The title of this blog has been inspired by personal experience and it got me thinking why the hell we fellas don't talk about wee and problems down there?
Okay, if you are a fella when was the last time you talked openly about problems down there, apart from to a doctor, if you have really had to do so? Be honest, I never did and accepted that as I grew older then I would experience dribbles after I went to the loo and that was that, just part of growing older and nothing to worry about.
The thing is we have a thing called the Prostrate gland which as we get older it gets bigger and that can cause us problems by doing so which we need to be aware of and most of us aren't. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/prostate-problems/
Further reading can be found here https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/prostate-enlargement/
Now it could be that as it gets bigger then we might need to wee a bit more, but if this is the case then perhaps this page here could help https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/urinary-incontinence/
Another link https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/smelly-urine/ also offers good advice on things.
We also need to be aware of bladder problems if we have problems with our wee, this might mean we have a bladder or even kidney stones.
I have had kidney stones in the past and they are very, very painful and so I have taken as many precautions that I could to prevent myself from getting and I would suggest that it a good idea for others to take a look at ways of doing so.
Previous to my passing my last stone I really didn't take any notice of the fact that it was taking me longer to wee and it would take a few times until it completed nor did I really take any notice of the fact that I was dribbling a bit afterwards until my wife mentioned it and I became aware of the smell. I just thought it was me getting old and normal. It was only after I passed the stones that things really changed and I had to look at things.
Accepting that I had a problem with the dribbles I sought a solution, one was to put toilet paper in my pants, which didn't work as it just got soaked. So then I thought I wonder if there is such a thing like Tena Pads for men and there is, but not that you'd know it as there is a total lack of advertising here in the British Isles, not sure if it is the case elsewhere in the world, https://www.tena.co.uk/men/products others do them as well but you have to search for them online to get them. These are fine, but personally I found them uncomfortable and a bit pricey. So I thought what about the pants they show ladies having surely they would be a better more comfortable thing? Yes there are and I found them in my local supermarket and recently in my local chemist as well and they cost less than £10:00 and often just over £5:00 for a packet of nine I think it is. These work wonderfully and are comfortable to wear and don't leak and you just dispose of them in the bin after use. No smells and no leaks. The only thing you need to be aware of is that it can be a bit hot down there so make sure that you shower regularly and don't use perfumed soap in that area. I also found out that there are https://www.boots.com/safe-and-sound-extra-unisex-urine-bottle-1-litre-10167304 for the times you can't get to the loo, which also make it easier to check the colour of the wee ( Mine actually caught a stone which I had passed which I wouldn't have known about if I had used the loo). While not shouting about them, they do make life easier and less worrisome for me.
Having found one solution, again taking the advice from the trustworthy NHS site shown above I started taken buferons also known as Ibuprofen to try and ease any swelling down there which may have been caused by the stones and the prostrate. I also took notice of the colour and the smell. It was only when the pain when I passed water didn't stop that I went to the Doctor and after having a talk and being checked out, with a urine test I got some Antibiotics which are helping to clear up what is an infection - more information on them can be found here https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/antibiotics/uses/ if these don't work then I will go back and see what other steps can be taken to help.
I know this is my personal journey, but it made me think, why didn't I know about pads and pants for men when they are advertised for women? Are women more open about these problems or is it just a sexist thing that we have have to hide the fact that men suffer (and suffer is the correct word) from the same problem?
So fellas we really need to talk about wee, we need to get rid of any macho ideas about it not being a thing to talk about, IT IS A HEALTH THING THAT IS ALL and really it is not something to hide away like it doesn't exist. I was surprised when I started talking to other fellas about it how many of them were going through similar problems and how common what I thought was just me isn't. We need adverts to help us get things like the women have so we can get them if we need them.
So come on fellas let's talk about wee, because we really are stupid if we don't.
