A Nurse's Journey with Incontinence: From Shame to Compassion, Confidence, and Advocacy

NorthShore Care Supply December 30, 2025

Key Takeaways:

Compassionate care and open, judgment-free conversations can help people living with incontinence shift from feelings of isolation toward confidence and self-acceptance.
Experiencing empathy firsthand can inspire people managing incontinence to pay that support forward, helping others feel less alone through shared understanding.
Premium incontinence solutions, including high-performing adult diapers like NorthShore MegaMax, help provide the security needed to live more freely and confidently with fewer limitations.

TG shares their story

Everyone needs a Sandy in their life.

I wanted to write to share my personal story of overcoming and accepting my struggles with incontinence. I had issues with bedwetting while growing up, but they subsided in my early teens.

Later on, I started having more and more frequent accidents in my early twenties that had me riddled with shame and not quite sure where to turn.

Like many, I would imagine, I first started to seek help anonymously online via public forums like Reddit. People there were incredibly supportive, and really did help take away some of the immediate dread that I was experiencing at the time. Even then, I still could never really shake the feeling like I was living in the shadow of society because of my incontinence.

That continued for a while, until I met Sandy. Sandy was an older, seasoned nurse at the urologist's office that I frequented for visits and follow-ups. I got to know her more and more while I was getting my work up for a proper diagnosis. She was always the one taking me back and triaging me for my visits. She had a very special way of normalizing everything that I thought was so terribly wrong with me. She was also one of the first people in my life to challenge my overwhelmingly negative outlook on incontinence. Through her kindness, I was able to actually start talking about these issues at ease and even joke about them at times. Those interactions helped me go from hating to managing my condition and from suffering to succeeding in spite of it.

Current day, well over a decade later, and I myself am now also a nurse. I try to pay the kindness that I experienced forward with any opportunity I get. I have been able to help a surprising amount of people out in the hospital through my line of work.

Unfortunately, every hospital I’ve worked at stocks very poor-quality adult diapers. When I’ve tried to ask and advocate for better products, I’m always shot down on the idea. The hospital mentality is that patients will have better outcomes if they have more frequent changes, so that is why they prioritize those products (…don’t get me started).

I kept seeing patients’ frustrations with the diapers we provided, and I got into the habit of bringing several spare diapers to work even though I really only ever needed to bring one for myself. Now, any time I hear a complaint, I have a “demo diaper” to swoop in and offer. Typically, a much higher quality product like a MegaMax. Sharing demo diapers has been an incredible icebreaker for what could otherwise be a very daunting conversation. Now it’s not so intimidating to ask what products work best for them, how often they’re changing, how they manage at home, etc. Opening that door has helped me connect with people while also healing a part of myself in a funny way.

There’s a huge need in the patient population I care for, and many don’t even know that high-quality diapers even exist. After trying them out, quite a few patients couldn’t wait to tell me that they’ve already ordered more for when they go home. But even if they don’t, I think just being heard and understood during their stay counted for something.

I try to champion an open attitude regarding incontinence so we can continue to destigmatize the condition piece by piece. It definitely makes me grin wondering if I was ever the Sandy in someone else’s life.

All of this to say… A little bit of kindness can go a really long way, whether that be to yourself or to others. ‘Doing your part’ and ‘doing your best’ don’t have to be miraculous feats, but can still be profoundly impactful.

Be kind, be bold, and be you.

Thank you for reading our customer stories.

We try to remove the confusion and isolation surrounding incontinence to guide our audience into our understanding that "Incontinence is very common, often treatable, and regardless, very manageable." - Adam Greenberg, President & Founder of NorthShore

NorthShore is grateful for the opportunity to share our customer stories and to provide products that allow users to live life to the fullest.

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