems to make 'light' (see what I did there :D ) of just how devastating even slight occasional leaking can be - yes it is slight and occasional but when you stop trying to fix it and give in to a pad because the doctor paid by the maker tells you it's not fixable, it gets worse, you stop the pelvic floors, you leak more, get more embarrassed, stop doing things like running, going to the gym, laughing in public because your 'little' leak is suddenly a big leak and fixing it is suddenly so much harder than if someone had given you the correct, effective advice in the first place.

Gussie I've read that kegel exercises can actually make it worse in some cases and that squats are far more effective. Is this right?

Katy Bowman?

In blunt terms, doing kegels is only part of the solution. Some pelvic floors have spasm, some are not co-ordinated and some are weak. Often there's a postural element too.

As a general rule of thumb - if you do your kegels for 3 months and there's no improvement, well, you should follow up with your GP.

If you get pain doing them, see your GP.

the very best approach is to get a 1:1 assessment, but, seeing as how we know that about 70% of people never seek help, it seems like a good start to get people reducing caffeine, peeing

I'm tempted at the moment to sign up for this although I am hoping the opportunity to offer feedback will be short.

I am normally OK but I have a cough at the moment and my god, it is playing havoc with my pelvic floor. I was fine through 2 pregnancies, a birth heavy on intervention and another with a largish baby who didn't wait for me to get to hospital and just dropped out. It has been years later when I can feel the effects of those babies (they are 14 and 11). I am hoping the problem will go away when the cough does but in the mean time I have had to resort to Tena for the second time in my life. The last time was about 5 yrs ago when I had a chest infection. I am beginning to dread getting a cold these days and not for the normal reasons - a leaking nose is the least of my worries!

gussie, can I just say thank you for your information on this thread. It's really valuable.
Dr Jones, I'm afraid I don't have any faith in your carefully worded advice. I'll take the NICE guidelines over a doc employed by a commercial operation any day.

Maybe there could be a mumsnet campaign around educating women how to do kegel exercises and not accepting leaking urine as being inevitable

Yes please I would love to try these :(

Hi Gussie
Just wanted to lend my support. I was on your last thread, and you kindly gave me the name of a really lovely physio, who I have been seeing the past few months.

I'm a long way from 'cured' but the physio has helped so much with my bowel incontinence. It's great to start getting my life back again.

If you have problems, I strongly urge you to seek proper medical help. The right treatment plan really can make a difference.

Thanks so much Gussie!

Received mine yesterday, got to say though, they are rather thick. A bit too much like an incontinence pad to me

Received mine and actually pleased with how thin they are! Also pleased that the adhesive strip is very strong.

Feedback thread will be live in the next few days