The 56-year-old mum of three Caroline first experienced bladder weakness because of asthma symptoms, which was made worse after the birth of her three children.
“My woman bits got ruined! However, I just got along with it, I tried pads and different things on the market, but nothing worked for me”, says Caroline. In 2008, Caroline was recommended by a Gynaecologist to be a candidate for vaginal mesh surgery, a (somewhat controversial) surgical procedure used to treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence.
The mesh worked fine for six months or so. I felt happy, but suddenly, like an explosive bomb, it failed. All the symptoms came back worse than ever, including the leakage and I felt like my life was ruined. I couldn’t go on holiday or long car rides, I always had to meticulously plan everything. It put a strain on my relationships with my husband and family because on days out, every 20 minutes we needed to stop so I could go to the toilet. In the end, I decided they should go without me; it was much easier for all of them if I stayed at home. I wouldn’t visit family or friends or attend family weddings. It caused lots of arguments and people thought I didn’t want to see them.
“I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life wearing incontinence pads”
With all of this in mind, I sought help but didn’t get much advice, unfortunately. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life wearing incontinence pads. I struggled to do pelvic floor exercises, they just never seemed to work, and I didn’t know if I was doing them correctly. I just needed it to be fixed.
I now have my life back thanks to INNOVO
Last year, I was introduced to INNOVO after searching on the internet. I had tried so many different products that hadn’t worked, so I bought the INNOVO shorts and started out wearing them for thirty minutes, twice a week – it became part of my routine. You just put the shorts on, the machine knows exactly what it’s doing, and you can feel your pelvic floor toning up straightaway. I started noticing improvements after four weeks and a significant change after 8 weeks. The shorts helped massively with my bladder weakness and made me feel so much more confident – I got my life back. I can go out in the car, I can socialize without feeling embarrassment or running to the toilet. I can go on holiday! For the first time in ten years, I went on holiday last year – I flew to America which I would have never dreamed of doing before using INNOVO.
I also got my relationship back; my husband and I are good again. I’m so much happier in myself. Bladder weakness took away my independence, but now INNOVO has given it back to me.