Arriving at a blogger event at the weekend I realised that I was almost certainly the oldest person in the room. In fact I was possibly old enough to have birthed most of the women who had gathered to learn more about Lights by TENA.
I know, you hear "TENA" and you probably have an image of a white haired old lady smelling slightly of lavender and pee as the main customer base for the famous brand.
But the fact is, "Ooops moments", little leaks, sneeze showers, coughing catastrophes and exercise accidents which leave your knickers slightly damp and your face slightly red with embarrassment are common in women, even those who are in their 20's, slim and gorgeous. Which most of the women in the room on Sunday were.
Apparently lots of women are too embarrassed to even LOOK at specially designed products for slight sprinkles and just add extra sanitary liners to their shopping basket.
The thing is, those liners are designed for blood not urine and will not absorb any trickles as fast or cleanly as products designed for urine like Lights by TENA.
The packaging on Lights by TENA is light and feminine and to be honest just looks like sanitary wear. You can choose a variety of levels of absorbency and you can even opt for pretty white and floral wrapped liners so you can pop one or two in your bag and no-one would know they were a TENA product.
To be honest if you picked up any of the range in the store, no-one would take a second look at any of the boxes in your shopping trolley and think "OMG that woman wets herself". They just look like any other feminine liner.
I decided to test the absorption rate while sitting at the table along with other bloggers who had come along to the VERY swish Haymarket Hotel in London for more information about pelvic floor care and the Lights by TENA range.
No, I didn't do a human trial, I simply tipped some bottled water onto a liner and marvelled as it disappeared almost instantly. Then to the amusement of those around me I marvelled some more about how dry the liner stayed - I even wiped it around my face and felt no dampness! Just lovely softness thanks to FeelFresh TechnologyTM
OK so these aren't designed for floods. There are plenty of products in the TENA range for people with full on urinary incontinence. These really are for the little "Ooops moments" when you sneeze, cough, laugh or run for the bus.
They are for mums who want to join their kids on the trampoline, pregnant and new mums who find themselves (usually temporarily) left with minor leakage issues while or after carrying their baby straining their pelvic floor to the limit and beyond.
The brings me neatly to the other point of my trip into London.
Lights by TENA have helpfully developed a FREE app which aims to help you keep on top of the dreaded pelvic floor exercises.
The app, myPFF, is available for Android and Apple phones and tablets and aims to train women in best methods for effective pelvic floor exercises, track progress and teach about why it's so vital to keep that area in tip top condition.
Trust me, as one who has suffered a prolapse in the lady garden region, it's all about using or losing muscles in the pelvic floor.
The app shows you how to do little squeezes and big squeezes and I'm not lying when I say it's the simplest guide to this kind of exercise I've seen.
When I was younger with only a vague instruction to pretend my vag was a lift from my midwife, I maybe did two or three half-hearted "lifts" when I thought about it .
Frankly I'm quite lazy about any kind of exercise but this app on level one had me doing several very short squeeze and relax exercises and it took no time at all. No activewear required! You can even do them sitting down. You can set an alarm to remind you to do them and of course track your progress.
Once you've got the hang of it and got into the habit it's suggested you maybe always do pelvic floor exercises while you wash your hands - that's a few times a day and no time wasted. Also then there's the built in fun of watching your face in the mirror while you do them. I'm always impressed by women who seem to be able to squeeze without pulling a slightly pirate-y face.
If you have no leaks yet - hurrah! Still worth doing those exercises to make sure your pelvic floor is in tip top condition so that if for any reason like PMS, pregnancy or menopause it starts to feel the strain you will be in a good position to help it keep that wee in until you find a loo.
If not- well there are always Lights by TENA to keep you clean, dry and confident. Still not sure? Click here for a free sample.
Thanks to my own pelvic floor exercise journey, started in earnest once that prolapse was diagnosed, I was able to join the younger mums in a session of Boogie Bounce Extreme without any little leaks. Check me out below in my brand new, straight out of the packet activewear!
The exercise class which takes the strain of high impact away from your joints using mini-trampolines was great fun and worked more than just my legs. It's been a long time since I did any kind of class thanks to the joy of Fibromyalgia (chronic pain and fatigue) but the ladies running the class gave lots of options for those who wanted a more gentle or higher impact kind of work out.
The event finished with a lovely lunch and it was amazing that this group of women who started the day quite quiet and shy ended with lots of personal chat, some of it quite intimate - well at my end of the table anyway. That's often the way. Maybe it's me, forever going on about my prolapse.....
The support from people listening, the experience of sharing and the realisation that whatever you have been suffering, someone else has experienced something the same or similar and empathises was immensely comforting.
If only all women could get over their embarrassment and talk more about everyday issues like menopause, pregnancy loss, birth trauma and incontinence maybe fewer people would be left feeling ashamed, alone, anxious and depressed.
Lets all say a big hurrah for bloggers and vloggers and PR companies like Myriad PR who are facing the issues, staring them square in the eye and shouting via social media and the WWW about all of the things which need to be recognised as a part of life not as something shameful to hide.
Disclaimer: I attended an event organised by Myriad PR on behalf of Lights By TENA and myPFF for the purpose of gathering information for this blog. Views and opinions remain honest and my own.
I know, you hear "TENA" and you probably have an image of a white haired old lady smelling slightly of lavender and pee as the main customer base for the famous brand.
But the fact is, "Ooops moments", little leaks, sneeze showers, coughing catastrophes and exercise accidents which leave your knickers slightly damp and your face slightly red with embarrassment are common in women, even those who are in their 20's, slim and gorgeous. Which most of the women in the room on Sunday were.
Apparently lots of women are too embarrassed to even LOOK at specially designed products for slight sprinkles and just add extra sanitary liners to their shopping basket.
The thing is, those liners are designed for blood not urine and will not absorb any trickles as fast or cleanly as products designed for urine like Lights by TENA.
The packaging on Lights by TENA is light and feminine and to be honest just looks like sanitary wear. You can choose a variety of levels of absorbency and you can even opt for pretty white and floral wrapped liners so you can pop one or two in your bag and no-one would know they were a TENA product.
To be honest if you picked up any of the range in the store, no-one would take a second look at any of the boxes in your shopping trolley and think "OMG that woman wets herself". They just look like any other feminine liner.
I decided to test the absorption rate while sitting at the table along with other bloggers who had come along to the VERY swish Haymarket Hotel in London for more information about pelvic floor care and the Lights by TENA range.
No, I didn't do a human trial, I simply tipped some bottled water onto a liner and marvelled as it disappeared almost instantly. Then to the amusement of those around me I marvelled some more about how dry the liner stayed - I even wiped it around my face and felt no dampness! Just lovely softness thanks to FeelFresh TechnologyTM
OK so these aren't designed for floods. There are plenty of products in the TENA range for people with full on urinary incontinence. These really are for the little "Ooops moments" when you sneeze, cough, laugh or run for the bus.
They are for mums who want to join their kids on the trampoline, pregnant and new mums who find themselves (usually temporarily) left with minor leakage issues while or after carrying their baby straining their pelvic floor to the limit and beyond.
The brings me neatly to the other point of my trip into London.
Lights by TENA have helpfully developed a FREE app which aims to help you keep on top of the dreaded pelvic floor exercises.
The app, myPFF, is available for Android and Apple phones and tablets and aims to train women in best methods for effective pelvic floor exercises, track progress and teach about why it's so vital to keep that area in tip top condition.
Trust me, as one who has suffered a prolapse in the lady garden region, it's all about using or losing muscles in the pelvic floor.
The app shows you how to do little squeezes and big squeezes and I'm not lying when I say it's the simplest guide to this kind of exercise I've seen.
When I was younger with only a vague instruction to pretend my vag was a lift from my midwife, I maybe did two or three half-hearted "lifts" when I thought about it .
Frankly I'm quite lazy about any kind of exercise but this app on level one had me doing several very short squeeze and relax exercises and it took no time at all. No activewear required! You can even do them sitting down. You can set an alarm to remind you to do them and of course track your progress.
Once you've got the hang of it and got into the habit it's suggested you maybe always do pelvic floor exercises while you wash your hands - that's a few times a day and no time wasted. Also then there's the built in fun of watching your face in the mirror while you do them. I'm always impressed by women who seem to be able to squeeze without pulling a slightly pirate-y face.
If you have no leaks yet - hurrah! Still worth doing those exercises to make sure your pelvic floor is in tip top condition so that if for any reason like PMS, pregnancy or menopause it starts to feel the strain you will be in a good position to help it keep that wee in until you find a loo.
If not- well there are always Lights by TENA to keep you clean, dry and confident. Still not sure? Click here for a free sample.
Thanks to my own pelvic floor exercise journey, started in earnest once that prolapse was diagnosed, I was able to join the younger mums in a session of Boogie Bounce Extreme without any little leaks. Check me out below in my brand new, straight out of the packet activewear!
The exercise class which takes the strain of high impact away from your joints using mini-trampolines was great fun and worked more than just my legs. It's been a long time since I did any kind of class thanks to the joy of Fibromyalgia (chronic pain and fatigue) but the ladies running the class gave lots of options for those who wanted a more gentle or higher impact kind of work out.
The event finished with a lovely lunch and it was amazing that this group of women who started the day quite quiet and shy ended with lots of personal chat, some of it quite intimate - well at my end of the table anyway. That's often the way. Maybe it's me, forever going on about my prolapse.....
The support from people listening, the experience of sharing and the realisation that whatever you have been suffering, someone else has experienced something the same or similar and empathises was immensely comforting.
If only all women could get over their embarrassment and talk more about everyday issues like menopause, pregnancy loss, birth trauma and incontinence maybe fewer people would be left feeling ashamed, alone, anxious and depressed.
Lets all say a big hurrah for bloggers and vloggers and PR companies like Myriad PR who are facing the issues, staring them square in the eye and shouting via social media and the WWW about all of the things which need to be recognised as a part of life not as something shameful to hide.
Disclaimer: I attended an event organised by Myriad PR on behalf of Lights By TENA and myPFF for the purpose of gathering information for this blog. Views and opinions remain honest and my own.