Health

Why Don’t People Openly Talk About Incontinence?

Incontinence is a serious problem that not enough people talk about, but why is that? In this article, we get into the reasons why no one mentions this issue.

Depending on your culture and background, certain topics of conversation might be a bit on the taboo side to you. However, one thing that many people universally avoid talking about in a serious manner is bathroom-related conditions.

We could cover many of them, but the primary one we wanted to focus on today is incontinence. Why don’t people openly talk about this problem? Well, that’s what we’re hoping to answer today in this brief dive into the topic.

The Refusal To Be Gross

In many cultures, talking about gross topics is considered improper or out of line. From a young age, many children get ridiculed by their parents for mentioning bathroom-related things around others. While many kids say these things to be funny, this has led us to grow up thinking that talking about these subjects is never the right thing to do.

However, there are plenty of times when we should talk about these problems. Having an adult conversation with others about how you can’t always hold back your urine is entirely possible. Granted, this may not be a topic for the dinner table and other specific locations, but we shouldn’t shut people down when the subject matter reaches the “gross” territory.

The Fear of Embarrassment

Of course, even if we manage to break through the taboo barrier, we have to worry about potential embarrassment from others. Even if you open up to people you trust about your incontinence issues, you still run the risk of them making fun of you. Much of this comes down to this topic being the butt of jokes for many years.

We’re not going to lie—toilet humor can be funny, and many professional comedians make fun of it in a way that’s relatable to the audience. However, normal people aren’t comedians. Something that seems funny to them might be extremely hurtful to the person dealing with the issue.

This doesn’t mean we’re calling for a ban on all toilet humor, but we should be more aware of what others think. If someone needs someone to talk to about the incontinence symptoms they’ve been dealing with, you shouldn’t make them feel bad for bringing it up.

The Harm This Has Caused

Awareness of why many people decide not to talk about incontinence does help open up the narrative a bit, but it doesn’t usually inspire people to make a change. That’s why we also want to discuss the harm this silence has caused.

Because of all the jokes and lack of public knowledge, many think incontinence only happens to older people who can no longer control their bowel movements. However, most cases of incontinence are urinary-based, and many younger people experience it as well, especially mothers.

When young mothers are told by their doctors that they’re experiencing incontinence due to a pregnancy, they freak out because they have no idea what incontinence is or what to do about it. Fortunately, doctors can answer most of their questions, but if a young person develops it for other reasons, they might not even realize they have it.

That’s why we need to make this topic less taboo. If adults could sit down and talk seriously about issues like incontinence, people could make much more informed decisions on what they should do next.

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